The X Factor Israel is the Israeli version of the British television music competition The X Factor. Season 1 was first announced in late 2012. Auditions for the show began on March 5, 2013. Promos for the show started airing in early September. The first season started its run on Saturday, October 26, 2013. The show airs during prime time on Reshet network on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The season concluded on January 14, 2014.
In May 2013, it was announced that Bar Refaeli, an Israeli fashion model, will host the first season. Contrary to most other versions of the X Factor where the judges panels was a mixture of singers and music industry figures, the Israeli version was composed entirely of musicians. The judges panel for the first season was composed of the rock singer Rami Fortis, the pop singer-songwriter and composer Moshe Peretz, the pop and R&B singer Shiri Maimon, and the pop singer Ivri Lider.
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Auditions began on March 5, 2013. Auditions were open to all ages. Entries must pass three auditions in front of the producers in order to get to perform in front of the judges and live audience. Selected best, worst, and most bizarre auditions typically move on to the judges stage. Judging took place in Nokia Arena, Tel Aviv.
Following the judges audition stage, 80 competitors entered the boot camp stage of the X factor. Following an initial round of auditions half of the contests were eliminated. The remaining acts had to perform a second audition in order to make it to the judges houses stage. 20 acts were collaboratively selected by the judges at the end of boot camp.
At the conclusion of bootcamp, a number of contestants from the boys category that were previously eliminated were called back into stage. The judges offered them a way back into the show as a group. The individual contestants were Edan Tamler, Adir Tov, Nadav Carni, Gustavo Quiñones, and Yuhan Buchnik. The band was eventually named Fusion.
Five acts were chosen for each of the four categories. In the judges house, two acts from each category were eliminated. The top 12 contestants continued on for the live shows.
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Live shows began on December 18, 2013.
The first episode peaked at 49%, about 1.1 million viewers, making it the highest figure for opening episode of any Israeli music program. The show had an average rating of 38.4% of households.