El factor X is the Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

n television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 competition to find new singing

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 talent. It is the based on the original British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 competition The X Factor

The X Factor (UK)

The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...

, created by Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell

Simon Phillip Cowell is an English A&R executive, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known in the United Kingdom and United States for his role as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol...

. It is the first version produced in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. The show started screening in September 2005 and ended in December. The judges are Marbelle, singer Juan Carlos Coronel, and José Gaviria, a producer who has worked with stars like Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...

. All seasons and versions of the show have been hosted by the prestigious Colombian TV host and top model Andrea Serna

Andrea Serna

Andrea Serna is a famous Colombian model, TV presenter , reporter, TV show hostess, radio DJ and TV producer.She was born in Caldas, but she was raised in Santiago de Cali and currently lives in Bogotá with her husband, Colombian TV producer Frank Scheuermann...

, produced by Teleset and broadcast on RCN TV

RCN TV

RCN Televisión , is a Colombian private television network. It started as a production company in 1967...

.

Series summary

"Under 25s" category

"Over 25s" category

"Groups" category

Season	Air date	Winner		Third place		Judges	Winning mentor
	2005	Julio César Meza Julio César Meza Julio César Meza also known as Julio Meza is a Colombian singer. In 2005, he won the first ever Colombian edition of The X Factor entitled El factor X broadcasted on RCN TV...	Enygma	Farina Pao Poucar Franco	Andrea Serna Andrea Serna Andrea Serna is a famous Colombian model, TV presenter , reporter, TV show hostess, radio DJ and TV producer.She was born in Caldas, but she was raised in Santiago de Cali and currently lives in Bogotá with her husband, Colombian TV producer Frank Scheuermann...	Marbelle Juan Carlos Coronel José Gaviria	Juan Carlos Caronel
Two	2006	Francisco Villarreal Francisco Villarreal Francisco Villarreal is a Colombian singer. In 2006, he won the second series of El factor X, the Colombian edition of The X Factor. He beat runner-up Mario Marcelino Macuacé and third-placed Angelo , who had been the favourite to win until the date of the final...	Mario Marcelino Macuacé	Juan Carlos Ángel			Marbelle
Three	2009	Siam	Raza Pana	Jorge Luis Medina Mosquera			José Gaviria
Four	2011	TBD	TBD	TBD		TBA	TBD

Series 1 (2005)

Participants and their respective mentors were:

Jose Gaviria	Marbelle	Juan Carlos Coronel
16–24 years	Groups	25 and Over
Felipe Espinoza -	Sofia Pérez -	Paula Mantilla -
Mirabay Montoya	Andrea Piñeros	Juanita Delgado
Farina Pao Poucar Franco	Enigma	Julio César Meza Julio César Meza Julio César Meza also known as Julio Meza is a Colombian singer. In 2005, he won the first ever Colombian edition of The X Factor entitled El factor X broadcasted on RCN TV...
Yina Gallego	Sin Limite	Jackson Mosquera
Andres Monsalve	Las Hijas de Doña Diana	Estella Diaz
Maria Elisa Camargo	Las Gemelas Botero	Anabella Arbelaez

The winner of season one was Julio César Meza

Julio César Meza

Julio César Meza also known as Julio Meza is a Colombian singer. In 2005, he won the first ever Colombian edition of The X Factor entitled El factor X broadcasted on RCN TV...

 from solo-singers-aged-25+ category; the runners-up were Enygma (group made up of Ricardo García, Manuel Peña, Germán ‘Tito’ Núñez and Iván Peña) from vocal groups category and in third place was the controversial reggaeton

Reggaeton

Reggaeton is a form of Puerto Rican and Latin American urban and Caribbean music. After its mainstream exposure in 2004, it spread to North American, European and Asian audiences. Reggaeton originated in Puerto Rico but is also has roots from Reggae en Español from Panama and Puerto Rico and...

-singer Farina (full name Pao Paucar Franco) from the solo-singers-aged-25-and-over category, famous for her quote Yo soy Farina! (from Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

: I am Farina)

Series 2 (2006)

Marbelle	Juan Carlos Coronel	Jose Gaviria
16-24 Years	Groups	25 and Over
Francisco Villarreal Francisco Villarreal Francisco Villarreal is a Colombian singer. In 2006, he won the second series of El factor X, the Colombian edition of The X Factor. He beat runner-up Mario Marcelino Macuacé and third-placed Angelo , who had been the favourite to win until the date of the final...	Ébano	Mario Marcelino Macuacé
Brayan Visbal	Natalia Y Marisol	Ángelo (Juan Carlos Ángel)
Juan Manuel	5 Latinos	Martha Trujillo
Juanita Pérez	Violeta	Walter Daniel Martínez
Lina María Uribe	Síntesis	Mary

The series was won by Francisco Villarreal

Francisco Villarreal

Francisco Villarreal is a Colombian singer. In 2006, he won the second series of El factor X, the Colombian edition of The X Factor. He beat runner-up Mario Marcelino Macuacé and third-placed Angelo , who had been the favourite to win until the date of the final...

