X Factor is a Romanian television music competition that aims to find a new music talent to become a star. The eighth started airing on 26 August 2018 on Antena 1.
The hosts of season 8 were Mihai Bendeac and Vlad Drăgulin. Delia Matache, Horia Brenciu, Carla's Dreams and Ștefan Bănică, Jr. returned to the judging panel.
Judges
Delia Matache
Delia Matache is a famous Romanian eurobeat singer-songwriter, TV celebrity, dancer, philanthropist, former model, fashion designer. She has started her stage music activity in 1999 in N&D music band with Nicolae Marin and had released 4 albums, and after the split off in 2003 she had released another two solo albums.
Horia Brenciu
Horia Brenciu is a Romanian singer, television host for the Romanian version of Dancing with the Stars, successful entertainer, and philanthropist. He studied at National College Andrei Şaguna from Braşov, then he continued to Şcoala Populară de Artă Braşov, at piano and canto class, and in 1998 he finished The Theater Academy in Bucharest.
Ștefan Bănică, Jr.
Ștefan Bănică, Jr. is a Romanian entertainer, of roma people origin from his father side, TV presenter, one of the most important Romanian TV personality, the son of actor Ștefan Bănică. He is well known in Romanian for presenting the Romania version of “Dancing with the Stars”, the largest dance competition ever aired in Romania, broadcast on Pro TV.
Carla's Dreams
Carla's Dreams is a Moldavian musical project which was started by Dobra Robertin 2012. The band is an anonymous group of singers and composers who sing in Romanian, Russian and English. During concerts, the band's vocalist, to hide his identity, wears hood and sunglasses, and his face is masked.
Established in Chișinău, Carla's Dreams combines several musical styles, including hip hop, jazz, rock and pop. The first song produced by Carla's Dreams was Dă-te ("Get Off"). Carla's Dreams has launched in Romania in 2013, along with Inna with the song P.O.H.U.I., later to sing with Loredana Lumea ta ("Your World"), and in 2015 with Delia, releasing songs Cum ne noi ("How We Us") and Da, mamă ("Yes, Mother").
Auditions
Audition process was based on the British and American version. First up were "The Producer's Audition", where the producers chose singers to proceed to the second phase which was "The Audition before the Judging panel".
+Summary of auditions City Auditions date Oradea April 27, 2018Iași April 28, 2018Timișoara April 29, 2018Galați April 30, 2018Sibiu May 1, 2018Craiova May 3, 2018
The auditions were broadcast from 26 August 2018 until 26 October 2018. The auditions consisted in 10 episodes.
Bootcamp This season, there will be four categories : Boys (14–24 years), Girls (14–24 years), Over 24s and the Groups.
Brenciu will mentor the Groups, Bănică the Girls, Carla's Dream the Boys and Matache will mentor the Over 24s.
Complete Teams Color key – Eliminated in Four-chair challenge – Eliminated in Duels – Finalist – Wildcard
Category (mentor) Top 40 acts Girls (Bănică) Ioana Bulgaru Doinița Ioniță Mălina Ciarnău Francesca Hojda Špela Jezovšek Francesca Tuzzolino Ioana Cheche Arsintioaia Isabela Pamparău Bianca Moccia Daria Cojocaru Overs (Matache) Bella Santiago Cristina Vasopol Raluca Răducanu Cristian Sanda Vincenzo Vollaro Simion Caragia Maria Coman Charles Driscoll Raisa Bordea Cătălina Adam Boys (Carlas) Cristian Moldovan Alexandru Stremițeanu Andrei Geamăn Eduard Ungureanu Zila Mike Alexandru Țală Cristian Porcari Robert Hotin Dragoș Bucătariu Tudor Leon Mureşan Groups (Brenciu)Diamonds Vox Angels Rodica & Cristi Andreea & Bișu Stardust MaindFac Deja Vu No Fingerprints Rush
Four-chair challenge This season, the categories will face the four-chair challenge. From the 40 acts competing, at the end of this round, only 16 acts will go further in the competition.
The four-chair challenge were broadcast from 2 November 2018 until 23 November 2018. This consisted in 4 episodes, one for each group.
