The first season of the Greek music talent show The X Factor began airing on ANT1 on 4 October 2008 and concluded on 30 January 2009. The show was presented by Sakis Rouvas. It was also broadcast abroad via ANT1's international stations.
The first series was won by Loukas Giorkas, who went on to represent Greece in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.
Selection process
Auditions Public auditions by aspiring pop singers began in July 2008 and concluded in September 2008. The auditions were held in three cities: in Athens and Thessaloniki (Greece) and Larnaka (Cyprus).
Bootcamp Following initial auditions, the "Boot camp" stage took place in September 2008. Approximately 200 acts attended Boot Camp. They were initially split into groups of three, and judges gave instant decisions on who would leave based on the group performances, bringing the number of acts down to 150. The judges then cut the number of acts down to 80. They were split into four categories: Boys, Girls, Over 25s and Groups, before the judges discovered which category they would mentor for the rest of the competition. The Boys (16–24) were mentored by Katerina Gagaki, George Levendis had the Girls (16–24), Nikos Mouratidis mentored the Over 25s, and Giorgos Theofanous took charge of the Groups. At the last stage of boot camp only 32 remained.
Judges Houses During "Judges' Houses", the judges welcomed the eight acts from their selected category to their "homes". Each act had only one chance to impress their mentor who had the task of selecting which three acts were to go through to the live shows and which three would be eliminated.
The sixteen eliminated acts were:
Boys 16-24 – Mixalis Zeis, Vasilis Pachis, Maurikios Maurikiou, Akis Panagiotidis Girls 16-24 – Eugenia Mpalafa, Eua Tsachra, Ifigenia Stefanou, Basiliki Papada Over 25s – Groups –
Contestants and categories The final 16 acts were confirmed as follows:
Key: – Winner – Runner-up – Third Place
Category (mentor) ActsGirls 16-24 (George Levendis) Ioanna Protopappa Eirini Papadopoulou Anthi Simiou Polyxeni BifsaBoys 16-24 (Katerina Gagaki) Louis Georgiou Nikolas Metaxas Loukas Giorkas Christos KalliatsasOver 25s (Nikos Mouratidis) Kelly Kaltsi Giorgos Klakoumanos Vasiliki Tsiomi Konstantinos TsimourisGroups (Giorgos Theofanous) Kokkina Xalia Crowns Juke Box Triimitonio
Live shows The live shows started on 23 October 2009. The acts are performing every Friday night with the results announced on the same day.
Results summary Colour key –Contestant was in the bottom two/three and had to sing again in the final showdown
+ Table showing weekly results, indicating which contestants were eliminated or safe, how each judge voted, and positions in each week's public vote where known. Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Loukas Giorkas Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe SafeWinner Nikolas Metaxas Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe SafeRunner-Up Triimitonio Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 3rd Kokkina Xalia Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Safe Safe Safe 5th Safe 4th Ioanna Protopappa Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 12) Kelly Kaltsi Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Bottom 2 Bottom 2 6th Eliminated (week 11) Konstantinos Tsimouris Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Safe 10th Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 10) Louis Giorgiou Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 9) Christos Kalliatsas Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 8) Giorgos Klakoumanos Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 7) Eirini Papadopoulou Bottom 2 Safe Safe Safe