. He was unsuccessful contestant in the first series but had learned how to read in the intervening period. The runner up was Mario Marcelino Macuacé and third-place went to Angelo (full name Juan Carlos Ángel). Angelo was considered by many to be the favorite.

Series 3 (2009)

After a hiatus of 2 years in which no more series were held, the programme returned in 2009 with its third season. Big publicity campaign was held and Canal RCN and Teleset S.A., producers of the third series visited various cities to collect talents from all over the country. Judge mentors and the participants were:

Juan Carlos Coronel	Jose Gaviria	Marbelle
16-24 Years	Groups	25 and Over
Jorge Luis Medina Mosquera	Siam Siam (duo) Siam is a Colombian duo from Cali, Colombia made up of Carlos and Caro. In 2009, they won the third series of El factor X, the Colombian edition of The X Factor...	Edgardo José Escobar de Castro
Adriana Redondo Montero	Raza Pana	Juan Camilo Cordoba
Luz Ángela Perez Espitaleta	Son3	María Alejandra Diaz Huertas (Aleja)
Juan David Becerra (Juanda)	Sexto Sentido	Natalia María Sierra Sanchez

The competition was won by the group Siam

Siam (duo)

Siam is a Colombian duo from Cali, Colombia made up of Carlos and Caro. In 2009, they won the third series of El factor X, the Colombian edition of The X Factor...

, with Raza Pana another group as runner-up and Jorge (full name Jorge Luis Medina Mosquera) as third.

El factor XS (2006, 2007 and 2011)

A popular children's version of the show was made in early 2006 called the "Xs Factor", where Xs stand for extra small. Two consecutive series were made. The third consecutive serie (2011) is actually in course.

Series 1 (2006) was won by Andrés Camilo Hurtado and Series 2 (2007) by Camilo Echeverry Correa.

Series summary

"8 - 11 years" category

"12 - 15 years" category

"Groups" category

Season	Air date	Winner		Third place		Judges	Winning mentor
	2006	Andrés Camilo Hurtado	Huellas	Aldemar	Andrea Serna Andrea Serna Andrea Serna is a famous Colombian model, TV presenter , reporter, TV show hostess, radio DJ and TV producer.She was born in Caldas, but she was raised in Santiago de Cali and currently lives in Bogotá with her husband, Colombian TV producer Frank Scheuermann...	Marbelle Juan Carlos Coronel José Gaviria	Juan Carlos Coronel
Two	2007	Camilo Echeverry Correa	David	An3		Wilfrido Vargas Wilfrido Vargas Wilfrido Radamés Vargas Martínez was born in Altamira, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.He was surrounded by musical influences; namely, his father Ramón, an accordionist and guitarist, and his mother Bienvenida, a flute player and guitarist...   Marbelle José Gaviria	José Gaviria

El Factor X: Batalla de las Estrellas (2006)

A "Battle of the Stars" celebrity version of the show was held only once in 2006. The winner of the celebrity series was Luz Amparo Alvarez.

Jose Gaviria	Marbelle	Juan Carlos Coronel
Females	Males	Groups
Luz Amparo Álvarez	Jota Mario Valencia	Juan Y Andrés (Manuel Lenis and Andrés Sandoval)
Yaneth Waldman	Marcelo Cezán	Los Intocables (Carlos Giraldo, Diva Jessurum and ‘La Negra Candela’)
Lady Noriega	Lucas Velásquez	Fusión (Andrea Nocceti, Omar Murillo and Natalia Peralta)
Amalin de Hazbun	Carlos Calero	Olé (Martha Restrepo and Juan Rafael Restrepo)
Valerie Domínguez	‘Paché’ Andrade	El Cocuyo (Salpicón and Guillermo Díaz Salamanca)

Series summary

"Men" category

"Women" category

"Groups" category

Season	Air date	Winner		Third place		Judges	Winning mentor
	2006	Luz Amparo Álvarez	El Cocuyo	‘Paché’ Andrade	Andrea Serna Andrea Serna Andrea Serna is a famous Colombian model, TV presenter , reporter, TV show hostess, radio DJ and TV producer.She was born in Caldas, but she was raised in Santiago de Cali and currently lives in Bogotá with her husband, Colombian TV producer Frank Scheuermann...	Marbelle Juan Carlos Coronel José Gaviria	José Gaviria

External links

• Colombian El Factor X 2009 Official Site (Spanish)