X Factor is an Albanian television music competition to find new singing talents. The third season began on 15 September on TV Klan.
Based on the British format, the competition consists of auditions, in front of producers and then the judges with a live audience; bootcamp; judges' houses and then the live finals. The producers' auditions for the show began in April 2013 in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. The winners were later called back to perform in front of the judges, held from May 19–21 in Tirana. However, the auditions were broadcast in September, when the show started airing. The show will be hosted once again by Albanian singer Alketa Vejsiu, while the judging panel consists of pop singer Altuna Sejdiu, Alban Skenderaj, Soni Malaj and Pandi Laço.
This year, the producers have decided to give more attention to the live shows, extending it to 15 weeks, and not airing bootcamp. The auditions were aired in three shows only, and then the show passed to the judges houses, airing only the finalists' bootcamp performance and result. Thus, to make the live shows longer to give the contestants more time to perform.
The other difference this year, is that there is a variety of contestants who come from different places. Sarah Memmola is from Italy, who challenged herself to take part in the X Factor Albania. There are six contestants from Macedonia this year. There is no soloist from Kosovo this year, and there is a singer from Serbia, Donika Nuhiu, for the first time in the show.
Judges' houses
The 15 eliminated acts were: Boys: Endri Caci, Genti Sheholli, Ilirian Mertani, Yllnor Kurti Girls: Alma Kadria, Anxhela Dano, Arlinda Kovaci, Oreta Leka Over 23s: Adelina Bacaj, Ester Abazi, Joana Gjini Groups: Divas, New Life, The Fevers, Victorious 4
Contestants The top 16 contestants were confirmed as follows;
Key: – Winner – Runner-up
Category (mentor)Acts Boys (Sejdiu) Ademir Fresku Amadeo GjuraErgi Dini Leotrim Zejnullahu Girls (Laço) Arissa Rexho Enxhi Nasufi Kristina Leka Laura Kërliu Over 23s (Skënderaj) Fatmir Durmishi Mia Morina Sarah MemmolaSenad Rrahmani Groups (Malaj) Dream Girls Exception Free Spirit Nimfat
Live shows
Results summary
Colour key –Contestant received the fewest public votes and had to sing again in the sing-off
+ 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 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Round One Round Two Ergi Dini Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe SafeWinner (week 15) Senad Rrahmani Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe SafeRunner-up (week 15) Sarah Memmola Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Bottom two 3rd Eliminated(week 15) Enxhi Nasufi Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe 4th Bottom two Eliminated (week 14) Exception Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe 10th Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe 5th Eliminated (week 13) Leotrim Zejnullahu Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe 7th Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 12) Laura Kërliu Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 11) Amadeo Gjura Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Safe 9th Safe 8th Eliminated (week 10) Mia Morina Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Safe Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 9) Free Spirit Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe 10th Eliminated (week 8) Arissa Rexho Safe Safe Safe 13th Safe Safe 11th Eliminated (week 7) Fatmir Durmishi Safe Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 6) Nimfat Safe Safe Safe Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 5) Kristina Leka Safe Safe Safe 14th Eliminated (week 4) Dream Girls Safe Bottom two Bottom two Eliminated (week 3) Ademir Fresku Safe Bottom two Eliminated (week 2) Final showdown Ademir FreskuDream Girls Dream GirlsLaura Kërliu Arissa RexhoKristina Leka Amadeo GjuraNimfat Fatmir DurmishiMia Morina Arissa RexhoException Amadeo GjuraFree Spirit Laura Kërliu Mia Morina Amadeo GjuraLeotrim Zejnullahu ExceptionLaura Kërliu Leotrim