Safe 11th Eliminated (week 6) Juke Box Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 5) Polyxeni Bifsa Safe Bottom 2 Bottom 2 Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 4) Anthi Simiou Safe Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 3) Crowns Safe Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 2) Vasiliki Tsiomi Bottom 2 Eliminated (week 1) Final showdown Eirini Papadopoulou,Vasiliki Tsiomi Crowns,Polyxeni Bifsa Anthi Simiou,Polyxeni Bifsa Konstantinos Tsimouris,Polyxeni Bifsa Ioanna Protopappa,Juke Box Eirini Papadopoulou,Konstantinos Tsimouris Giorgos Klakoumanos,Kokkina Xalia Christos Kalliatsas,Kelly Kaltsi Kelly Kaltsi,Louis Georgiou Kelly Kaltsi,Konstantinos Tsimouris Kelly Kaltsi,Kokkina Xalia Ioanna Protopappa,Triimitonio No final showdown or judges' vote: results are based on public votes alone Mouratidis's vote to eliminate Eirini Papadopoulou Crowns Polyxeni Bifsa Juke Box Kokkina Xalia Christos Kalliatsas Louis Georgiou Kelly Kaltsi Kokkina Xalia Ioanna Protopappa Gagaki's vote to eliminate Vasiliki Tsiomi Crowns Polyxeni Bifsa Juke Box Giorgos Klakoumanos Kelly Kaltsi Kelly Kaltsi Konstantinos Tsimouris Kokkina Xalia Ioanna Protopappa Levendis's vote to eliminate Vasiliki Tsiomi Crowns Konstantinos Tsimouris Juke Box Giorgos Klakoumanos Christos Kalliatsas Louis Georgiou Konstantinos Tsimouris Kelly Kaltsi Triimitonio Theofamous's vote to eliminate Vasiliki Tsiomi Polyxeni Bifsa Polyxeni Bifsa Juke Box Giorgos Klakoumanos Christos Kalliatsas Louis Georgiou Konstantinos Tsimouris Kelly Kaltsi Ioanna Protopappa Eliminated Vasiliki Tsiomi3 of 4 votesMajority Crowns3 of 4 votesMajority Anthi Simiou? of 4 votes Polyxeni Bifsa3 of 4 votesMajority Juke Box4 of 4 votes Majority Eirini Papadopoulou2 of 4 votesDeadlock Giorgos Klakoumanos3 of 4 votesMajority Christos Kalliatsas3 of 4 votesMajority Louis Georgiou3 of 4 votesMajority Konstantinos Tsimouris? of 4 votesMajority Kelly Kaltsi 2 of 4 votesDeadlock Ioanna Protopappa3 of 4 votesMajority TriimitonioThird Place Loukas GiorkasWinner Kokkina XaliaFourth Place Nikolas MetaxasRunner-Up
Week 12 (23 January Semi-Final) Themes: Mentor's choice and free choice Celebrity performers: Tamta "Koita me", "Agapise me" / Korgialas and Evridiki "Mia fora", "xwris esena", "geia sou", "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" + Contestants' performances on the twelfth live show Act Order First song (Mentor's choice) Order Second song (Contestant's choice) Result Triimitonio 1 "Dust in the wind" 6 "Karagiozis" Bottom two Nikolas Metaxas 2 "O proskinitis" 7 "Bring me to life" Safe Loukas Giorkas 3 "Agriolouloudo" 8 "Didimotixo Blues" Safe Kokkina Xalia 4 "O basilias tis skonis" 9 "I'll Be There for You" Safe Ioanna Protopappa 5 "Giati Fobase" 10 "Hot n Cold" Bottom two Final showdown details Triimitonio 1 "Anoites Agapes & Trenaki" Safe Ioanna Protopappa 2 "Un-Break My Heart" Eliminated Judges' votes to eliminate Giorgos Theofanous: Ioanna Protopappa George Levendis: Triimitonio Katerina Gagaki: Ioanna Protopappa Nikos Mouratidis: Ioanna Protopappa
Week 13 (30 January Final) Themes: Mentor's choice, Free choice and Final choice Celebrity performers: Natasha Theodoridou "Fegari", "Dipla Se Sena", "Apantise mou", "Oneiro" Order Artist Mentor Contestant's Choice Mentor's Choice Contestant's Favourite Result 1 Kokkina Xalia Giorgos Theofanous Hartaetos unknown unknown Fourth Place 2 Loukas Giorkas Katerina Gagaki "Ladadika" "Piretos" "Party" Winner 3 Nikolas Metaxas Katerina Gagaki "Dream on" "Anthropoi Monahoi" "Let me entertain you" Runner Up 4 Triimitonio Giorgos Theofanous unknown unknown unknown Third Place * Eliminated by public vote, after the judges forced a tie.
References