Canada's Got Talent

Auditions The auditions took place in front of the judges, and a live audience at different cities across Canada. At any time during the audition, the judges would show their disapproval of the act by pressing a buzzer, which lights a large red "X" on the stage. If all the judges pressed their buzzers, the act must end. Voting worked on a majority-of-two basis, where two positive votes from the judges were required. The Cutdown In the first season, acts that were accepted past the audition moved on to the Judges Round (also known as "The Cutdown"). This stage of the competition did not feature any audiences, and only contained contestants performing in front of the judges. Out of all the acts that made it to this point, thirty-six made it through to the next round, which was the semi-finals. In the second season, this part of the show was removed. Semi-finals/The Eliminations The semi-finals and final were broadcast with a varying number of semi-finals, followed by the one final split into two episodes over one night. The remaining acts performed across a number of semi-finals, with the two most popular acts from each semi-final winning a position in the final. Judges could still end a performance early with three X's. The judges were asked to express their views on each act's performance. Phone lines, Twitter, Facebook, texting and online voting platforms opened for a one hour after all acts performed. The public voted for the act they thought were the best. Voters could submit a total of fifty votes (ten in each platform). After the votes were counted, the act that polled the highest number of public votes, was automatically placed in the final. The judges then chose between the second and third most popular acts, with the winner of that vote also gaining a place in the final. All other acts were then eliminated from the competition. Starting with the fourth season, the semifinals has been rebranded as the Eliminations, which is broadcast for one episode, followed by one grand finale. The remaining acts competed for three judge votes that sent them straight to the finals, and the rest competed for a Canada-wide vote that dictated the rest of the finalists. The Finals The acts who made it past the semifinals/the Eliminations have a final shot at performing once again, and all of the acts competed for a Canada-wide vote that determined the winner of the season. This round has been broadcast live, and the winner is revealed at the end of the episode. == Judges and hosts ==