Star Academy

For other uses, see Star Academy (disambiguation).
Location of different versions of Star Academy
  Own version
  Joint version

Star Academy, called Operación Triunfo ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements. The show format originated in Spain, with the original "Operación Triunfo" produced by Endemol, that has been broadcast in over 50 countries.

Format

There are many versions of the Star Academy or Operación Triunfo 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 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 and usually some amount of money.

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 20, 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, the Arab World and the United States, becoming the first Spanish format ever acquired by these countries. This show is similar to the "Idol Series" but different in that it also shows the contestants' lives together in the house where they live; American Idol shows nothing of the contestants' personalities or relationships with each other. Star Academy is in essence a singing competition, where the lowest vote-receiver each week must leave the show, ending finally when only one person remains.

Star Academy around the world

There are currently 101 winners of the Star Academy format. The most recent winner is Geoffrey Oji from Nigeria.

Region Local name Channel Winner Main Presenters
African
Countries
[1]
Project Fame
Website
M-Net
DStv (Live)
United States The Africa Channel (Season 1 in 2008)

Season 1, 2004: Zambia Lindiwe Alam

James Alexander (Season 1)
Vusi Twala (Season 1)
Arab Maghreb[2] Star Academy Maghreb
Website
Nessma TVTunisia

Season 1, 2007: Morocco Hajar Adnane

Nabila El Kilani (Season 1)
Arab League Arab World[3] Star Academy
Website
LBCI
CBC

Season 1, 2003-2004: Egypt Mohamed Attia
Season 2, 2004-2005: Saudi Arabia Hisham Abdulrahman
Season 3, 2005-2006: Lebanon Joseph Attieh
Season 4, 2006-2007: Iraq Shatha Hassoun
Season 5, 2008: Tunisia Nader Guirat
Season 6, 2009: Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz Abdulrahman
Season 7, 2010: Syria Nassif Zaytoun
Season 8, 2011: Egypt Nessma Mahgoub
Season 9, 2013-2014: Egypt Mahmoud Mohey
Season 10,2014: Egypt Mohamed Chahine

Hilda Khalife (Season 1-till now)
 Argentina Operación Triunfo
Website
Argentina Telefe
Uruguay Canal 4
DirecTV (Live) (Season 4)

Season 1, 2003: Claudio Basso
Season 2, 2004-2005: José García
Season 3, 2005-2006: Benjamín Rosales
Season 4, 2009: Cristian Manuel Soloa
Season 5, 2012-2013: Fans

Alejandro Wiebe, "Marley" (Season 1-4)
Germán Paoloski (Season 5)
 Belgium
(French)
Star Academy
Website
RTL-TVi

Season 1, 2002: Mélanie Martin's

Plastic Bertrand (Season 1)
 Belgium
(Dutch)
Star Academy
Website
Kanaal Twee

Season 1, 2005: Katerine Avgoustakis

Walter Grootaers (Season 1)
 Brazil FAMA
Website
Rede Globo
SKY (Live)

Season 1, 2002: Vanessa Jackson
Season 2, 2003: Marcus Vinícius
Season 3, 2004: Tiago Silva
Season 4, 2005: Fabio Souza

Angélica Ksyvickis (Season 1-4)

 Bulgaria Star Academy
Website
Nova Television
Nova+ (Live)
CableTel (Live)
Season 1, 2005: Marin Yonchev Maria Ilieva (Season 1)
 Canada
(French)
Star Académie
Website
TVA

Season 1, 2003: Wilfred Le Bouthillier
Season 2, 2004: Stéphanie Lapointe
Season 3, 2005: Marc-André Fortin
Season 4, 2009: Maxime Landry
Season 5, 2012: Jean-Marc Couture

Julie Snyder (Season 1-5)

 Chile Operación Triunfo
Website
Mega

Season 1, 2003: Mónica Rodríguez[4]

Álvaro Escobar (Season 1)

East Africa[5] Tusker Project Fame
Website
M-Net (Africa) (Season 1)
Kenya NTV (Season 1)
Kenya Citizen TV (Season 2-5)
Burundi RTNB (Season 5)
Tanzania Channel 10 (Season 1)
Tanzania StarTV (Season 2-3, 5)

