# X Factor (Albanian TV series)

X Factor is an Albanian television reality music competition, based on the original British series, and an addition to The X Factor franchise, to find new singing talent. The show began airing on 8 January 2012 and was broadcast by TV Klan.
The judging panel for the most recent season consisted of Adi Krasta, Arilena Ara, Young Zerka and Soni Malaj. Other judges from previous seasons consisted of Pandi Laço, Alban Skënderaj, Juliana Pasha, Vesa Luma, Altuna Sejdiu, Miriam Cani, Bleona Qereti and Elhaida Dani. The show is hosted by Alketa Vejsiu. She applied to acquire the rights of the show along with Top Channel and TV Klan. Syco TV gave the rights to her, then she sold parts of the rights to TV Klan. After losing the rights of The X Factor, Top Channel acquired the rights of the talent show, The Voice.
The show ran for 4 seasons, with the last episode airing on 1 June 2015, and then TV Klan announced that there were no plans to air another series of the programme. On 6 June 2022, Alketa Vejsiu announced that after 7 years, the show would return, with his fifth season in 2023 on TV Klan. The fifth season began airing on 8 December 2023.
There have been five winners: Sheila Haxhiraj, Arilena Ara, Ergi Dini, Edea Demaliaj and Alis Kallaçi.
On 9 January 2025, was announced a new version with the name X Factor Kids, for children until the ages of 12.

## Overview

It was announced that there would be four categories on the show, Males 15 to 23, Females 15 to 23, over 23s and The Groups. Since the fifth season, are only three categories on the show, the Boys category, the Girls category and the Mix category.
Also it was announced that there would be five stages of the competition. The first stage is known as the "Producers audition", the producers of the show choose which of the contestants will have the right to audition in front of the judges. Next the contestants audition in front of the judges where they sing at least one song with instrumentals or A Capella. The third stage of the competition is Bootcamp, where from thousands of contestants only 150 are left. The fourth stage includes the "Judge's houses" or known in Albania as "Vilat e Jurive", where only 32 contestants,8 per category would fight for their place in the live shows. And the last stage of the competition would be the Live shows, where four contestants per category will make it.
In the first live show the public couldn't vote or make a decision. In the second live show and on, only the public had the right to vote and decide which contestants from all categories would end up in the bottom two. The two contestants with the lowest number of votes would end up in the bottom two, then they sing again for survival, the four judges would decide which contestant they want to eliminate. If one of the judges has his or her contestant on the bottom two, he or she usually decides to eliminate the other contestant in the bottom two, so the real decision is in the hands of the two or (if one judge has two of its contestants in the bottom two) three judges that don't have their own contestants in the bottom two. The show goes this way on the live shows every week one or two contestants are voted off, until the grand finale on June 10 when the winner is announced.
The auditions were held in different cities across Albania and Kosovo, the producers auditions included many cities but the auditions in front of the judges were held only in a few. The cities that auditions were held with the judges are Tirana, Vlora, Elbasan, Shkoder and the Kosovan capital Pristina. The first episode aired half of Tirana's auditions on January 8. Vesa Luma wasn't the judge on all of the city auditions, she was chosen as the fourth judge only after all of the city auditions ended. She judged on the Shkodra's audition also. It was reported that more than 7000 people auditioned for the show, which broke a record for the biggest number of auditions in any talent show across Albania, Kosovo and the Balkans.
On the official Facebook page of the X Factor, it was announced that the show would be first aired on January 8, 2012. It was reported that the winner of the show would be signed to the famous label Syco Music, which has signed the likes of Leona Lewis, One Direction, Susan Boyle, Little Mix, Cher Lloyd, Alexandra Burke, Westlife etc. The winner of the first season of X factor Albania was Sheila Haxhiraj.

## Judges and hosts

| Cast | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons | Seasons |
| Cast | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Host |||||||
| Alketa Vejsiu | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main | Main |
| Judging panelists |||||||
| Alban Skënderaj | Main | Main | Main | Main | | |
| Pandi Laço | Main | Main | Main | Main | | |
| Juliana Pasha | Main | | | | | |
| Vesa Luma | Main | | | | Guest | |
| Altuna Sejdiu | | Main | Main | | | |
| Soni Malaj | | Main | Main | | | Main |
| Bleona Qereti | | | | Main | | |
| Miriam Cani | | | | Main | | |
| Adi Krasta | | | | | Main | Main |
| Arilena Ara | | | | | Main | Main |
| Young Zerka | | | | | Main | Main |
| Elhaida Dani | | | | | Main | Main |
* 1 2 Elhaida Dani originally signed up to serve on the sixth season as judge full-time. However, Dani was not able to resume her duties for the live shows. Soni Malaj replaced her, and served as judge until the end of the season.

