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"After the record-breaking crowds that hit Los Angeles for the first-ever X Factor auditions last week, there was another huge turnout in Miami as thousands of aspiring singers queued outside the Bank United Center today. More than 7,500 people began lining up at the University of Miami from 7am this morning, hoping to get one step further in their journey to win the ultimate prize - a $5 million recording contract with Syco/Sony Music. &amp;quot;Someone in this crowd could be the winner of the X Factor,&amp;quot; said producer Rob Wade at the beginning of the day. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s going to be a long day but this is a talent search and we&amp;#039;re here to hear everybody and find that talent.&amp;quot;  Fellow producer Andrew Llinares added that he was &amp;quot;really excited&amp;quot; by the turnout in Miami, and described the $5 million recording contract on offer as a &amp;quot;prize that will hopefully change somebody&amp;#039;s life&amp;quot;. &amp;quot;Today we&amp;#039;re really keeping our eyes and ears open for anything unique - we want to find the next big thing,&amp;quot; he added. &amp;quot;Someone who comes along and surprises us all.&amp;quot; The hopefuls were also treated to a surprise appearance by Gloria Estefan, who offered them words of encouragement and advice about how to stand out in their audition.  Henry Robinson, 70, (pictured below) was one of the hopefuls who arrived this morning after traveling all the way from Savannah. The grandfather and Vietnam veteran brought his &amp;quot;bucket list&amp;quot; with him, which included the wish: &amp;#039;Audition for and win The X Factor!&amp;#039; He joked: &amp;quot;I survived Vietnam and the next thing I want to get past is Simon Cowell.&amp;quot;  The auditions, which take place in front of a live audience of thousands, are open to any singer or group from the age of 12 upwards, and one of the younger contestants auditioning in Miami was Stephene Fusillo. The 12-year-old from Miami revealed that she would be performing Lady GaGa&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Paparazzi&amp;#039; as her audition song, adding: &amp;quot;I think I can be bigger than Justin Bieber but Lady GaGa is my idol, I hope my voice can be as amazing as hers.&amp;quot; Fellow 12-year-old Isabella Guerrero from Boca Raton added that she decided to audition because she heard that X Factor was &amp;quot;the biggest stage in the world&amp;quot;.  Auditions for the Fox competition continue at the Prudential Center, Newark (April 14), Key Arena, Seattle (April 20), Sears Center Arena, Chicago (April 27) and Dallas Convention Center, Dallas (May 26).  People who cannot make the open auditions can also submit their video performances through special audition recording booths in Honolulu and Phoenix (from tomorrow), Nashville (April 9), Anchorage (April 12), Kansas City (April 15) and Denver (April 16). The booths will remain open until April 30. More information is available here.  It has already been confirmed that L.A. Reid will join Simon Cowell on the judging panel, with the remaining two spots still undecided. Among the names that have been linked to the roles is British X Factor judge Cheryl Cole. An official decision on the final panel is expected by the end of the month. The X Factor premieres on Fox later this year. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor-us/news/a313409/the-x-factor-auditions-arrive-in-miami/>