Season 3

Prodigy Mania had its third season in 2017.

Auditions
Open casting auditions began on February 1, 2017 in Atlantic City and concluded on February 28 in Minneapolis. Participants were required to be between the ages of 7 and 15 at the time of auditions.

Contestants
(Ages stated are at time of contest)

Head Start (June 23, 2017)

 * Special guests: Contestants from Prodigy Mania 2016 - "Here We Go"
 * End credits song: "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift

Level 1 (June 30, 2017)

 * Group performance: "New Day"
 * Special guest: Carly D'Inzeo - "Around Here"
 * End credits song: "Paradise" by Coldplay

Level 2 (July 7, 2017)

 * Group performance: "I'm Still Standing"
 * End credits song: "Heroes" by David Bowie

Level 3 (July 14, 2017)

 * Group performance: "Our Generation"
 * End credits song: "Believer" by Imagine Dragons

Level 4 (July 21, 2017)

 * Group performance: "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"
 * End credits song: "24K Magic" by Bruno Mars

Level 5 (July 28, 2017)

 * Group performance: "Blame It on the Boogie"
 * End credits song: "Faith" by Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande

Level 6 (August 4, 2017)

 * Group performance: "Can You Feel It"
 * End credits song: "Bigger" by Backstreet Boys

Grand Finale (August 11, 2017)
In the final, the winner of the season was decided by public vote. Each finalist performed Hollywood/Broadway song that was never performed in previous episodes, and after that, the first round of voting ended. The two finalists with the fewest votes were eliminated. A second round of voting began to determine the winner of the season, and the three remaining finalists performed the song they had sung on Head Start.


 * Group performances:
 * "Some Kind of Wonderful" (Top 5)
 * "New Day" (all 10 contestants)
 * End credits song: "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey

Christmas special (December 25, 2017)
On December 25, 2017, a Christmas special aired on NV4, for which the 10 official contestants from season 3 performed with notable contestants from the first two seasons. The show was prerecorded on December 20 in order to let everyone head back home in time for Christmas.


 * Group performance: "New Day"
 * End credits song: "Last Christmas" by Wham!

Controversy
This season suffered from a broadcasting incident when ??? warned the viewers that the show "might run overtime." During Level 2, the show ended nearly 5 minutes past its set ending time. This caused a number of viewers at home to completely miss the episode's results.

After the season finale, winner Marcus Holt was arranged to sing the U.S. national anthem at a New York Giants football game the following week. Holt announced an intention to withdraw from the game, which was held at East Rutherford's MetLife Stadium, saying that "I wasn't planning to sing the U.S. national anthem at a sports event in the near future" and added, "I'm not going anywhere near a stadium outside of Philadelphia, not even to sing an important theme song." Eventually, Holt got special permission to withdraw, leading to Sasha Sharp singing the U.S. national anthem instead.