The first season of the

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

talent show A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

Vocea României ''Vocea României'' (; English: ''The Voice of Romania'') is a Romanian reality television, reality singing competition broadcast on PRO TV. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', the concept of the series is to find new singing talent ...

'' premiered on September 27, 2011 on

ProTV PRO TV (, often stylized as PRO•TV as of 2017) is a Romanian free-to-air television network, launched on 1 December 1995 as the fourth private TV channel in the country (after TV SOTI, Antena 1, and the now-defunct Tele7ABC). It is owned by CME ...

and was hosted by

Pavel Bartoș Pavel Bartoș (; born 20 January 1975 Miercurea Ciuc, Romania) is a Romanian actor and television presenter, known for hosting ''Românii au talent'' (Romanian's Got Talent) and ''The Voice of Romania''. Also the presenter was chosen by Disn ...

and Roxana Ionescu, while Vlad Roșca was the social media correspondent.

Horia Brenciu Horia Brenciu (; born Horea Augustus Brenciu on 27 August 1972 in Brașov) is a Romanian singer, television host for the Romanian version of ''Dancing with the Stars'', entertainer, and philanthropist. He studied at National College Andrei Şagun ...

Loredana Groza Loredana Groza (born 10 June 1970) or mononymously Loredana is a Romanian singer. She is known for continuously reinventing herself and for approaching numerous music styles throughout her discography, ranging from pop to traditional music and m ...

Smiley A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...

and

Marius Moga Marius Moga () is a Romanian singer, songwriter, producer and television personality. He writes and produces music in various styles and genres, especially pop, R&B and club music. In 2011, he became the judge and mentor of the reality singing sho ...

were the coaches for the first season. Each coach was allowed to mentor twelve contestants. The winner was

Ștefan Stan Ștefan Stan (born 2 July 1977 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian singer and the winner of the first season of Romanian reality talent show ''Vocea României'' 2011. Musically, he approaches the blues genre. Early life Although his mother had a ...

from Team Smiley. The season finale aired on December 26, 2011. It immediately proved to be a hit for ProTV and the network renewed the show for a second season.

Overview

The series consists of three phases: a blind audition (), a battle phase () and live performance shows (). Four coaches, all famous musicians, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process. Each coach has the length of the auditioner's performance (about two minutes) to decide if they want that singer on their team; if two or more coaches want the same singer, then the singer gets to choose their coach. Contestant auditions were held on June 26 and 27, 2011, at Hotel Crown Plaza

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. Contestants were also allowed to submit online applications.

Teams

; Color key

Blind auditions

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Episode 1 (September 27)

The first of five pre-recorded audition episodes aired on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. The show started with the four coaches singing

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

's "

Don't Stop Me Now "Don't Stop Me Now" is a song by the British rock band Queen featured on their 1978 album ''Jazz'' that was released as a single in 1979. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it was recorded in August 1978 at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les ...

Episode 2 (October 4)

The second episode aired on October 4, 2011.

Episode 3 (October 11)

The third episode aired on October 11, 2011.

Episode 4 (October 18)

The fourth episode aired on October 18, 2011.

Episode 5 (October 25)

The fifth and last blind audition episode was aired on October 25, 2011.

The battles

After the blind auditions, each coach had twelve contestants for the battle rounds that aired from November 1 to November 15, 2011. Coaches began narrowing down the playing field by training the contestants with the help of "trusted advisors". Each episode featured seven or eight battles consisting of pairings from within each team, and each battle concluding with the respective coach eliminating one of the two contestants. The trusted advisors for these episodes are:

Monica Anghel Monica Anghel (; born 1 June 1971 in Bucharest, Romania) is a Romanian singer and television personality. In 1996, she took part in the international preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Romanian song "Rugă pentru pacea lumii" was no ...

working with Horia Brenciu, Dana Dorian working with Loredana Groza, Alex Velea working with Smiley and

Randi Randi is both a given name, and a nickname in the English language, popular in North America and Norway. It is primarily a feminine name, although there is recorded usage of the name by men. It may have originated as a pet form of '' Miranda'' o ...

working with Marius Moga ;Color key:

Episode 6 (1 November)

The sixth episode aired on November 1, 2011.

Episode 7 (8 November)

The seventh episode aired on November 8, 2011.

Episode 8 (15 November)

The eighth episode aired on November 15, 2011. * Lavinia Vâlcan withdrew from the contest (see #Controversies); as a result, Anthony Icuagu, Gabriel Tran and Marcel Lovin formed a trio for the battle rounds.

The sing-off

At the end of the battle rounds, each coach advanced four contestants from their team to the live shows, leaving the other two to duel for the fifth and last spot, in an extra round called "the sing-off" (''cântecul decisiv''). The contestants sang their blind audition songs again and the coaches chose one contestant each. Color key:

Live shows

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Week 1 (November 22)

Team Brenciu and Team Smiley competed in the first live show, which aired on November 22. From each team, viewers could save two contestants, while the coach could save one of the remaining three. The other two went on to the sing-off (''cântecul decisiv''), where they performed their songs for the night once again, after which one was eliminated by their coach.

Week 2 (November 29)

Team Loredana and Team Moga competed in the second live show, which aired on November 29. Public voting (by phone calls and text messages) commenced at this point. From each team, viewers could save two contestants, while the coach could save one of the remaining three. The other two went on to the sing-off (''cântecul decisiv''), where they performed their songs for the night once again, after which one was eliminated by their coach.

Week 3 (6 & 9 December)

The third week comprised episodes 11 and 12. Team Brenciu and Team Smiley competed in the first part of this week, which aired on Tuesday, December 6, while Team Loredana and Team Moga competed in the second part of this week, which aired on Friday, December 9. Voting proceeded as before, except the public vote could only save one contestant from each team. Voting proceeded as before, except the public vote could only save one contestant from each team.

Week 4 (13 & 16 December)

The fourth week comprised episodes 13 and 14. All remaining contestants performed in both live shows. Voting proceeded as before, except the third-placed contestant in each team was automatically eliminated, without going through the sing-off round.

Semi-final (December 16)

All eight remaining contestants performed in the semi-final on Friday, December 16, 2011. Within each team, the coach and the viewers each had a 50/50 say; the contestant with the highest combined score went on to the final.

Week 5: Final (December 26)

The top 4 contestants performed in the grand final on Monday, December 26, 2011. This week, the four finalists performed a solo song, a duet with a famous singer and a duet with their coach. The public vote determined the winner, and that resulted in a victory for

, Smiley's first victory as a coach.

Elimination chart

;Color key ;Artist info

Controversies

Lavinia Vâlcan, a contestant in Team Smiley, withdrew from the contest before the battle round, as she considered that the show didn't allow her to express herself as an artist. Vâlcan claimed that, for the battle round, she had been forced to choose between two songs that did not suit her. The artist stated that the producers were uninterested in receiving a third proposal from her.

Ratings

* Note: The figures above are approximations and they only represent viewers from urban areas.

External links

Official ''Vocea României'' website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vocea Romaniei (season 1) 2011 Romanian television seasons