For the performance rounds by the top 25 contestants, voice trainer Ananth Vaidyanathan appeared fairly regularly on the show together with permanent judges Srinivas, Sujatha Mohan, P. Unnikrishnan, and hosts Divya Vijayagopal and Sivakarthikeyan.
The hosts in each episode of the top 25 performance rounds announced that the winner would win a triple bedroom apartment worth Rs.3.7 million from its season 3 sponsor, Arun Excello Temple Green Township.
Special guest judges or guest performers who appeared on the show during the season consisted of a variety of eminent playback singers and music directors, including P. B. Sreenivas, P. Susheela, M. S. Viswanathan, S. Janaki, Unni Menon, Sadhana Sargam, S. P. Sailaja, Ranina Reddy, Nithyasree Mahadevan, Suchithra, Sriram Parthasarathy, Harish Raghavendra, Sangeetha Rajeshwaran, Madhu Balakrishnan, Karthik, Ramya NSK, Pushpavanam Kuppuswamy, Vinaya Karthik Rajan, Sowmya, Pop Shalini, as well as stars from the junior version of the show, such as permanent judges Mano and Malgudi Subha, and former contestants Anitha Karthikeyan, Ajeesh, and Alka Ajith.
[3] The ground level auditions were judged by Dr. Lavanya, Suvi Suresh, J.K.V.Roshni, as well as former contestants of Airtel Super Singer, being Anitha, Ajeesh and Ravi.
This round required auditioning contestants selected in Chennai to perform a fast song before the panel of guest judges consisting of Nithyasree Mahadevan, Haricharan, Unni Menon & Harish Raghavendra.
This round required auditioning contestants selected in Coimbatore and Trichy to perform a fast song before the panel of guest judges consisting of Nithyasree Mahadevan, Mahathi, Unni Menon & Harish Raghavendra.
This round required auditioning contestants to perform a song from films released after 2005 before the panel of guest judges consisting of Nithyasree Mahadevan, S. P. Sailaja, Pop Shalini, & Harish Raghavendra.
This round required auditioning contestants to perform a song from old films before a panel of guest judges consisting of Harish Raghavendra, S. P. Sailaja, Pop Shalini, & Mahathi.
This Sigarangalin Sangeetham round required auditioning contestants to perform a song out of six "legendary" playback singers who were guest judges this week.
He subsequently qualified as a wildcard contestant, and re-entered the competition as a grand finalist after receiving the highest number of viewer votes.
Saicharan was crowned the winner of the competition,[4][5] and was awarded an apartment worth 4 million Indian Rupees by the show's sponsor Arun Excello.
Santhosh was crowned runner-up of the competition after receiving the second highest number of viewer votes, and was awarded a car by the show's sponsor Tata Vista.
Srinivasan Raghunathan (contestant ID SS04), known in the show as Nivas, was born to a family hailing from Kerala, and received some training prior to entering the competition.
He subsequently made his debut as a playback singer after being chosen by music director D. Imman to sing in the 2013 Tamil language film Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam.
Madhumitha previously featured in another music competition broadcast by Vijay TV entitled Apoorva Ragangal where she was selected as the best performer.
He was the second-placed international contestant, after being eliminated from the competition at the conclusion of the Juniors versus Seniors Round in the episode originally telecast on 10 June 2011.
Deepika (local contestant ID SS17) was eliminated from the show at the conclusion of the Love Songs Round in the episode originally telecast on 17 February 2011.
John Vianni (local contestant ID SS18) was eliminated from the show at the conclusion of the Folk Round in the episode originally telecast on 20 January 2011.
The first group of contestants (Saicharan, Shrinivas, and Hariharasuthan) performed the song "Om Sivoham" from the 2009 film, Naan Kadavul (lyrics penned by Vaali, music by Ilaiyaraaja, and originally sung by Vijay Prakash).
This was followed by another special performance by guest Andrea Jeremiah who sang the song "Thediyae", which she had sung in the 2010 film, Va (lyrics penned by Kumararaja and music by G. V. Prakash Kumar).
Next was a performance of the song "Raadhai Manadhil" from the 2000 film Snegithiye (lyrics penned by Vairamuthu, music by Vidyasagar, and originally sung by K. S. Chithra, Sujatha Mohan & Sangeetha Sajith).
This round required the initial top 18 local contestants to perform songs originally sung by the show's permanent judges.
This round required the initial top 15 local contestants to perform songs featured in hit films starring actor Ramarajan.
In the end, 9 international contestants were introduced as finalists to the show (in addition to the 13 remaining local finalists): This round required the male contestants to perform songs featured in hit films starring actor M. G. Ramachandran, and female songs featured in hit films starring actress B. Saroja Devi.
At the end of the round, the judges announced that none of the initial top 13 local contestants would be eliminated from the competition based on their performances this week.
Shortly before the elimination, host Divya Vijaygopal commented to two contestants during the final episode of the week that they were always in the danger zone and were not practising.
[17] Performances by title winner Saisharan, which consisted of renditions of "Paattum Naane" and "Mazhai Thuli Mazhaithuli Mannil Sangamam", received full cheers from the audience.
Airtel Super Singer Season 3 had the benefit of the greatest talent and musical personalities performing during the competitive and non-competitive rounds.
However, the show was marred by constant controversies, with viewers and even contestants often outraged by the comments and the decisions made by the permanent judges in this season.
The third controversy arose after permanent host Divya Vijaygopal made suggestions during the episode telecast on 5 May 2011 that certain contestants were always in the danger zone and were not practising.