Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, a songwriter and producer, also returned as an in-house mentor to work with the contestants on a weekly basis.

[8] This season, long-time vocal coach Debra Byrd was replaced by Jimmy Iovine's own team.

[9] Additionally, fashion designers Tommy Hilfiger and Soyon An were employed as image advisers for the top 13 finalists.

98 contestants moved on to the third and final round: solo performances accompanied by a band or an instrument.

Next came a solo round accompanied by an instrument at the stage for Le Rêve at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Twelve men and twelve women were initially announced as the semifinalists; however, the judges announced that one of four men eliminated (Jermaine Jones, Johnny Keyser, Richie Law, or David Leathers, Jr.) would be reinstated into the competition as a surprise thirteenth male, rendering it a Top 25 this season.

[38][39] Ultimately, Jones was selected, and revealed at the end of the males' semifinals show for his performance.

The males and females competed on back-to-back nights, and the top five from each group, along with the judges' three Wild Card choices, advanced to the finals.

Following the ten singers who advanced on Thursday, March 1, six of the remaining semifinalists were selected by the judges to compete in the Wild Card round.

The man and the woman who each received the fewest votes faced the judges, who had to decide which contestant would be saved and which would be eliminated.

Jermaine Jones was disqualified prior to the performance show for failing to disclose his criminal past.

[47] Footage of executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick confronting Jones was shown during what would have been his performance slot,[48] and he was not replaced in the competition.

Color key: American Idol Season 11 Duets and Trios Highlights, a compilation album by the top 6 finalists, was released on July 3, 2012.

It consisted of the following songs: On March 14, finalist Jermaine Jones was disqualified for concealing arrests and outstanding warrants.

[49] A police official where he was the target of two arrest warrants said that "the case wasn't big enough to merit going after him in California," and a New Jersey legislator commented that for the show "to expose, embarrass and interrogate a young man without an attorney in front of 40 million viewers was an outrage.

While at the time it drew the second largest audience of any entertainment program in the television season, it was down 16 percent from the previous year's premiere, which was watched by 26.23 million viewers.