The X Factor (TV series)

The X Factor is a television talent show franchise originating in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for Pop Idol. It is a singing competition, now held in various countries, which pits contestants against each other. These contestants are aspiring pop singers drawn from public auditions. The programs are produced by executive producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco TV). The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality. The prize is usually a recording contract (in addition to the publicity that appearance in the later stages of the show itself generates, not only for the winner but also for other highly ranked contestants). The format creator is Simon Cowell who also judges and mentors on the UK series. The UK version is responsible for the launch of the internationally successful singer Leona Lewis. As of May 2010, there have been 42 winners of The X Factor around the world, the most recent being the Netherlands' Jaap van Reesema.

The X Factor series

Region/country	Local title	Television Network	Series and winners	Judges	Presenters
Arab World	سير النجاح X (The X Factor, XSeer Al Najah)	Rotana TV	Season 1, 2006: Rajaa Kasabni Season 2, 2007: Muhammad El Majzoub	Khaled El Sheikh (2006-2007) Michel Elefteriades (2006-2007) Nelly (2006) Anoushka (2007)	Joelle Rahme
Australia	The X Factor	Network Ten (2005) Seven Network (2010-present)	Season 1, 2005: Random Season 2, 2010: In Progress	Current Kyle Sandilands Ronan Keating Guy Sebastian Natalie Imbruglia Series 1 Mark Holden Kate Ceberano John Reid	Current The X Factor Luke Jacobz The Xtra Factor Natalie Garonzi Former The X Factor Matthew Newton (2010) Daniel McPherson (2005) The Xtra Factor Chloe Maxwell (2005)
Belgium	X Factor	VTM Website	Season 1, 2005: Udo Mechels Season 2, 2008: Dirk De Smet	Kris Wauters Jean Blaute (Season 1) Liliane Saint-Pierre (Season 1) Do (Season 2) Maurice Engelen (Season 2)	Koen Wauters (Season 1) Hadise (Season 2)
Bulgaria	X Factor	PRO.BG	Season 1, 2010: Upcoming season	TBD	TBD
Colombia	El Factor X	RCN TV Website	Season 1, 2005: Julio César Meza Season 2, 2006: Francisco Villarreal Season 3, 2009: Siam Season 4, 2010: Upcoming season[1][2]	Marbelle (Season 1-present) Juan Carlos Coronel (Season 1-present) José Gaviria (Season 1-present) Wilfrido Vargas (El Factor Xs 2)	Andrea Serna
	El Factor X: Batalla de Estrella (celebrity)		Season 1, 2006: Luz Amparo Alvarez
	El Factor Xs (children)		Season 1, 2006: Andres Camilo Hurtado Season 2, 2007: Camilo Echeverry Correa
Czech Republic	X Factor	TV Nova Website	Season 1, 2008: Jiří Zonyga Season 2, 2010: Upcoming season	Gábina Osvaldová Ondřej Soukup Petr Janda	Leoš Mareš
Denmark	X Factor	DR Website	Season 1, 2008: Martin Hoberg Hedegaard Season 2, 2009: Linda Andrews Season 3, 2010: Thomas Ring Petersen Season 4, 2011: Upcoming Season	Remee (Season 1-present) Lina Rafn (Season 1-Sæson 2) Thomas Blachman (Season 1-Sæson 2) Carsten Schack of Soulshock & Karlin (Season 3-present) Pernille Rosendahl of Swan Lee (Season 3-present)	Lise Rønne (Season 1-Sæson 2) Signe Muusmann (Season 3-present)
Finland	X Factor	MTV3 Website	Season 1, 2010: Elias Hämäläinen	Linda Brava Renne Korppila Gugi Kokljuschkin	X Factor Heikki Paasonen Xtra Factor Jukka Rossi
France Belgium French Community of Belgium	X Factor	W9 (France / 2009) M6 (France / 2010 - upcoming) RTL-TVi (Belgium - season 1) Website	Season 1, 2009: Sébastien Agius Season 2, 2011: Upcoming season[3]	Marc Cerrone Julie Zenatti Alain Lanty	Alexandre Devoise
Germany	X Factor	VOX Kick-off on RTL Website	Season 1, 2010: In Progress	Sarah Connor Till Brönner Georg Glueck	Jochen Schropp
Greece Cyprus	The X Factor	ANT1 Website	Series 1 2008-2009: Loukas Giorkas Series 2 2009-2010: Stavros Michalakakos Series 3 2010-2011: Upcoming season	George Levendis Giorgos Theofanous Katerina Gagaki Nikos Mouratidis	Sakis Rouvas
Hungary	X-faktor	RTL Klub	Season 1, 2010: In Progress	Feró Nagy Péter Geszti Ildikó Keresztes Ifj. Miklós Malek	Nóra Ördög Balázs Sebestyén
Iceland	X Factor	Stöð 2 Website	Series 1, 2006: Jógvan Hansen Series 2, 2010: Upcoming season	Einar Bárðarson Elínborg Halldórsdóttir Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson	Halla Vilhjálmsdóttir
Indonesia	The X Factor	SCTV	Season 1, 2010: Upcoming season	Indra Lesmana Titi DJ Maia Estianty	Adi Nugroho
Italy	X Factor	Rai Due Website	Season 1, 2008: Aram Quartet Season 2, 2008-2009: Matteo Becucci Season 3, 2009: Marco Mengoni Season 4, 2010: Upcoming Season	Current Mara Maionchi Elio Anna Tatangelo Enrico Ruggeri Former Morgan (Season 1-3) Simona Ventura (Season 1-2) Claudia Mori (Season 3)	Francesco Facchinetti
Morocco	Le Facteur X	2M TV	Season 1, 2006: Leila, Mouna & Hatim
	Studio 2M		Season 1, 2006: Hasnaa Zalarh Season 2, 2007: Imane Karkibou Season 3, 2008: Taoufiq El Bouchiti Season 4, 2009: Sofia Mountassir	Malak, Cristy Carol	Imad Ntifi
Netherlands	X Factor	RTL 4 Website	Season 1, 2006-2007: Sharon Kips Season 2, 2009: Lisa Hordijk Season 3, 2010: Jaap van Reesema Season 4, 2011: Upcoming season	Season 2-present Stacey Rookhuizen Angela Groothuizen Eric van Tijn Gordon Season 1 Henkjan Smits Marianne van Wijnkoop Henk Temming	Wendy van Dijk (Season 1–present) Martijn Krabbe (Season 2–present)
New Zealand	The X Factor	TV3	Season 1, 2011: Upcoming season	TBD	TBD
Norway	X Factor	TV 2 Website	Season 1, 2009: Chand Torsvik Season 2, 2010 Upcoming season	Current Jan Fredrik Karlsen (Season 1-) Elisabeth Andreassen (Season 2-) Marion Ravn (Season 2-) Klaus Sonstad (Season 2-) Former Mira Craig (Season 1) Peter Peters (Season 1)	Current X Factor Ravi Guri Solberg Xtra Factor Peter Moi Brubresko, Katarina Flatland Former X Factor Charlotte Thorstvedt (Season 1)
Russia	Секрет Успеха (Sekret Uspekha)	RTR Website	Season 1, 2005: Vladimir Sapovskiy Season 2, 2007: Nikolai Timohin	Season 1 Valeriy Meladze Katerina Von Gechmen-Valdek Aleksandr Revzin Valeriya Season 2 Valery Garkalin Tigran Keosayan	Season 1 Aleksey Chumakov Elena Vorobey Season 2 Tutti Larsen
Spain	Factor X	Cuatro Website	Season 1, 2007: María Villalón Season 2, 2008: Vocal Tempo Season 3, 2010: Upcoming Season	Miqui Puig Eva Perales Jorge Flo	Núria Roca
Ukraine	X Factor	STB Website	Season 1, 2010: In Progress	Igor Kondratyuk Sergei Sosedov Yolka Seryoga Galina Pylyutykova (auditions)	Oksana Marchenko
United Kingdom Ireland[4]	The X Factor	ITV1 ITV1 HD ITV2 STV (Scotland) UTV (Northern Ireland) Channel Television (Channel Islands) TV3 (Ireland) Website	Series 1, 2004: Steve Brookstein Series 2, 2005: Shayne Ward Series 3, 2006: Leona Lewis Series 4, 2007: Leon Jackson Series 5, 2008: Alexandra Burke Series 6, 2009: Joe McElderry Series 7, 2010: In Progress	Current Simon Cowell Louis Walsh Dannii Minogue Cheryl Cole Former Sharon Osbourne Brian Friedman	Current Dermot O'Leary Konnie Huq (The Xtra Factor) Former Kate Thornton Ben Shephard (The Xtra Factor) Fearne Cotton (The Xtra Factor) Holly Willoughby (The Xtra Factor)
	The X Factor: Battle of the Stars		Series 1, 2006: Lucy Benjamin
United States	The X Factor	Fox (USA) ITV2 (UK) CTV (Canada)	Season 1, 2011: Upcoming season	Simon Cowell Others to be announced	TBA

