# X Factor (Romanian TV series) season 5

X Factor is a Romanian television music competition that aims to find a new music talent to become a star. The fifth season will start airing on 17 September 2015 on Antena 1.
The hosts are the same as in the first four seasons: Răzvan Simion and Dani Oțil, who are also known for hosting a well known morning show on Antena 1. Delia Matache, Horia Brenciu and Ștefan Bănică, Jr. returned to the judging panel.
On December 27, 2015, the season concluded and was won by Florin Răduţă, mentored by Bănică. Xenia Chitoroagă, mentored also by Bănică finished in second place.

## 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 most longevive dance competition ever aired in Romania, broadcast on Pro TV.

## 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". The first auditions took place at Craiova, on 26 April 2015. They then took place in Sibiu, on 28 April, in Arad, on April 30, in Cluj Napoca on May 2, 2015, on May 5 in Iași, on May 8 in Galați, May 10 in Bucharest and concluded on May 16, 2015, in Chișinău, Moldova.
Summary of auditions :
| City | Auditions date | Venue |
| Craiova | April 26, 2015 | Craiova University |
| Sibiu | April 28, 2015 | |
| Arad | April 30, 2015 | Hotel Parc |
| Cluj Napoca | May 2, 2015 | Iulius Mall |
| Iași | May 5, 2015 | Palas Mall |
| Galați | May 8, 2015 | Hotel Faleza By Vega |
| Bucharest | May 10, 2015 | Children's Palace |
| Chișinău | May 16, 2015 | |
The auditions were broadcast from 17 September 2015 until 20 November 2015. The auditions consisted in 11 episodes.

## Bootcamp

This season, the categories follow the age-based format from the past two seasons. The judges learnt which category they will mentor after the Auditions 11. Brenciu will mentor the Groups, Bănică the Under 20s and for the second time, Matache will mentor the Over 20s.
Complete Teams

### Color key

    – Eliminated in Six-chair challenge
    – Eliminated in Duels
    – Finalist
    – Wildcard
| Category (mentor) | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts | Top 42 acts |
| Under 20s (Bănică) | Florin Răduţă | Endy Glikman | Erika Isac | Mădălina Căuş | Xenia Chitoroagă | Paul Bătinaş | Emanuel Varga |
| Under 20s (Bănică) | Antinia Simion | Afina Madoian | Dumitru Charbel | Teodora Constantin | Edina Bodor | Zuo Dragomirescu | Daniela Stoica |
| Groups (Brenciu) | B52 | Bravissimo | Tomato | Brain Band | Twins | Tea Rock | Trupa Maria |
| Groups (Brenciu) | Deea & George | Uptown | Hello | Grupul Vera | Divas | Eleven | Hip |
| Over 20s (Matache) | Andrei Ioniță | Anastasia Ursu | Alex Vasilache | Dana Markitan | Randy Roberts | Sasha Călinescu | Andrei Ciobanu |
| Over 20s (Matache) | Mirko Oliva | Gabriela Lazăr | Nicoleta Mihăilă | Natalie Merchant | George Secioreanu | Daniela Rogovschi | Alexandru Petcu |

### Six-chair challenge

Like last season, the stage called "The Six-Chair challenge" will be back. This season, the categories follow the age-based format from season four. From the 42 acts competing, at the end of this round, only 18 acts will go further in the competition.
The Six-Chair Challenge consisted in three editions that were broadcast on November 27, December 4 and December 9, 2015.

#### 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 six of their own category

### The Duels

After the Six-chair challenge, each mentor will have six contestants for the Duels. Each contestant will sing a song of their own choice, back to back, and each duel concludes with the respective mentor eliminating one of the two contestants; the three winners for each mentor will advance to the Live shows.
The Duels were broadcast on December 11, 2015.

#### Colour key

- Artist won the Duel and advanced to the Live shows
- Artist lost the Duel and was eliminated

### Wildcard

In this season, 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. On December 18, 2015, Xenia Chitoroagă was declared the winner public.

## Finalists

The ten finalists will compete in the Live Shows.

### Color Key

    – Winner
    – Runner-up
    – Third place
| Category (mentor) | Acts | Acts | Acts | Acts |
| Under 20s (Bănică) | Xenia Chitoroagă | Endy Glikman | Erika Isac | Florin Răduţă |
| Over 20s (Matache) | Andrei Ioniță | Anastasia Ursu | Alex Vasilache | |
| Groups (Brenciu) | B52 | Bravissimo | Tomato | |

