X Factor (Romanian season 9)

The aspiring artists were able to register online on the site of the show. From these, the producer selected the artists who are to enter the audition stage.

Colour key:

•   Winner
•   Runner-up
•   Eliminated in the Semifinal
•   Eliminated in the Duels
•   Eliminated in the Bootcamp
•   Wildcard

Auditions took place in Bucharest only, because of the COVID-19 outbreak.[3] Filming started on July 7, 2020.

According to the X Factor Romania - the ninth season regulations, the judges will be assigned a category of artists out of the 4:

• Boys between the ages of 14 and 24 - Loredana Groza
• Girls between the ages of 14 and 24 - Ștefan Bănică Jr.
• Artists over the age of 24 (mixed) - Delia Matache
• Groups - Florin Ristei[4]

Each judge has the right to one vote for each contestant: "YES" or "NO". Those who receive 4 YES-es will be advanced directly to the next stage. Those with 3 YES-es will be on the short list of the judge that will mentor his category. The judge that will have the groups category will have the opportunity to form groups at the auditions. The judge can ask for a group each artist that received 3 YES-es. The judge that will mentor the category of the respective artists will decide if he will keep them in his category or if he will leave them for the group category.

Each judge will complete its team with 10 artists/musical acts.

Episode 1 (September 11)

✔  Judge voted YES  ✘  Judge voted NO   Artist received 4 YES-es, therefore he went straight into the next stage   Artist received just 1 or 2 YES-es, therefore he was eliminated   The mentor of the artist's category

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Ioana Ardelean	20	Bucharest	Girls	"Still In Love"	✔	✔	✔	✔
2	Vlad Moigrădeanu	30	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Blue Suede Shoes"	✘	—	✘	✔
3	Vlad Erdei	30	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Something About the Way You Look Tonight"	✘	—	—	—
4	Vlad Erdei & Vlad Moigrădeanu	30	Timișoara	Groups	"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"	✘	✔	✔	✔
5	Radu Brescan	24	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Feeling Good" "Foaie verde, foi de floare"	✘	✘	—	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)
6	Lavinia Jitaru	16	Craiova	Girls	"Mercy on Me"	✔	✔	✔	✘
7	François Larocque	34	Paris	Over 24s	Contestant decided to leave the competition
8	Romanița Duminică	33	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Niciodată nu e prea târziu" (own song)	✘	✘	✔	—
9	Buffon01 (Florin Doleanu)	23	Bucharest	Boys	"Călător prin Europa" (own song)	✔	✘	✔	✔
10	Bianca Ionescu	17	Bucharest	Girls	"Hello" "You Don't Do It for Me Anymore"	✔	✔	✔	✘
11	Marius Amariei	34	Sibiu	Over 24s	"Arată-i c-o iu..."	✘	✘	✔	✔
12	Alexandra Țiuleanu	23	Craiova	Girls	"I Have Nothing"	✘	—	—	✘
13	Adrian Petrache	19	Bucharest	Boys	"Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)"	✔	✔	✔	✔
14	Giulian Ioan	34	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Sway"	✘	✔	✔	✔
15	Jeni Ion	33	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Cuvinte"	Impossible to advance due to contestant's deafness

Episode 2 (September 18)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Iulia Perpelea	17	Bucharest	Girls	"He Taught Me How to Yodel"	✔	✔	✔	✘
2	Alex Mica	29	Timiș	Over 24s	"Pe-o margine de lume"	✔	✘	✔	✔
3	Izabela Maria Marin	20	Râmnicu Vâlcea	Girls	"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" "Something's Got a Hold on Me" "Hit the Road Jack" alongside Florin Ristei	✘	—	—	✘
4	Andrada Precup	16	Bucharest	Girls	"Proud Mary"	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Alexandra Moraru	18	Timișoara	Girls	"Raggamuffin" "Ce-ți cântă dragostea"	✘	✘	✘	✘
6	Lucian Pință	57	Breaza	Over 24s	"Smile"	✔	✘	✔	✔
7	Andra Ariadna Chitu	25	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Revolution" "Yesterday"	✔	✔	✔	✘
8	Cornel Munteanu	17	Bucharest	Boys	"Umbrella"	✘	✘	✘	✘
9	Denis Iane	29	Bucharest	Over 24s	"I Like It"	✔	✘	✔	✔
10	Super 4 (Aurelio Fierro Jr., Gregorio Rega, Salvatore "Sabba" Lampitelli and Francesco Boccia)	4 members	Naples	Groups	"Un'emozione da poco" "Caruso"	✔	✔	✔	✔
11	Angelo Iancu	19	Lugoj	Boys	"I Put a Spell on You"	✘	✔	✔	✔
12	Carmen Belenesi	46	Cluj-Napoca	Over 24s	"Pasiune maximă" (own song)	✔	✘	✘	✔

