became the most popular of all three seasons shot so far at that moment. However, the songs were noted to be weaker than in the previous series. Being unhappy with that, Channel One decided to let the contestants be signed with musical producers Viktor Drobysh and Iosif Prigozhin in the end. Viktor Drobysh scouted Kireev, Golubev and Barsukov to create the group K.G.B. and invited Yaroslavskaya, Ortman, Veber and Krainova to form the girlband Tootsie. Producer: Alexander Shulgin Fourth season (Early 2004) The fourth season of the show was led by Igor Krutoy, one of the founders of New Wave. However, Viktor Drobysh and Igor Nikolaev were also involved in the creative direction of the season as Krutoy could not take the heavy workload on his own. Initially, Evgeniy Orlov was supposed to work together with Krutoy as a co-producer, but after a dispute between the two, Krutoy took the leadership of the season on himself without Orlov. It was the first season that the veto right for producers was used, as Krutoy saved Irina Dubtsova during the ninth concert. Unlike previous seasons, the fourth season had 18 contestants instead of 16. A few contestants were already known prior to the show, including Dominik Joker, Timati, Edita Piekha’s grandson Stas Piekha and Irina Dubtsova, who had sung in the girl group Devochki. Similar to the two previous seasons, almost all performances were playbacked. Ksenia Sobchak had auditioned for this season of Fabrika Zvyozd, but did not make it past the auditions. The show started on 12 March and finalised its season on 11 June 2004 with a concert in the Olympic Arena. For winning the season, Dubtsova received a Peugeot cabriolet, an album and two music videos. She was also allowed to represent Russia at New Wave that same year. Zatsepin received a car, an album and two music videos. For finishing third, Piekha received an album, two music videos and a motorbike. Krutoy and Drobysh also awarded special prizes to Aleksa, who received the opportunity to record a studio album, Yuriy Titov and Banda, who received an album and a music video, and Ksenia Larina, who received a microphone. The show came under fire in April 2004 after two contestants had an intimate relationship and performed sexual acts live on television. Earlier, the show had published a promotional photoshoot in which the contestants had posed naked. 15-year-old Aleksa from