## Live shows
### Results summary
#### Color key

| – | Contestant received the most public votes |
| – | Contestant was in the bottom two and had to sing again in the final showdown |
| – | Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) |
Live shows results per contestant :
| Contestant | Live Show 1 | Live Show 1 | Live Show 2 | Live Show 3 | Live Show 3 |
| Contestant | Wildcard | Elimination | Elimination | Round 1 | Round 2 |
| Florin Răduţă | — | Safe | Safe | 1st 33,44% | Winner 51,78% |
| Xenia Chitoroagă | Returned Week 1 | Safe | Safe | 2nd 28,45% | Runner-up 48,22% |
| B52 | — | Safe | Safe | 3rd 25,82% | Eliminated (Live Show 3) |
| Bravissimo | — | Bottom two | Safe | 4th 12,29% | Eliminated (Live Show 3) |
| Andrei Ioniță | — | Safe | 5th | Eliminated (Live Show 2) | Eliminated (Live Show 2) |
| Anastasia Ursu | — | Bottom two | 6th | Eliminated (Live Show 2) | Eliminated (Live Show 2) |
| Endy Glikman | — | Bottom two | 7th | Eliminated (Live Show 2) | Eliminated (Live Show 2) |
| Erika Isac | — | Bottom two | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) |
| Tomato | — | Bottom two | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) |
| Alex Vasilache | — | Bottom two | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) | Eliminated (Live Show 1) |
| Final showdown | None | Anastasia Ursu Alex Vasilache | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Final showdown | None | Bravissimo Tomato | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Final showdown | None | Erika Isac Endy Glikman | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Brenciu's vote to eliminate | None | Tomato | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Matache's vote to eliminate | None | Alex Vasilache | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Bănică's vote to eliminate | None | Erika Isac | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated | No judges vote or final showdown: public votes alone decide who is eliminated |
| Eliminated | None | Tomato by Brenciu | Endy Glikman Public vote | Bravissimo 12,29% Public vote | Xenia Chitoroagă 48,22% Public vote to win |
| Eliminated | None | Alex Vasilache by Matache | Anastasia Ursu Public vote | Bravissimo 12,29% Public vote | Xenia Chitoroagă 48,22% Public vote to win |
| Eliminated | None | Alex Vasilache by Matache | Anastasia Ursu Public vote | B52 25,82% Public vote | Florin Răduţă 51,78% Public vote to win |
| Eliminated | None | Erika Isac by Bănică | Andrei Ioniță Public vote | B52 25,82% Public vote | Florin Răduţă 51,78% Public vote to win |
| Reference(s) | | | | | |

### Live Show 1 - December 18, 2015

* Theme: Romanian Gala
* Group performance: "Gură, taci!", "Cum ne noi", "A naibii dragoste"
* Musical guests: Jo, Nadir, Uddi and Randi ("Aseară ți-am luat basma", "Melodia mea" și "Până vara viitoare"), Nicoleta Nucă ("Nu sunt", "Adevăr sau minciună" feat. Cabron)
Contestants' performances on the first live show :
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Alex Vasilache | 1 | "Robot Armăsar" | Bottom two |
| Anastasia Ursu | 2 | "Mi-am pus busuioc în păr" | Bottom two |
| Andrei Ioniță | 3 | "Acolo este ţara mea" | Safe |
| Tomato | 4 | "De dragul tău" | Bottom two |
| B52 | 5 | "Stinge lumina" | Safe |
| Bravissimo | 6 | "Lume, lume, soro lume" | Bottom two |
| Endy Glickman | 7 | "De la capăt" | Bottom two |
| Erika Isac | 8 | "Zig Zagga" | Bottom two |
| Florin Răduţă | 9 | "Oameni" | Safe |
| Xenia Chitoroagă | 10 | "Săracă inima mea" | Safe |
| Final showdown details ||||
| Over 20s ||||
| Alex Vasilache | 1 | "Copacul" | Eliminated |
| Anastasia Ursu | 2 | "Mociriță cu trifoi" | Safe |
| Groups ||||
| Tomato | 1 | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Eliminated |
| Bravissimo | 2 | "You Raise Me Up" | Safe |
| Under 20s ||||
| Erika Isac | 1 | "Do It like a Dude" | Eliminated |
| Endy Glickman | 2 | "Use Somebody" | Safe |

#### Judges' votes to eliminate

* Brenciu: Tomato - He stated that "My decision today is based on one thing: those who have given me more emotions and can win X Factor! I will go further along with Bravissimo!"
* Matache: Alex Vasilache - gave no reason.
* Bănică : Erika Isac - He stated that "For me it was an experience! Today evening, my vote would be like this: who was the most motivated ?! The competitor who was the most motivated and understood what I wanted from him was Endy Glikman! "

### Live Show 2 - December 25, 2015

* Theme: Show Song, Christmas Song
* Musical guests: Gabriel Cotabiță - "Noapte albastră"
Contestants' performances on the second live show :
| Act | Order | First song | Order | Second song | Result |
| B52 | 1 | "One Night Only" | 14 | "Veste-am adus" | Safe |
| Florin Răduţă | 2 | "O, ce veste minunată!" | 9 | "Uptown Funk" | Safe |
| Andrei Ioniță | 3 | "Moldovenii s-au nascut" | 8 | "Florile dalbe" | Eliminated |
| Endy Glikman | 4 | "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" | 11 | "Andrii Popa" | Eliminated |
| Bravissimo | 5 | "Jungle Book Theme" | 10 | "Colindul celui fără de țară" | Safe |
| Anastasia Ursu | 6 | "Iarna (Milioane)" | 13 | "Domino" | Eliminated |
| Xenia Chitoroagă | 7 | "Story of My Life" | 12 | "Sus, la poarta Raiului" | Safe |
Notes
* This week featured a triple elimination. The three acts with the fewest votes were eliminated.

