Star Academy

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Location of different versions of Star Academy
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Location of different versions of Star Academy

Star Academy is a highly successful television show format produced by Endemol, that has been broadcasted in over 50 countries. It is a pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.

Contents

[edit] Format

There are many versions of the Star Academy show, each country having its own slight variations, but the basic concept remains the same: contestants live in a boarding-school called "The Academy", managed by a director, and various teachers coach them in several artistic disciplines. The participants are filmed with hidden cameras throughout the day and night (an idea borrowed from another of Endemol's major reality shows Big Brother). Once a week, the contestants have to face a prime time show, where they sing the song they've prepared during the week before, as well as recapping their trials and tribulations at The Academy from the past week. The live show will often feature special guest stars, with whom some of the contestants have the opportunity to sing. Based on the judges' verdicts and viewer voting, the weakest contestant is dropped. The eventual winner is awarded a record deal, or similar prize.

[edit] History

The Star Academy concept belongs to the Spanish production company Gestmusic, a Spanish branch of Endemol. The first country to broadcast the format, however, was France on October 20th, 2001. Two days later, Operación Triunfo, as the show is called in Spanish speaking countries, went on the air in Spain.

From then on the Star Academy phenomenon began to spread in an unstoppable way, being impelled by the sweeping success of the contest in major media markets like France or Russia.

Nowadays, Star Academy is the second most expanded reality show, just behind Big Brother, and has reached markets as different as India, Middle East and United States, becoming the first Spanish format ever acquired by these countries.

[edit] Star Academy around the world

Region Local name Channel Official website Winner
Africa [1] Project Fame M-Net Website
Argentina Operación Triunfo Telefe Website
Belgium Star Academy Kanaal Twee (Dutch)
RTL-TVI (French)
Website
  • Katerine Agvoustakis (Dutch)
  • Mélanie Martin's (French)
Brazil Fama Globo Website
  • Vanessa Jackson
  • Marcus Vinícius
  • Tiago Silva
  • Fabio Souza
Bulgaria Star Academy NTV Website
Canada Star Académie TVA Website
  • Wilfred Le Bouthillier
  • Stéphanie Lapointe
  • Marc-André Fortin
Chile Operación Triunfo Mega Website
  • Mónica Rodríguez
East Africa[2] Tusker Project Fame NTV (Kenya)
Channel 10 (Tanzania)
UBC (Uganda)
Website
  • Current season
France Star Academy TF1 Website
  • Jenifer Bartoli
  • Nolwenn Leroy
  • Elodie Frégé
  • Grégory Lemarchal
  • Magalie Bonneau
  • Current season
Germany Fame Academy RTL II
  • Become One (resulting six-member band)
Greece Fame Story ANT1 Website
India Fame Gurukul SET Website
Italy Operazione Trionfo Italia 1 Website
  • Bruno Cuomo
Maghreb[3] Star Academy Website
  • Upcoming season
Mexico Operación Triunfo Televisa Website
Middle East[4] Star Academy
Al Academia
LBC Website
  • Mohammad Attia
  • Hisham Abdul
  • Joseph Attieh
Netherlands Star Maker Yorin Website
  • Sita Vermeulen
Philippines Pinoy Dream Academy ABS-CBN
Studio 23
Website
  • Current season
Portugal Academia De Estrelas
Operaçao Triunfo
TVI
RTP
Website
Website
  • Mané
  • Sofia Barbosa
  • Sofia Vitória
Romania Star Factory Prima TV Website
  • Alex
Russia Fabrika Zvezd ORT Website
  • Pasha Artemyev
  • Gagarina Polina
  • Nikita Malinin
  • Irina Dubtsova
  • Victoria Dayneko
  • Dmitry Koldun
Spain Operación Triunfo TVE
Telecinco
Website
Website
  • Rosa López
  • Ainhoa Cantalapiedra
  • Vicente Seguí
  • Sergio Rivero
  • Current season
Turkey Akademi Türkiye ATV Website
UK Fame Academy BBC Website
  • David Sneddon
  • Alex Parks
USA The One: Making a music star ABC Website
  • Cancelled

[1] Pan regional version with 11 African countries involved: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
[2] Joint version with contestants from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
[3] Adaptation for the Maghreb area. Countries taking part: Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia
[4] Joint version with 18 Middle East countries taking part in it (watching, voting and/or with a contestant): Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen.

[edit] Near copies of Star Academy

  • Dream Show, the music
  • Amici di Maria De Filippi
In other languages