Disputes and controversies

Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller claimed the format of The X Factor was copied from his own show and through his company 19 TV filed a lawsuit against The X Factor producers FremantleMedia, Simon Cowell, and Cowell's company Syco.^[5] A high court hearing began in London in November 2005, the outcome awaited with interest by media lawyers for its potential effect on the legal situation regarding the copyrighting of formats. However the hearing was quickly adjourned and a settlement was reached out of court at the end of the month.^[6]

The Danish version of The X Factor has been criticised by Danish music contract expert and consultant for The Danish Musicians' Association (Dansk Musiker Forbund) Mikael Højris. According to Højris, the contracts for participation in the show are unfair for participants and almost amount to serfdom to DR1 (the channel airing the show) stating that clauses in the contracts forbid the participants - whether they pass the first round or not - from performing or participating in any other musical event for three months. He also criticises that participants are obliged to travel at their own expense.^[7]

In the UK, performers' union Equity has referred to the fact that contestants are not paid as "cheap exploitation".^[8]

See also

• List of television show franchises

References

External links

• X Factor 2008 - Official X Factor Belgium 2008 page
• The X Factor at itv.com
• X Factor Official site of X Factor Denmark at DR
• The Official site of The X Factor - Italy Official site of X Factor Italy
• X Factor UK News and Updates X Factor UK News and Updates
• Greek X Factor Homepage The Official site of X Factor Greece
• Norwegian X Factor Homepage Official site of X Factor Norway

The X Factor National franchises United Kingdom (original) · Armenia · Australia · Belgium · Bulgaria · Colombia · Chile · Czech Republic · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Italy · Indonesia · Netherlands · New Zealand · Norway · Russia · Spain · Ukraine · United States Multinational franchises Arab World