### Live Show 3: Final - December 27, 2015
#### Round 1

* Theme: Duet with special guest and with their mentor
* Musical guests: Tudor Turcu, Florin Ristei and Adina Răducan - Medley (Nunta, Salcia, Bună seara, iubite!), Trebuia să fii tu; Carla's Dreams - "Te rog", "Cum ne noi" with Delia
Contestants' performances on the third live show :
| Act | Order | First Song (duet with special guest) | Order | Second Song (duet with mentor) | Result |
| Bravissimo | 1 | "Brindisi" (with Cezar Ouatu) | 8 | "Doamne, vino Doamne!" (with Horia Brenciu) | Fourth place |
| Florin Răduţă | 2 | "Fallin'" (with Nicoleta Nucă) | 7 | "Sweet Home Chicago" (with Ștefan Bănică, Jr.) | Safe |
| B52 | 5 | "ABBA Medley" (with Lora) | 3 | "Crazy" (with Horia Brenciu) | Third place |
| Xenia Chitoroagă | 6 | "Pleacă" (with Cornel Ilie) | 4 | "Yesterday" (with Ștefan Bănică, Jr.) | Safe |

#### Round 2

* Theme: Final
Contestants' performances on the final live show :
| Act | Order | Song | Result |
| Florin Răduţă | 1 | "Eternitate" | Winner |
| Xenia Chitoroagă | 2 | "Pot să zbor" | Runner-up |

## Ratings

| Ep | Title | Date | National | National | Urban | Urban | 18–49 | 18–49 | Source |
| Ep | Title | Date | Average (thousands) | Rating (%) | Average (thousands) | Rating (%) | Average (thousands) | Rating (%) | Source |
| 1 | Auditions 1 | 17 September 2015 | 1.008 | 5.5 | 695 | 6.9 | 386 | 7.6 | |
| 2 | Auditions 2 | 18 September 2015 | 870 | 4.7 | 495 | 4.9 | 233 | 4.6 | |
| 3 | Auditions 3 | 25 September 2015 | 1.263 | 6.8 | 711 | 7.0 | 362 | 7.2 | |
| 4 | Auditions 4 | 2 October 2015 | 1.151 | 6.2 | 726 | 7.2 | 384 | 7.6 | |
| 5 | Auditions 5 | 9 October 2015 | 1.331 | 7.1 | 788 | 7.8 | 454 | 9.0 | |
| 6 | Auditions 6 | 16 October 2015 | 1.183 | 6.4 | 762 | 7.6 | 438 | 8.6 | |
| 7 | Auditions 7 | 23 October 2015 | 1.157 | 6.3 | 683 | 6.8 | 392 | 7.7 | |
| 8 | Auditions 8 | 30 October 2015 | 1.041 | 5.6 | 672 | 6.7 | 389 | 7.7 | |
| 9 | Auditions 9 | 6 November 2015 | 1.005 | 5.5 | 570 | 5.6 | 304 | 6.0 | |
| 10 | Auditions 10 | 13 November 2015 | 1.018 | 5.5 | 611 | 6.1 | 333 | 6.6 | |
| 11 | Auditions 11 | 20 November 2015 | 1.013 | 5.5 | 593 | 5.9 | 315 | 6.2 | |
| 12 | Six-chair Challenge 1 | 27 November 2015 | 855 | 4.6 | 510 | 5.1 | 255 | 5.0 | |
| 13 | Six-chair Challenge 2 | 4 December 2015 | 1.150 | 6.5 | 655 | 6.5 | 342 | 6.8 | |
| 14 | Six-chair Challenge 3 | 9 December 2015 | 1.006 | 5.5 | 644 | 6.4 | 325 | 6.5 | |
| 15 | The Duels | 11 December 2015 | 1.030 | 5.6 | 552 | 5.5 | 241 | 4.8 | |
| 16 | Live show 1 | 18 December 2015 | 936 | 5.1 | 515 | 5.1 | 257 | 5.1 | |
| 17 | Live show 2 - Semifinal | 25 December 2015 | 812 | 4.4 | 517 | 5.1 | 269 | 5.3 | |
| 18 | Live show 3 - Final | 27 December 2015 | 1.120 | 6.1 | 733 | 7.3 | 352 | 6.9 | |