‘X Factor Italia’ Scraps Gender & Age Categories For Contestants In World First
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The Italian version of Simon Cowell’s singing contest The X Factor has scrapped gender and age categories for performers for the first time in the show’s 17-year history.
When the Fremantle and Syco show returns to Comcast-owned Sky Italia in September, contestants will be divided into “heterogeneous” teams and will be mentored by one of the four judges: Emma, Hell Raton, Manuel Agnelli, and Mika. Each judge must have at least one soloist and one band on their team.
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Antonella d’Errico, executive vice president of programming at Sky Italia, said: “By removing the historical division by categories, X Factor welcomes change and wants to become a torchbearer and, in a world that no longer needs to make distinctions of gender or age, talent is for us a neutral noun. We will ask all the contestants of this year’s edition to bring the only thing they really need: their personal, unique X Factor.”
Fremantle Italy CEO Gabriele Immirzi added: “We are in fact the first X Factor in the world to change a historic and characterizing element of the format that today, in 2021, according with Syco Entertainment, we feel is not up-to-date with the reality of everyday life, especially the life of the generations who participate in X Factor. We want to support the growth of music talents without labels and distinctions other than the value and artistic quality of their projects.”
The X Factor first launched in the UK in 2004 and has traditionally divided contestants into four groups by gender, age, and whether they perform alone or are in a band.
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