A 47-year-old Filipino carer who has been compared to Scotland's Susan Boyle wins X-Factor Israel.<br /><br />A Filipino carer, once part of a faceless crowd of foreign workers who tend to Israel's infirm and elderly, has surprised the country by winning one of its most popular TV singing contests. <br /><br />Competing in Israel's X-Factor, Rose Fostanes, 47, swept the judges off their feet with a tear-jerking rendition of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" on the show's live final. <br /><br />Her victory came as a surprise in Israel, where about 20,000 Filipinos work mostly as carers and cleaners. In the run-up to the final, Ms Fostanes said she hoped her popularity on the show would shine a spotlight on Israel's low-paid foreign workers. <br /><br />"I didn't expect that I would win," Ms Fostanes told reporters in Tel Aviv. "Because I'm not Israeli and I don't have residence here and I'm only a worker," she said.<br /> <br />For many Israelis, the word "Filipino" has become synonymous with caregiver, and Ms Fostanes' appearance and success on X-Factor could help break the stereotype. <br /><br />Ms Fostanes, who came to Israel several years ago, has been working for about 20 years across the Middle East, and currently cares for an ailing woman in Tel Aviv. <br /><br />She has been compared to the Scottish singer Susan Boyle, 52, who shot to fame in 2009 after appearing on the TV show "Britain's Got Talent" and performing "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical "Les Miserables". <br /><br />Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/<br /><br />Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv<br /><br />Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk<br />Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph<br />Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/<br /><br />Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