Color key – Contestant was immediately eliminated after performance without switch – Contestant was switched out later in the competition and eventually eliminated – Contestant was not switched out and made the final four of their own category
+ Contestants performances on the four-chair challenge Episode Category (mentor) Act Order Song Mentor's decision Switched with Episode 11 (2 November) Girls (Bănică) Ioana Cheche Arsintioaia 1 "Mercy on Me" Put in Chair 1 Doinița Ioniță Daria Cojocaru 2 "Believer" Put in Chair 2 Bianca Moccia Isabela Pamparău 3 "The Prayer" Put in Chair 3 Francesca Tuzzolino Mălina Ciarnău 4 "Killing Me Softly with His Song" Put in Chair 4 — Bianca Moccia 5 "If I Were a Boy" Put in Chair 2Špela Jezovšek Špela Jezovšek 6 "Clown" Put in Chair 2 Ioana Bulgaru Francesca Tuzzolino 7 "Titanium" Put in Chair 3 Francesca Hojda Doinița Ioniță 8 "Suus" Put in Chair 1 — Francesca Hojda 9 "Not About Angels" Put in Chair 3 — Ioana Bulgaru 10 "It's Oh So Quiet" Put in Chair 2 — Episode 12 (9 November) Overs (Matache) Raisa Bordea 1 "Runnin' (Lose It All)" Put in Chair 4 Cristian Sanda Simion Caragia 2 "Wicked Game" Put in Chair 3 Bella Santiago Cristina Vasopol 3 "Calling You" Put in Chair 2 — Charles Driscoll 4 "Shouldn't It Be Me" Put in Chair 1 Vincenzo Vollaro Cătălina Adam 5 "Selfish Love" Eliminated Cristian Sanda 6 "When I Was Your Man" Put in Chair 4 — Vincenzo Vollaro 7 "One Night Only" Put in Chair 1 Raluca Răducanu Maria Coman 8 "Skyscraper" Eliminated Bella Santiago 9 "Rolling in the Deep" Put in Chair 3 — Raluca Răducanu 10 "Billie Jean" Put in Chair 1 — Episode 13 (16 November) Boys (Carla's) Tudor Leon Mureşan 1 "She's on My Mind" Eliminated Robert Hotin 2 "When We Were Young" Put in Chair 1 Alexandru Stremițeanu Cristian Porcari 3 "Shape of My Heart" Put in Chair 2 Eduard Ungureanu Andrei Geamăn 4 "Superstisition" Put in Chair 3 — Zila Mike 5 "Velociraptorul Dance" Put in Chair 4 Cristian Moldovan Dragoș Bucătariu 6 "Say Something" Eliminated Alexandru Stremițeanu 7 "Skinny Love" Put in Chair 1 — Eduard Ungureanu 8 "Cry Baby" Put in Chair 2 — Alexandru Țală 9 "Gravity" Eliminated Cristian Moldovan 10 "Human" Put in Chair 4 — Episode 14 (23 November) Groups (Brenciu) Deja Vu 1 "Back in Black" Put in Chair 1 Stardust Rush 2 "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" Eliminated MaindFac 3 "X" Put in Chair 2 Vox Rodica & Cristi 4 "Volcano" Put in Chair 3 — No Fingerprints 5 "Dirty Diana" Eliminated Andreea & Bișu 6 "No Diggity" Put in Chair 4 Diamonds Stardust 7 "Hello" Put in Chair 1 Angels Vox 8 "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" Put in Chair 2 — Angels 9 "Show Me How You Burlesque" Put in Chair 1 — Diamonds 10 "Perdono" Put in Chair 4 —
Duels At the end of this round there were 8 acts remaining, two for each category. The duels were broadcast on 30 November 2018.
Colour key:
- Artist won the Duel and advanced to the Live shows
- Artist lost the Duel and was eliminated
+ Contestants performances on the duels challenge Episode Category (mentor) Duel Act Order Song Result Episode 15 (30 November) Groups (Brenciu)Duel 1 Rodica & Cristi1"Rise & Fall"/"Shape" Eliminated Vox 2"Runaway Baby"Finalist Girls (Bănică)Duel 2 Mălina Ciarnău3"Give It to Me Right"EliminatedDoinița Ioniță4"All by Myself"Finalist Boys (Carlas)Duel 3 Andrei Geamăn5 "Be Alright" Eliminated Cristian Moldovan6 "A Change Is Gonna Come" Finalist Overs (Matache)Duel 4 Cristian Sanda7"Yesterday"EliminatedBella Santiago8 "Total Eclipse of the Heart"Finalist Groups (Brenciu)Duel 5 Diamonds9 "Lady Marmalade"Finalist Angels10 "Feeling Good"Eliminated Boys (Carlas)Duel 6 Alexandru Stremițeanu 11"You Are the Reason"Finalist Eduard Ungureanu 12"The House of the Rising Sun"Eliminated Girls (Bănică)Duel 7 Francesca Hojda13 "Best Part"EliminatedIoana Bulgaru14"Dog Days Are Over"Finalist Overs (Matache)Duel 8 Cristina Vasopol15 "Stay with Me"FinalistRaluca Răducanu16"Love on the Brain"Eliminated
Wildcard In this season, like season 7, the public will have the chance to save one of the acts that competed in the Auditions. The most voted act will go directly to the Live Shows. In the first live show if one of the mentor decides to take him in his team, then he will go further in the competition, otherwise he will be sent home.
