The X Factor Philippines is a Philippine music competition to find a new singing talent. The first season began on June 23, 2012. KC Concepcion is the host of the show, while the judging panel consist of Charice, Gary Valenciano, Pilita Corrales, and Martin Nievera. The show is mainly based on the UK format. The competition consists of auditions, in front of the shows producers and then the judges with a live audience. It is then followed by the bootcamp, judges' home visit and then through the live finals, the winner of which receives a 4 million peso recording contract with Star Records. The finals were held on October 7, 2012, and aired live from the PAGCOR Grand Theater in Parañaque, Metro Manila, with KZ Tandingan from Charice's category declared as the winner of the competition. On the other hand, Martin Nievera's Gabriel Maturan of his Boys category came in as runner-up, while Daddy's Home of Gary Valenciano's Group category came in third place. The show ended on October 14, 2012, airing two special episodes after the finals. Selection process Auditions Auditions started in October 2011. Initial auditions are held in cities, provinces and towns in the Philippines like Laoag, Vigan, La Union, Baguio, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac, Zambales, Manila, Cavite, Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Quezon, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Masbate, Sorsogon, Marinduque, Aklan, Capiz, Iloilo, Negros Oriental, Leyte, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, General Santos, Koronadal, Lanao del Norte, Maguindanao, Agusan del Norte and Surigao del Norte. Major auditions were held in key cities from different parts of the country such as Baguio, Dagupan, Batangas, Quezon City, Naga, Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao. More than 20,000 people auditioned for the first season of The X Factor Philippines. The auditions were aired from June 23, 2012 until July 15, 2012. Footage from the Visayas auditions were first aired during the first week, followed by the Luzon auditions, the NCR auditions, and lastly, the Mindanao auditions. Bootcamp The bootcamp stage was held at the PAGCOR Grand Theater in Parañaque, Metro Manila. The bootcamp stage was broadcast in two episodes on July 21 and 22. The first day of bootcamp saw the judges split the 172 hopeful acts into four groups, namely: the Boys (solo male acts from ages 16–25 yrs old), the Girls (solo female acts from ages 16–25 yrs old), the