X Factor Ethiopia

X Factor Ethiopia is an Ethiopian television music competition to find both discovered and undiscovered singing talent. The first series began airing on EBC on 17 February 2018 and finished a week later. Ruth Negga presented all the live shows. Mahder Assefa and Amleset Muchie also joined Negga in presenting some shows. Dennenesch Zoudé made a cameo appearance in the first night of the final, as she announced one of the qualifiers to the grand final.
==Selection phase==
An in-house panel of 20 Ethiopian music professionals decided 6 of the finalists, from an already whittled-down number, though unspecific how whittled. Another in-house panel of 20 foreign music professionals of various nationalities helped decide the other 6 finalists, as EBC stated the competition "is not just for Ethiopia, but for music which the entire world would enjoy." The four judges of the competition did not have a hand in deciding the entries, as their judging duties were to be saved for the live shows.
However, on 23 February 2018, EBC announced that they had internally selected Jordan & Bek Ge'ez to represent Ethiopia. EBC stated for its reasoning, "We allowed acts to submit as many as 10 songs from a minimum of 1. While the Ethiopian panel did enjoy and vote for the traditional Ethiopian music, the international panel favored almost all of [Jordan & Bek Ge'ez]'s songs over the traditional, which is what led us to our decision. While showcasing our traditional music scene in a global scale would be great, it would make [us] more "proud" should Ethiopia top the scoreboard, and perhaps bring the contest to our country." Despite the statement, EBC's decision resulted in the creation of a petition which reached thousands of signatures, stating that "EBC should be proud to showcase Ethiopia's traditional music on a worldwide scale."
As a result, EBC announced that X Factor Ethiopia would consist of two competitions, one directed towards its participation in the worldwide competition and one to promote the Ethiopian music scene. It was shortly revealed that the winner of the traditional competition would compete against the winning song of Jordan & Bek Ge'ez; the vote would be decided by 50% Ethiopian televoting and 50% international jury voting.
==Finalists==
Key:
: – Winner
: – Runner-up
: – Third place
Category (mentor) 	Category (mentor)	Details 	Details 	Details 	Details
Current (Gigi/Kelela) 	Act 	Jordan & Bek Ge'ez	Jordan & Bek Ge'ez	Jordan & Bek Ge'ez	Jordan & Bek Ge'ez
Current (Gigi/Kelela) 	Entry 	"TBA" 	"TBA" 	"TBA" 	"TBA"
Traditional (Afro/Aweke)	Act 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA 	TBA
Traditional (Afro/Aweke)	Entry 	"TBA" 	"TBA" 	"TBA" 	"TBA"
==Live shows==
===Results summary===
;Colour key
 –	Contestant was in the bottom two/three and had to perform again in the sing-off
 –	Contestant was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated
 –	Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no sing-off)
 –	Contestant received the most public votes
 Weekly results per contestant
Contestant 	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10 	Week 10
Contestant 	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Saturday 	Sunday
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
TBA 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Sing-off 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
TBA's vote to eliminate	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
TBA's vote to eliminate	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
TBA's vote to eliminate	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
TBA's vote to eliminate	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone	No sing-off or judges' votes: results were based on public votes alone
Eliminated 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Eliminated 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
===Live show details===
====Week 1 (17/18 February)====
 Contestants' performances on the first live show
Act 	Order 	Song 	Result
TBA 	1 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	2 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	3 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	4 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	5 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	6 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	7 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	8 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	9 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	10 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	11 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	12 	"TBA" 	Safe
Sing-off details	Sing-off details	Sing-off details	Sing-off details
TBA 	1 	"TBA" 	Safe
TBA 	2 	"TBA" 	Eliminated
;Judges' vote to eliminate
* Judge: Act – reason
* Judge: Act – reason
* Judge: Act – reason
* Judge: Act – reason
==Controversies==
==See also==