X Factor (French TV series)
X Factor is a Franco-Belgian television music talent show to find new singing talent after public auditions, intermediate tests, and live shows. The first season was broadcast on Mondays, from September to December 2009, on W9 and RTL-TVI.
The second and final season was broadcast on Tuesdays, from March to June 2011, on M6 and RTL-TVI.
Series summary
"Boys" category"Girls" category
"16-24s" category
"Over 25s" category
"Groups" category
| Season | Air date | Winner | Third place | Judges | Winning mentor | ||
| 2009 | Sébastien Agius | Marie | Basilic | Alexandre Devoise | Julie Zenatti Marc Cerrone Alain Lanty | Alain Lanty | |
| 2011 | Matthew Raymond-Barker | Marina d'Amico | Maryvette Lair | Sandrine Corman Jérôme Anthony | Christophe Willem Olivier Schultheis Véronic Dicaire Henry Padovani | Véronic Dicaire |
Zaho with Christophe Willem in London, Sharleen Spiteri with Henry Padovani in French Perigord, Roch Voisine with Véronic DiCaire in Quebec, Alain Chamfort with Olivier Schultheis in Morocco
Judges' categories and their finalists
In each season, each judge is allocated a category to mentor and chooses three 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:
| Season | Alain Lanty | Marc Cerrone | Julie Zenatti | style="width:13%;" rowspan="2" |
| One | Over 25's Sébastien Annie Cécile | Groups Basilic Character Soul Gauthier Dymon & Flo | 16-24's Marie Cyrielle Guillaume | - |
| Season | Christophe Willem | Véronic Dicaire | Olivier Schultheis | Henry Padovani |
| Two | Over 25's Maryvette Lair Vincent Léoty Cécile Couderc | Boys Matthew Raymond-Barker Florian Giustiniani Raphaël Herrerias | Girls Marina D'Amico Sarah Manesse Bérénice Schleret | Groups 2nde Nature Oméga Twem |
Season 1 (2009)
The first season of the show aired from September to December 2009 and the winner was 26-year-old Sébastien Agius from the "Over 25" category. The judges were Alain Lanty, Julie Zenatti and Marc Cerrone.Finalists
The final 9 acts were confirmed as follows:Key:
Results summary
Color key:Ratings
Season 2 (2011)
Based on a generally good public reception, and after some speculations, X Factor came back for a second season in March 2011 on M6, in place of Nouvelle Star, the French Pop Idol, programmed on M6 since 7 years after audience figures deteriorated for StarFrédéric de Vincelles, general manager of W9, declared that even though all targeted goals were not attained in season 1, the program had still realised some respectable audience figures for the chain, making it the biggest grossing program for the network in 2009.
Differences with first season
- First season was aired on a small TV channel with limited means. This is not the case with the second season, as the program tries to emulate the successful British edition.
- For this second season, M6 assigned 4 artists to be part of the jury: Christophe Willem, Véronic Dicaire, Olivier Schultheis and Henry Padovani. All judges are new and replace the old set of three judges Marc Cerrone, Alain Lanty and Julie Zenatti.
- Auditions were held in major French theatres, in public.
- The bootcamp lasted for days and included 3 events: vocal duels, choreography and solos on orchestra-band.
- Two to three French or international popstars are invited each week during liveshows.
- During shows, a second program, named "F@n Factor: Le Prime", is broadcast on the internet to show the backstage and see preparation of candidates and their reactions after singing. So, there isn't an after-show as Xtra Factor.
- Every day, a short program, named "F@n Factor: Le Mag", is broadcast on the internet to show repetitions of candidates with their coaches, and their daily activities.
Judges and hosts
- Christophe Willem – French singer and songwriter. He sang in a gospel choir and won the fourth edition of Nouvelle Star in 2006. He sold over 2 million albums and was nominated several times in NRJ Music Awards and Victoires de la Musique.
- Olivier Schultheis – French conductor, musician and songwriter. He discovered Christophe Maé and composed for Hélène Ségara, Thierry Amiel, Christophe Willem and for musicals and wrote soundtracks for films. He was also a producer of Nouvelle Star.
- Véronic DiCaire - Franco-Ontarian singer and imitator. She was discovered by Céline Dion and René Angélil and was renowned for her imitations of many voices including Céline Dion, Tina Turner, Lynda Lemay, Lara Fabian, Isabelle Boulay, Christina Aguilera, Cyndi Lauper, Vanessa Paradis and others. She released two albums in 2002 and 2005.
- Henry Padovani – Corsican songwriter, guitarist and manager. He is the founding member of The Police with Stewart Copeland but Sting fired him in favour of Andy Summers. He was the director of IRS Records, where he promoted many groups such as R.E.M., The Fleshtones, The Cramps, and The Bangles. He was also the manager of Zucchero and I Muvrini.
Chronology of the early stages
- Preselections:
- * 2 November 2010 in Nice, Lyon and Strasbourg
- * 4 November 2010 in Marseille, Lille and Clermont-Ferrand
- * 6 November 2010 in Montpellier, Rennes and Brussels
- * 8 November 2010 in Toulouse
- * 9–10 November 2010 in Paris
- Auditions:
| Audition city | Dates | Venue |
| Lille | 2–3 December 2010 | Lille Grand Palais |
| Lyon | 9 December 2010 | Cité-Centre de Congrès de Lyon |
| Montpellier | 13–14 December 2010 | Zénith Sud |
| Paris | 3-4-5–6 January 2011 | Studio 204 - Plaine Saint-Denis |
- 'Bootcamp' : 25-26-27–28 January 2011 in Palais des Sports.
- 'Judge's House' : February in London, Marrakech, Canada and France.
Top 25
The 13 eliminated acts were:
- Boys: Sofiane Boncoeur, Slimane Nebchi, Michael Picquerey
- Girls: Ana Dupont, Charlène Gervais, Audrey Passani
- Over 25s: Lilou Bourial, Christophe Gilard, Barry Johnson
- Groups: Arcanes, New Style Project, Presteej, Swalk
Finalists