Kayla Mahon, Sarah Spicer Groups: Brendon Thomas & the Vibes, Duel, Fare Thee Well, Modulation, Stuss, Urban Legacy Judges' retreats The judges' retreats episodes were filmed over the month of February in locations in New Zealand and Thailand. Blatt mentored the Over 25s in Pattaya, Thailand, assisted by Nicole Appleton; Kills took the boys to Titirangi, assisted by contestant of the first series of The X Factor Benny Tipene; Moon has the Groups in Karaka, with musician and former New Zealand's Got Talent judge Jason Kerrison; and Walker took the girls to Bangkok, assisted by Ginny Blackmore. Moon created a new group, country duo Mae Valley, made up of Abby Christodoulou and Hannah Cosgrove who had previously been eliminated at Boot Camp. At the end of judges' retreats, it was announced that each judge could bring one further act back as a wildcard, with the public voting for which of the four wildcards would become the 13th contestant. Key: – Wildcard Winner Contestants Key: – Winner – Runner-Up – Third Place The Boys category was originally mentored by Natalia Kills, while the Groups category was originally mentored by Willy Moon. Live shows The live shows began on 15 March 2015. The shows were filmed at The X Factor NZ Studio in Favona, Auckland. The finals were held in Vector Arena, in Auckland. Results summary Colour key – Act in the bottom two/three and had to perform in the final showdown – Act was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated – Act received the lowest number of public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) Live show details Week 1 (15/16 March) Theme: Judges' choice Musical guests: Savage & Timmy Trumpet ("Freaks"), Jackie Thomas ("Until the Last Goodbye") Judges' vote to eliminate Walker: Stuss – backed his own act, Lili Bayliss. Blatt: Lili Bayliss – sent the result to deadlock to be fair to Stuss, who had no mentor backing them at the time. With the acts in the bottom two receiving one vote each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Stuss was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes. Notes Kills and Moon appeared on Sunday's live show but were fired with immediate effect after bullying Joe Irvine. Monday's show went ahead with only Blatt and Walker appearing on the panel with Walker looking