ZejnullahuSarah Memmola Enxhi NasufiException Enxhi NasufiSarah Memmola No final showdown or judges' vote:results are based on public votes alone Skënderaj's vote to eliminate: Ademir Fresku Dream Girls Kristina Leka Nimfat Fatmir Durmishi Exception Amadeo Gjura Laura Kërliu Amadeo Gjura Laura Kërliu Leotrim Zejnullahu Exception Enxhi Nasufi Sejdiu's vote to eliminate: Dream Girls Dream Girls Kristina Leka Nimfat Fatmir Durmishi Arissa Rexho Free Spirit Mia Morina Leotrim Zejnullahu Laura Kërliu Sarah Memmola Enxhi Nasufi Enxhi Nasufi Malaj's vote to eliminate: Ademir Fresku Laura Kërliu Arissa Rexho Amadeo Gjura Fatmir Durmishi Arissa Rexho Amadeo Gjura Mia Morina Amadeo Gjura Laura Kërliu Leotrim Zejnullahu Enxhi Nasufi Enxhi Nasufi Laço's vote to eliminate: Ademir Fresku Dream Girls Arissa Rexho Nimfat Exception Free Spirit Mia Morina Leotrim Zejnullahu Exception Leotrim Zejnullahu Exception Sarah Memmola Eliminated None Ademir Fresku 3 of 4 votes Majority Dream Girls 3 of 4 votes Majority Kristina Leka 2 of 4 votes Deadlock Nimfat 3 of 4 votes Majority Fatmir Durmishi 3 of 3 votes Majority Arissa Rexho 2 of 4 votes Deadlock Free Spirit 2 of 4 votes Deadlock Mia Morina 3 of 4 votes Majority Amadeo Gjura 2 of 4 votes Deadlock Laura Kërliu 3 of 4 votes Majority Leotrim Zejnullahu 3 of 4 votes Majority Exception 2 of 4 votes Deadlock Enxhi Nasufi 3 of 4 votes Majority Sarah Memmola Third Place Senad Rrahmani Runner-Up Ergi Dini Winner
Live show details
Week 1 (27 October 2013) Group performance: "On the Floor"
+ Contestants' performances on the first live show Act Order Song Result Nimfat 1 "Wings" Safe Ergi Dini 2 "Unchain My Heart" Safe Mia Morina 3 "You and I" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 4 "Bound to You" Safe Ademir Fresku 5 "Angels" Safe Dream Girls 6 "Proud Mary" Safe Arissa Rexho 7 "One Night Only" Safe Free Spirit 8 "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 9 "Mama" Safe Amadeo Gjura 10 "I Just Want to Make Love to You" Safe Kristina Leka 11 "Read All About It" Safe Leotrim Zejnullahu 12 "I Can't Stop Loving You" Safe Exception 13 "I Want It That Way" Safe Sarah Memmola 14 "Almeno tu nell'universo" Safe Laura Kërliu 15 "Like a Virgin" Safe Senad Rrahmani 16 "Runaway" Safe No Final Showdown
Week 2 (3 November 2013) Group performance: "Counting Stars"
+ Contestants' performances on the second live show Act Order Song Result Exception 1 "This Love" Safe Senad Rrahmani 2 "Wild World" Safe Mia Morina 3 "You Know I'm No Good" Safe Arissa Rexho 4 "Call Me When You're Sober" Safe Sarah Memmola 5 "Valeria" Safe Ademir Fresku 6 "To the Moon and Back" Bottom two Nimfat 7 "Telephone" Safe Laura Kërliu 8 "I Kissed a Girl" Safe Amadeo Gjura 9 "Tainted Love" Safe Dream Girls 10 "Lady Marmalade" Bottom two Leotrim Zejnullahu 11 "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 12 "Il cuore è uno zingaro" Safe Kristina Leka 13 "Somebody That I Used to Know" Safe Free Spirit 14 "We Will Rock You"/"I Want It All" Safe Ergi Dini 15 "The Show Must Go On" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 16 "Wild" SafeFinal showdown details Ademir Fresku 1 "Save the Last Dance for Me" Eliminated Dream Girls 2 "My Kind of Love" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Pandi Laço: Ademir Fresku Altuna Sejdiu: Dream Girls Soni Malaj: Ademir Fresku Alban Skënderaj: Ademir Fresku
Week 3 (10 November 2013) Group performance: "You Are Not Alone"
+ Contestants' performances on the third live show Act Order Song Result Laura Kërliu 1 "Broken-Hearted Girl" Bottom two Senad Rrahmani 2 "Is This the End" Safe Nimfat 3 "Grenade" Safe Leotrim Zejnullahu 4 "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" Safe Arissa Rexho 5 "Give Your Heart a Break" Safe Kristina Leka 6 "Don't You Remember" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 7 "Svalutation" Safe Dream Girls 8 "Skyfall" Bottom two Sarah Memmola 9 "Gli uomini non cambiano" Safe Exception 10 "Love Is the Way" Safe Amadeo Gjura 11 "Creep" Safe Ergi Dini 12 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 13 "If I Were a Boy" Safe Free Spirit 14 "In the End" Safe Mia Morina 15 "Right to Be Wrong" SafeFinal showdown details Laura Kërliu 1 "The Winner Takes It All" Safe Dream Girls 2 "Fallin'" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate Pandi Laço: Dream Girls Soni Malaj: Laura Kërliu Alban Skënderaj: Dream Girls Altuna Sejdiu: Dream Girls