Episode 3 (September 25)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Mistah White (Radu Deac)	32	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Magie" (own song)	✔	✘	✔	✔
2	Alfa Band (Andrei, Florin, Mira & Bianca)	4 members	Cluj-Napoca	Groups	"The Sounds of Silence"	No vote Sent directly to Bootcamp as WILDCARD
3	Theodor Andrei	15	Bucharest	Boys	"If I Can Dream"	✔	✔	✔	✔
4	Oana Velea	16	Bucharest	Girls	"Praying"	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Tomer "Tomy" Jack Weissbuch	22	Bucharest	Boys	own song	✘	✘	—	✘
6	Otilia Gogu & Adelina Gogu	46 & 20	Mărășești	Groups, Over 24s	"Două inimi"	✔	✔	✔	✔
7	Rawi Srouji	23	Nazareth	Boys	"Tamally Maak"	✔	✘	✔	✔
8	Bianca Sandu	22	Timișoara	Girls	"Rather Be"	✘	—	✘	—
9	Lucian Păscan	40	Miercurea-Ciuc	Over 24s	"N'oubliez jamais"	✘	✔	✔	✔
10	Ana Cernicova	29	Chișinău	Over 24s	"I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama" "Ave Maria"	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)	✘	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)
11	Eduard Crenganiș	25	Iași	Over 24s	"De-aș avea" (own song)	✘	✘	—	✘
12	Naomi Hedman	27	London	Over 24s	"Fallin'" "If I Ain't Got You" alongside Florin Ristei	✔ (after hearing the duet)	✔ (after hearing the duet)	✔ (after hearing the duet)	✔ (after hearing the duet)