## Series summary

* Act in Juliana's Category
* Act in Alban's Category
* Act in Altuna's Category
* Act in Soni's Category
* Act in Miriam's Category
* Act in Bleona's Category
* Act in Arilena's Category
* Act in Zerka's Category
* Act in Elhaida's Category
| Season | Originally aired | Originally aired | Winner | Runner-up | Third place | Winning mentor | Presenter | Main judges (Seat order) | Main judges (Seat order) | Main judges (Seat order) | Main judges (Seat order) |
| Season | First aired | Last aired | Winner | Runner-up | Third place | Winning mentor | Presenter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 1 | 8 January 2012 | 10 June 2012 | Sheila Haxhiraj Girls | Kristo Thano Boys | Xhesika Polo Girls | Juliana Pasha | Alketa Vejsiu | Alban Skënderaj | Juliana Pasha | Vesa Luma | Pandi Laço |
| 2 | 28 October 2012 | 31 March 2013 | Arilena Ara Girls | Aldo Bardhi Boys | Natyral Groups | Altuna Sejdiu | Alketa Vejsiu | Alban Skënderaj | Soni Malaj | Altuna Sejdiu | Pandi Laço |
| 3 | 15 September 2013 | 23 February 2014 | Ergi Dini Boys | Senad Rrahmani Over 23s | Sarah Memmola Over 23s | Altuna Sejdiu | Alketa Vejsiu | Alban Skënderaj | Soni Malaj | Altuna Sejdiu | Pandi Laço |
| 4 | 5 January 2015 | 1 June 2015 | Edea Demaliaj Girls | Genti Deda Boys | Dilan Reka Boys | Miriam Cani | Alketa Vejsiu | Alban Skënderaj | Bleona Qereti | Miriam Cani | Pandi Laço |
| 5 | 8 December 2023 | 19 April 2024 | Alis Kallaçi Boys | Jetmir Kanani Mix | Kleansa Susaj Girls | Arilena Ara | Alketa Vejsiu | Young Zerka | Elhaida Dani | Arilena Ara | Adi Krasta |
| 6 | 8 November 2024 | 4 April 2025 | Current season | Current season | Current season | Current season | Alketa Vejsiu | Young Zerka | Soni Malaj | Arilena Ara | Adi Krasta |

## Judges' categories and their contestants

In each season, each judge is allocated a category to mentor and chooses four acts to progress to the live shows. This table shows, for each season, which category each judge was allocated and which acts he or she put through to the live shows.
Key:
    – Winning judge/category. Winners are in bold, eliminated contestants in small font.
| Season | Alban Skënderaj | Juliana Pasha | Vesa Luma | Pandi Laço |
| One | Boys Kristo Thano Anxhelo Miho Amarildo Shahinaj Arianit Bellopoja | Girls Sheila Haxhiraj Xhesika Polo Festina Mejzini Savjana Vjerdha | Over 23s Lirije Rashiti Besa Breca Gerald Zyfi Matilda Shushari | Groups Classic Boys X Group Focus Red Roses |
| Two | Alban Skënderaj | Soni Malaj | Altuna Sejdiu | Pandi Laço |
| Two | Groups Natyral KSAL Soul Sisters Foxy Ladies | Boys Aldo Bardhi Sardi Strugaj Petro Xhori Herri Beluli | Girls Arilena Ara Antonela Çekixhi Elisa Salla Xhina Kelmendi Shkelqesa Sadiku | No Limit Kanita Suma Egzona Ademi Suela Malasi Ina Torba Rezart Saliasi |
| Three | Over 23s Senad Rrahmani Sarah Memmola Mia Morina Fatmir Durmishi | Groups Exception Free Spirit Nimfat Dream Girls | Boys Ergi Dini Leotrim Zejnullahu Amadeo Gjura Ademir Fresku | Girls Enxhi Nasufi Laura Kërliu Arissa Rexho Kristina Leka |
| Four | Alban Skënderaj | Bleona Qereti | Miriam Cani | Pandi Laço |
| Four | Over 23s Manuel Moscati Alice Ylenia Iorio Adela Curra | Boys Genti Deda Dilan Reka Matteo Brento Igli Zarka Gerald Celibashi | Girls Edea Demaliaj Floriana Rexhepi Lediana Matoshi Mirela Boka | Groups Brunetts X Roads Mama Pop Double F |
| Five | Young Zerka | Elhaida Dani | Arilena Ara | — |
| Five | Mix Jetmir Kanani Frank Ibrahimi Ingrid Havalja Alba Dajlani Borana Xhemali | Girls Kleansa Susaj Anisa Shabani Wendy Zylaj Kejsi Jazxhi Luna Çausholli | Boys Alis Kallaçi Niki Zaimi Kevin Malo Gent Disha Aldo Prendushi | — |
| Five | Mix Jetmir Kanani Frank Ibrahimi Ingrid Havalja Alba Dajlani Borana Xhemali | Groups The Chemicals | Boys Alis Kallaçi Niki Zaimi Kevin Malo Gent Disha Aldo Prendushi | — |
| Six | Young Zerka | Soni Malaj | Arilena Ara | — |
| Six | Mix Salvatore Mete Orjald Debinja Era Bako Albi & Elvi Kapedani Ergi Hasani | Boys Petro Fejzo Fortunato Cugilari Valdrin Mustafa Amarildo Vesho Lorian Dedaj | Girls Leandra Godaj Rigersa Loka Alda "Troy" Cuka Vashat Anja Myrtaj Bletisa Karaj | — |