# X Factor (Romanian TV series) season 8

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, 2018 |
| Iași | April 28, 2018 |
| Timișoara | April 29, 2018 |
| Galați | April 30, 2018 |
| Sibiu | May 1, 2018 |
| Craiova | 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 | Top 40 acts | Top 40 acts | Top 40 acts | Top 40 acts |
| Girls (Bănică) | Ioana Bulgaru | Doinița Ioniță | Mălina Ciarnău | Francesca Hojda | Špela Jezovšek |
| Girls (Bănică) | Francesca Tuzzolino | Ioana Cheche Arsintioaia | Isabela Pamparău | Bianca Moccia | Daria Cojocaru |
| Overs (Matache) | Bella Santiago | Cristina Vasopol | Raluca Răducanu | Cristian Sanda | Vincenzo Vollaro |
| Overs (Matache) | Simion Caragia | Maria Coman | Charles Driscoll | Raisa Bordea | Cătălina Adam |
| Boys (Carlas) | Cristian Moldovan | Alexandru Stremițeanu | Andrei Geamăn | Eduard Ungureanu | Zila Mike |
| Boys (Carlas) | Alexandru Țală | Cristian Porcari | Robert Hotin | Dragoș Bucătariu | Tudor Leon Mureşan |
| Groups (Brenciu) | Diamonds | Vox | Angels | Rodica & Cristi | Andreea & Bișu |
| Groups (Brenciu) | 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

### 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

### 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 | Acts | Acts |
| Boys (Carla's) | Cristian Moldovan | Alexandru Stremițeanu | |
| Girls (Bănică) | Ioana Bulgaru | Doinița Ioniță | |
| Over 24s (Matache) | Cristian Sanda | Bella Santiago | Cristina Vasopol |
| Groups (Brenciu) | Diamonds | Vox | |

## 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 1 | Live Show 2 | Live Show 2 | Live Show 3 | Live Show 3 |
| Contestant | Wildcard | Elimination | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 1 | Round 2 |
| Bella Santiago | — | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Winner |
| Ioana Bulgaru | — | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Runner-up |
| Cristian Moldovan | — | Safe | Safe | Safe | 3rd | Eliminated (Gala 3) |
| Doinița Ioniță | — | Safe | Safe | Safe | 4th | Eliminated (Gala 3) |
| Cristian Sanda | Returned Gala 1 | Safe | Safe | 5th | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) |
| Cristina Vasopol | — | Safe | Safe | 6th | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) |
| Vox | — | Safe | 7th | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) |
| Alexandru Stremițeanu | — | Safe | 8th | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) | Eliminated (Gala 2) |
| Diamonds | — | 9th | Eliminated (Gala 1) | Eliminated (Gala 1) | Eliminated (Gala 1) | Eliminated (Gala 1) |
| Eliminated |
| Eliminated | None | Diamonds by public vote | Alexandru Stremițeanu by public vote | Cristina Vasopol by public vote | Doinița Ioniță by public vote | Ioana Bulgaru by public vote |
| Eliminated | None | Diamonds by public vote | Vox by public vote | Cristian Sanda by public vote | Cristian Moldovan by public vote | Bella Santiago by 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 1 ||||
| Ioana Bulgaru | 1 | "Toy" | Safe |
| Cristian Sanda | 2 | "Jealous" | Safe |
| Alexandru 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" | Eliminated |
| Cristian 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 :
| Order | Order |
| 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

| 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 | 26 August 2018 | 901 | 5.0 | 529 | 5.5 | 232 | 5.3 | |
| 2 | Auditions 2 | 2 September 2018 | 701 | 3.9 | 386 | 4.0 | 177 | 4.0 | |
| 3 | Auditions 3 | 11 September 2018 | 831 | 4.6 | 444 | 4.6 | 213 | 4.8 | |
| 4 | Auditions 4 | 18 September 2018 | 824 | 4.6 | 491 | 5.1 | 246 | 5.6 | |
| 5 | Auditions 5 | 25 September 2018 | 1 035 | 5.8 | 587 | 6.1 | 264 | 6.0 | |
| 6 | Auditions 6 | 2 October 2018 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| 7 | Auditions 7 | 9 October 2018 | 994 | 5.5 | 603 | 6.3 | 291 | 6.6 | |
| 8 | Auditions 8 | 16 October 2018 | 749 | 4.2 | 385 | 4.0 | 153 | 3.5 | |
| 9 | Auditions 9 | 23 October 2018 | 910 | 5.1 | 552 | 5.7 | 239 | 5.4 | |
| 10 | Auditions 10 | 26 October 2018 | 695 | 3.9 | 367 | 3.8 | 156 | 3.5 | |
| 11 | Bootcamp - Four-chair Challenge 1 | 2 November 2018 | 678 | 3.8 | 362 | 3.8 | 181 | 4.1 | |
| 12 | Bootcamp - Four-chair Challenge 2 | 9 November 2018 | 644 | 3.4 | 329 | 3.4 | 130 | 2.9 | |
| 13 | Bootcamp - Four-chair Challenge 3 | 16 November 2018 | 688 | 3.8 | 386 | 4.0 | 177 | 4.0 | |
| 14 | Bootcamp - Four-chair Challenge 4 | 23 November 2018 | 660 | 3.7 | 349 | 3.6 | 157 | 3.6 | |
| 15 | Bootcamp - The Duels | 30 November 2018 | 843 | 4.7 | 463 | 4.8 | 202 | 4.6 | |
| 16 | Live Show 1 | 9 December 2018 | 589 | 3.3 | 311 | 3.2 | 138 | 3.1 | |
| 17 | Live Show 2 - Semifinal | 16 December 2018 | | | | | | | |
| 18 | Live Show 3 - Final | 23 December 2018 | | | | | | | |