Episode 4 (October 2)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Alina Dincă	30	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Love On The Brain"	✔	✔	✔	✔
2	Andi Horjea	24	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Breathe Easy"	✔	✘	✔	✔
3	Alexia Andreea Lupea	17	Galați	Girls	"Kill This Love"	—	✘	—	✘
4	Ana Maria German	29	Târgu Mureș	Over 24s	"Casa mea"	—	—	—	—
5	Bianca Mihai	19	Buzău	Girls	"Something In The Way"	✔	✔	✔	✘
6	Mihai Spînu	24	Slatina	Over 24s	"Copacul"	✘	✔	—	✘
7	Robert Botezan	24	Sibiu	Boys	"Lucifer" (own song)	✔	✔	✔	✔
8	Apollo & Artemis Evanghelos	19 & 19	Ploiești	Groups	"Rămâi" / "Thelo Konta Sou Na Meino"	✘	✔	✔	✔
9	Andrei Dafin	33	Suceava	Over 24s	"Interzis de dulce" (own song)	✘	—	✘	—
10	Vasi Bistrae	31	Constanța	Over 24s	"At Last"	✘	✔	✔	✔
11	Vasi Tiberiu Botezătoru	26	Constanța	Over 24s	"Andrei Radu"	—	✘	✘	✘
12	Dominique Simionescu	18	Sibiu	Girls	"Inimă nu fi de piatră" / "I Will Survive"	✔	✔	✔	✘
13	Ana Paula Rada Pantea	19		Girls	"Granada"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Episode 5 (October 9)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Bogdan Mureșan	23	Arad	Boys	"Mortal" (own song)	✔	✔	✘	✔
2	Alisia Ienei	18	Oradea	Girls	"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"	✘	✘	✔	✘
3	Mario Rosini	56	Gioia del Colle	Over 24s	"L'infinità"	✘	✔	✔	✔
4	Dragoș Marian Calotă	31	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Writing's on the Wall"	✘	✘	✘	✘
5	Chriss Casper	32	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Little Paris"	✔	✘	✔	✔
6	Sava Răgățeanu	60	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Sărut, femeie, mâna ta"	✘	✔	✔	✘
7	Melania Cuc	19	Ghioroc	Girls	"Never Enough"	✔	✔	✔	✔
8	Maria Andraș	18	Sfântu Gheorghe	Girls	"Talking to the Moon"	✔	✔	✔	✘
9	Florentina Stan	42	Bucharest	Over 24s	"November Rain" "Zombie"	—	—	—	—
10	Arthur Horeanu	15	Arad	Boys	"I Don't Want to Be"	✔	✔	✔	✔
11	Sorin Ene	39	Gratia	Over 24s	"Fir-ai tu să fii de murg"	—	—	—	—
12	Sonia Mosca	28	Salerno	Over 24s	"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" "Burn Baby Burn"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Episode 6 (October 16)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Denis Costea	14	Brașov	Boys	"Cruisin' for a Bruisin'"	✔	✔	✔	✔
2	Rareș Nicolae Iorga	20	Argeș	Boys	"The Real Slim Shady"	✘	✘	✘	✘
3	Marina Vlad	22	Craiova	Girls	"Fallin'"	✔	✘	✔	✔
4	Liviu Panait	23	Agigea	Boys	"Stay"	✔	✔	✔	✘
5	Anna Turrei	24	Milano	Over 24s	"Black Widow"	✔	✘	✔	✔
6	Marius Lemeni	26	Oradea	Over 24s	"Iubește-o sincer"	✘	✔	—	✘
7	Tania Morales	41	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Hasta la Muerte" (own song) "De-ar fi să vii"	✘	✔	✔	✔
8	Andreea Fabri	16	Nădlac	Girls	"She Taught Me to Yodel"	✔	✔	✔	✘
9	Jurgen Bonaccini	41	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Perdere l'amore"	✘	✘	—	✘
10	Ana Maria Ioana	20	Sibiu	Girls	"I'll Take Care of You"	✘	✔	✔	✔
11	Alexandra Sîrghi	18	Galați	Girls	"I Don't Think About You"	✔	✔	✔	✔
12	Marcelo Souza	35	Bucharest	Over 24s	"??"	—	✘	✔	✘
13	Cristina Teodorescu	37	Bucharest	Over 24s	"My Heart Will Go On"	✔	—	✔	✔