Week 4 (17 November 2013)
+ Contestants' performances on the fourth live show Act Order Song Result Leotrim Zejnullahu 1 "Breakeven" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 2 "Bad Boys" Safe Free Spirit 3 "Hit the Road Jack"/"Djaloshi dhe shiu" Safe Mia Morina 4 "Nothing Compares 2 U" Safe Kristina Leka 5 "Beautiful" Bottom two Arissa Rexho 6 "Still Loving You" Bottom two Senad Rrahmani 7 "Bailamos" Safe Nimfat 8 "Price Tag" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 9 "Anche Senza Di Te" Safe Sarah Memmola 10 "Meravigliosa creatura" Safe Amadeo Gjura 11 "Raggamuffin" Safe Ergi Dini 12 "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" Safe Laura Kërliu 13 "Mercy" Safe Exception 14 "La La La" SafeFinal showdown details Kristina Leka 1 "Someone like You" Eliminated Arissa Rexho 2 "My Heart Is Refusing Me" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Pandi Laço: Arissa Rexho Altuna Sejdiu: Kristina Leka Soni Malaj: Arissa Rexho Alban Skënderaj: Kristina Leka With the acts in the bottom two receiving two votes each, the result was deadlocked and reverted to the earlier public vote. Leka was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 5 (24 November 2013)
+ Contestants' performances on the fifth live show Act Order Song Result Arissa Rexho 1 "Born This Way" Safe Free Spirit 2 "Gangsta's Paradise" Safe Sarah Memmola 3 "All by Myself" Safe Ergi Dini 4 "Angie" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 5 "My Love" Safe Mia Morina 6 "My Number One" Safe Amadeo Gjura 7 "Seven Nation Army" Bottom two Exception 8 "What Makes You Beautiful" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 9 "This Is My Now" Safe Nimfat 10 "It Will Rain" Bottom two Leotrim Zejnullahu 11 "Feeling Good" Safe Laura Kërliu 12 "Flashdance... What a Feeling" Safe Senad Rrahmani 13 "Please Forgive Me" SafeFinal showdown details Amadeo Gjura 1 "Different Pulses" Safe Nimfat 2 "Too Lost in You" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate Altuna Sejdiu: Nimfat Soni Malaj: Amadeo Gjura Alban Skënderaj: Nimfat Pandi Laço: Nimfat
Week 6 (8 December 2013)
+ Contestants' performances on the sixth live show Act Order Song Result Senad Rrahmani 1 "Rebel Yell" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 2 "I'm Your Baby Tonight" Safe Free Spirit 3 "They Don't Care About Us" Safe Laura Kërliu 4 "You Lost Me" Safe Amadeo Gjura 5 "One" Safe Arissa Rexho 6 "Wrecking Ball" Safe Fatmir Durmishi 7 "L'emozione non ha voce" Bottom two Mia Morina 8 "True Colors" Bottom two Leotrim Zejnullahu 9 "I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" Safe Exception 10 "Impossible" Safe Ergi Dini 11 "I've Got Dreams to Remember" Safe Sarah Memmola 12 "Jetoj" SafeFinal showdown details Fatmir Durmishi 1 "" Eliminated Mia Morina 2 "I Can't Make You Love Me" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Alban Skënderaj: Fatmir Durmishi Altuna Sejdiu: Fatmir Durmishi Soni Malaj: Fatmir Durmishi Pandi Laço: It was not necessary to vote for Fatmir Durmishi already had the votes necessary for elimination.
Week 7 (15 December 2013)
+ Contestants' performances on the seventh live show Act Order Song Result Ergi Dini 1 "Refuzoj" Safe Amadeo Gjura 2 "Sexy and I Know It" Safe Arissa Rexho 3 "Girl on Fire" Bottom two Free Spirit 4 "It's My Life" Safe Senad Rrahmani 5 "Here Without You" Safe Mia Morina 6 "Baby Boy" Safe Exception 7 "Cry Me a River" Bottom two Sarah Memmola 8 "Il cielo e sempre piu blu" Safe Leotrim Zejnullahu 9 "Ne me quitte pas" Safe Laura Kërliu 10 "Forget You" Safe Enxhi Nasufi 11 "Domino" SafeFinal showdown details Arissa Rexho 1 "Just Like a Pill" Eliminated Exception 2 "Impossible" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Soni Malaj: Arissa Rexho Pandi Laço: Exception Alban Skënderaj: Exception Altuna Sejdiu: Arissa Rexho