The winner of this season selected by the public was Cristian Sanda, from the Overs Category.
Finalists The nine finalists will compete in the Live Shows. Color Key – Winner – Runner-up – Third place
Category (mentor)Acts Boys (Carla's)Cristian MoldovanAlexandru Stremițeanu Girls (Bănică)Ioana BulgaruDoinița Ioniță Over 24s (Matache)Cristian SandaBella SantiagoCristina Vasopol Groups (Brenciu)DiamondsVox
Live shows Results summary Color key –Contestant was announced as the winner. –Contestant has returned in the competition. –Contestant received the most votes from the public. –Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated, no duel.
+ Live shows results per contestant Contestant Live Show 1 Live Show 2 Live Show 3 Wildcard Elimination Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 Round 2 Bella Santiago Safe Safe Safe SafeWinner Ioana Bulgaru Safe Safe Safe SafeRunner-up Cristian Moldovan Safe Safe Safe3rd Eliminated (Gala 3) Doinița Ioniță Safe Safe Safe4th Eliminated (Gala 3) Cristian SandaReturned Gala 1 Safe Safe5th Eliminated (Gala 2) Cristina Vasopol Safe Safe6th Eliminated (Gala 2) Vox Safe7th Eliminated (Gala 2) Alexandru Stremițeanu Safe8th Eliminated (Gala 2) Diamonds 9thEliminated (Gala 1) Eliminated rowspan="2" Diamondsby public vote Alexandru Stremițeanuby public vote Cristina Vasopolby public vote Doinița Ionițăby public vote Ioana Bulgaruby public vote Voxby public vote Cristian Sandaby public vote Cristian Moldovanby public vote Bella Santiagoby public vote Reference(s)
Live show details Live Show 1 - 9 December 2018 Group Song : "Ani de liceu" Theme : Romanian Gala Interval Act : "Acadele", "Despablito" by Delia Matache
In this live show there were no duels, the act with lowest public votes was eliminated from the competition. + Contestants' performances on the first live show Act Order Song Result Cristian Sanda 1 "Salcia" Safe Doinița Ioniță 2 "Jocul țambalelor" Safe Diamonds 3 "Inima mea" Eliminated Cristian Moldovan 4 "Eternitate" Safe Bella Santiago 5 "Cine iubeşte şi lasă" Safe Vox 6 "Dincolo de nori" Safe Alexandru Stremițeanu 7 "Nici o stea" Safe Ioana Bulgaru 8 "Tudore" Safe Cristina Vasopol 9 "Ciocârlia" Safe
Live Show 2: Semifinal - 16 December 2018 Group Song : "Din toată inima" Theme : Semifinal Gala Interval Act : "Ce-ar fi", "Sunt cine vreau să fiu" by Horia Brenciu; "Alerg" by Alexandra Crișan
In this live show there were two rounds, after each round, the two acts with the lowest public votes were eliminated from the competition.
+ Contestants' performances on the second live show Act Order Song Result Round 1Ioana Bulgaru 1 "Toy" Safe Cristian Sanda 2 "Jealous" SafeAlexandru Stremițeanu 3 "O stea" Eliminated Bella Santiago 4 "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" Safe Doinița Ioniță 5 "De-ar fi să vii" Safe Vox 6 "Focul" Eliminated Cristina Vasopol 7 "Queen"/ "I'm Every Woman" Safe Cristian Moldovan 8 "Always" Safe Round 2 Ioana Bulgaru 1 "Țărăncută, țărăncuță" Safe Cristian Sanda 2 "Cerul" Eliminated Bella Santiago 3 "Hora din Moldova" Safe Doinița Ioniță 4 "Stone Cold" Safe Cristina Vasopol 5 "Au înnebunit salcâmii" EliminatedCristian Moldovan 6 "Ploaia" Safe
Live Show 3: Final - 23 December 2018 Round 1 Theme: Duet with special guest and with their mentor Interval Act : ""
+ Contestants' performances on the third live show Act Order First Song(duet with special guest) Order Second Song(duet with mentor) Result 1 8 2 5 3 7 4 6
Round 2 Theme: Final Interval Act: "Luna", "Ca benzina" by Carla's Dreams
+ Contestants' performances on the final live show Act Order Song Result Ioana Bulgaru 1 Runner-up Bella Santiago 2 Winner
Ratings