Episode 7 (October 23)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Ioana Ilincescu	17	Bucharest	Girls	"Into The Unknown"	✔	✔	✔	✘
2	Harmony Duo	46 & 56	Constanța	Groups	"Stumblin' In" "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (with Florin Ristei)	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)	✔ (after hearing the 2nd song)	✘
3	Stelian Savu	30	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Compilation"	✘	✔	✘	✘
4	Maia Mălăncuș	14	Iași	Girls	"Just Like Fire"	✔	✔	✔	✘
5	Monica Puiu	36	Bucharest	Over 24s	"You Are the Reason"	✘	—	✘	✘
6	Iulian Canaf	47	Iași	Over 24s	"Please Accept My Love"	✔	✔	✔	✔
7	Ferenc Zsolt Gál	30	Târgu Mureș	Over 24s	"Best Days" (own song)	✘	—	✘	✘
8	Kashy (Ștefan Gabriel Luca)	19	Moldova Nouă	Boys	"Child in Time" (own song) "Child in Time"	✘	✔	✔	✔
9	Cristina Dăscălescu	48	Bacău	Over 24s	"Lágrima"	✘	✔	✔	✔
10	Maria Viorela Lupu	19	Bucharest	Girls	"Pe când te iubeam"	✘	✘	✘	—
11	Kalon Rae	33	London	Over 24s	"Lately"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Episode 8 (October 30)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Carla Ioniță	14	Cluj-Napoca	Girls	"idontwannabeyouanymore"	✔	✔	✔	✘
2	David Adrian Ștefan	14	Bucharest	Boys	"Who's Lovin' You"	✔	✔	✔	✔
3	Maria Alexandra Voiculescu	30	Sibiu	Over 24s	"You and I"	✘	—	✘	✘
4	Simona Smultea	32	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)"	—	—	—	—
5	Diana & Denisa Simion	23 & 23	Focșani	Groups	"Dance Monkey"	✘	✘	✔	—
6	Vanessa Ion	17	Bucharest	Girls	"Fallin'"	✔	✔	✔	✘
7	Costi Pucă	19	Arad	Boys	"Puștoaico" (own song)	—	—	✘	✘
8	Andrada Ghiduruș	15	Slobozia	Girls	"I Dreamed A Dream"	✘	✔	✔	✔
9	Alexandru Stamate	28	Târgu Jiu	Over 24s	"Superstition"	✘	—	✘	✘
10	Ioan Păduraru	32	Bacău	Over 24s	"I Believe I Can Fly"	✔	✔	✘	✔
11	Cristina Gheorghe	28	Bucharest	Over 24s	"We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off"	✔	✘	✔	✔
12	Mihăiță Liviu Stan	31	Brăila	Over 24s	"Sus paharul"	✘	✘	✘	✘
13	Lakeetra Knowles	42	Pavia / Little Rock	Over 24s	"It's a Man's Man's Man's World"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Episode 9 (November 6)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Sara Memba	30		Over 24s	"Mundo Bicolor"	✘	✘	✔	✔
2	Ana Maria Roșu	24	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Ain't No Way"	✔	✘	✔	✔
3	Zila Mike (Mihai Negru)	26	Bucharest	Over 24s	"King Zila" (own song)	✘	✔	✔	✔
4	Austin Hirth	28	Cluj-Napoca / Florida	Over 24s	"Budapest"	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Jasmina Glodeanu	31	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Chuva"	✔	✔	✔	✘
6	INDEPENDENȚII (Ștefan Bolnavu & Cătălin Heisanu)	23 & 23	Curtea de Argeș	Groups	own song	✘	✔	✔	✔
7	Beatrice Giurgiu	38	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Mercy on Me"	✘	✔	✔	✔
8	Parascheva Burdjua	23	Iași	Girls	"If I Die Young"	—	✘	✘	✘
9	Katarina Dyer	21	Bucharest	Girls	"Love on the Brain"	✔	✔	✔	✘
10	Cezara Daiana Niculcia	22	Timișoara	Girls	"Te iubeam"	—	✘	—	✘
11	Cătălin Valea	47	Petroșani	Over 24s	"Say Something"	—	—	✘	✘
12	Mihai Meiroș	34	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Lady"	✘	✔	✔	✔
13	Marta Verrecchia	18	Gaeta	Girls	"Listen"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Episode 10 (November 12)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Andreea Dobre	18	Straja	Girls	"Murderer"	✔	✔	✔	✔
2	Tiberiu Gache	33	Bucharest	Over 24s	"DROP" (own song)	✘	✘	✘	✘
3	Alexandra Căpitănescu	17	Galați	Girls	"Am I The One"	✔	✔	✘	✔
4	Marian Vasilescu	28	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Imagine"	✘	✔	✔	✔
5	Oana & George Indru	28 & 21	Timișoara	Groups	"Give In to Me"	✔	✔	✔	✔
6	Nadia Shehabi	26	Timișoara	Over 24s	"Elastic Heart"	✘	✘	✘	✘
7	Mihaela Condurache	51	Bucharest	Over 24s	"She's Gone Out of My Life"	✔	✘	✔	✔
8	Ioana Cristodorescu	21	Bucharest	Girls	"Drinking In The Day"	✘	✔	✔	✔
9	Roxana Ghiuzan	16	Roman	Girls	"I Put a Spell on You"	✘	✘	✘	✘
10	Mattia Perdeti	31		Over 24s	"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"	✔	✔	✔	✘

Episode 12 (November 19)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Daria Pintilie	15	Piatra Neamț	Girls	"Survivor"	✔	✔	✔	✘
2	Mădălina Așchipoaie	24	Iași	Over 24s	"Million Years Ago"	✘	✘	✘	✘
3	Anne Laura Noupadja	28	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Rumour Mill"	✔	✘	✔	✔
4	Teodora & Marian	27 & 28	Bucharest	Groups	"Billie Jean"	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Karina Ștefan	15	Giroc	Girls	"If I Ain't Got You"	✘	✔	✔	✔
6	Lavinia & Alexandru	32 & 34	Timișoara	Groups	"Yes Rasta" (own song)	✘	✘	✘	—
7	Carmen Macovei	46	Petroșani	Over 24s	"If I Could Turn Back Time"	—	✘	✘	✘
8	Miruna Puiu	24	Sighetu Marmației	Over 24s	"Diamonds"	✘	✔	✘	✔
9	Virgil Bob	51	Sălaj	Over 24s	"Nu mai beau" (own song)	✘	✔	✔	✔
10	Andra Barangă	17	Năvodari	Girls	"Run To You"	✔	✔	✔	✔
11	Silvia Mitrache	61	Craiova / Parma	Over 24s	"The Best"	✘	✔	✔	✔

Episode 13 (November 20)

Order	Artist	Age	Hometown	Category	Song(s)	Verdict
						Ristei	Delia	Loredana	Ștefan
1	Roxana Ene	27	Măcin / Rome	Over 24s	"Cine iubește și lasă"	✔	✘	✔	✔
2	Alina Bumbeș	26	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Fallin'"	✘	—	✘	✘
3	Denisa Avram	16	Buzău	Girls	"Seven Nation Army"	✔	✔	✘	✔
4	Trio Eva (Alexandra, Evelina, Valeria)	14 & 15 & 16	Chișinău	Groups	"Chandelier"	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Gabriel Cîndea	27	Hunedoara	Over 24s	"Broken Vow"	✔	✘	✔	✔
6	Alexandrina Robea	27	Bucharest	Over 24s	"Mulțumesc, iubită mamă!"	✔	✘	✔	✔
7	Enrico Bernardo	46	Napoli	Over 24s	"When a Man Loves a Woman" "Caruso"	✔	✘	✔	✔
8	Andrada Făină	16	Gorj	Girls	"Break My Broken Heart"	✔	✘	✔	✔
9	Anton Daroți	18	Bucharest	Boys	"Las-o să zboare"	—	✘	✘	✘
10	Alexandrina Grosu	29	Chișinău / Bilbao	Over 24s	"Fuego"	✘	✘	✔	✔
11	Claudia Iuga & Raul Jipa	41 & 35	Arad & Bucharest	Groups	"Shallow"	✔	✔	✔	✘
12	Liviu Giulian Miluț	14	Calafat	Boys	"??" (own song)	✘	✔	✔	✔
13	Andreea Niță	20	Timișoara	Girls	"De-ai fi tu salcie la mal"	✘	—	✘	✘
14	Eden Loren	19	Rome	Boys	"Il Mare Calmo Della Sera"	✔	✔	✔	✔

Each judge completed its team with 10 artists. In case the judges did not have enough contestants in their teams who passed automatically with 4 YES-es, they had to choose from those with 3 YES-es from their short list.

In the bootcamp, each contestant will sing a song and only 3 from each category will be advanced.

Auditions

• When asked if he had participated in such a show before, Lucian Pință said no. He actually participated in the show Cântă acum cu mine, the Romanian version of All Together Now and Falsez pentru tine, the Romanian version of I Can See Your Voice. (Episode 2)
• Maia Mălăncuș was actually 13 years old when she auditioned, therefore, she had not even reached the minimum age of 14 for the participation in the show. (Episode 7)

Bootcamp

• Both Arthur Horeanu and Kashy (Gabi Gruici) criticized the way their Bootcamp performances were edited. Arthur by adding a comment on the post on Facebook of his performance on the official X Factor Romania page saying: "From the stage I heard differently and I know how I sang. Re-listening to the recording, however, I detected some corrections and compressions that did not benefit me (one is obvious at 1:03), and the shortening of the song somewhat ruined its flow." and Kashy posting an Instagram story from rehearsals saying: "It kind of sounds better here". (Episode 14)

The ninth season of the talent show has a companion series titled eXtra Factor. The show's presenter is the actress Ilona Brezoianu, known for the role of secretary Flori from the comedy series Mangalița and will be able to be watched weekly on Antena Play.[5] The first episode premiered September 11, 2020 on Kaufland Romania's YouTube channel.[6]