Tanzania TBC (Season 4)
Uganda UBC (Season 1, 4)
Uganda WBS (Season 2-3)
Uganda NTV (Season 5)
Rwanda Rwanda TV (Season 3-5)
South Sudan SSTV (Season 4)
South Sudan Channel 146 (Season 5)

Season 1, 2006: Kenya Valerie Kimani
Season 2, 2008: Uganda Esther Nabaasa Mugizi
Season 3, 2009: Rwanda Alpha Rwirangira
Season 4, 2010: Uganda Davis Hillary Ntare
Season 5, 2012: Kenya Ruth Matete

Gaetano Kagwa (Season 2)
Fumnilayo Raimi (Season 2)
Mich Egwang (Season 3-5)
Sheila Mwanyigah (Season 3-5)
Tusker All-Stars
(All-Stars Format)

Season 1, 2011: Davis Ntare, Peter Msechu & Alpha Rwirangira

Gaetano Kagwa (Season 1)
Eve D'Souza (Season 1)
 France Star Academy
Website
TF1 (Season 1-8)
NRJ 12 (Season 9)

Season 1, 2001-2002: Jenifer Bartoli
Season 2, 2002: Nolwenn Leroy
Season 3, 2003: Elodie Frégé
Season 4, 2004: Grégory Lemarchal
Season 5, 2005: Magalie Vaé
Season 6, 2006: Cyril Cinélu
Season 7, 2007-2008: SwitzerlandQuentin Mosimann
Season 8, 2008: Mickels Réa
Season 9, 2012-2013: Laurène Bourvon

Níkos Aliágas (Season 1-8)
Mathieu Delormeau (Season 9)
Tonya Kinzinger (Season 9)
 Georgia ვარსკვლავების აკადემია
Varskvlavebis Akademia
Website
Rustavi 2

Season 1, 2008: Dito Lagvilava
Season 2, 2009: Cancelled[6]

Sopho Khalvashi (Season 1-2)
Giorgi Qorqia (Season 1-2)
 Germany Fame Academy
Website
RTL II
Tele 5
MTV2 Pop

Season 1, 2003-2004: Become One[7]

Nova Meierhenrich (Season 1)
 Greece
 Cyprus
Fame Story
Website
ANT1

Season 1, 2002-2003: Notis Christodoulou
Season 2, 2003-2004: Kalomoira Saranti
Season 3, 2004-2005: Pericles Stergianoudes
Season 4, 2005-2006: Leonidas Balafas

Natalia Germanou (Season 1)
Andreas Mikroutsikos (Season 2)
Tatiana Stefanidou (Season 3)
Sophia Aliberti (Season 4)
 India Fame Gurukul
Website
SET India

Season 1, 2005: Qazi Touqeer & Ruprekha Banerjee

Mandira Bedi (Season 1-Celebrity)
Manav Gohil (Season 1-Celebrity)
Celebrity Fame Gurukul
(Celebrity Format)
Website

Season 1, 2005: Amit Sareen

 Italy Operazione Trionfo
Website
Italia 1

Season 1, 2002: Bruno Cuomo

Miguel Bosé (Season 1)
Star Academy
Website
RAI 2

Season 1, 2011: Cancelled

Francesco Facchinetti (Season 1)
 Kazakhstan Жұлдыздар фабрикасы
Juldizdar Fabrikasi

Website
TV7

Season 1, 2011: Alisher Egemberdiev

 Mexico Operación Triunfo
Website
Televisa
(Live)

Season 1, 2002: Darina Márquez

Jaime Camil (Season 1)

 Moldova
 Romania
Fabrica de Staruri
Website
Website
Prime TV
2 Plus
TVR1

Season 1, 2008-2009: Alexandru Manciu
Season 2, 2010: Alexandru Belenki
Season 3, 2012: Moldova Alexandru Mataev

Andreea Raicu (Season 1)
Dan Negru (Season 2)
Marius Vizante (Season 3)
 Netherlands Star Maker
Website
Yorin

Season 1, 2001: K-otic[8]

Gijs Staverman (Season 1)
Star Academy

Season 2, 2002: Cancelled

Danny Rook (Season 1)
 Peru Operación Triunfo
Website
América Televisión

Season 1, 2012: Mayra Goñi

Gisela Valcárcel (Season 1)
 Philippines Pinoy Dream Academy
Website
ABS-CBN
Studio 23

Season 1, 2006: Yeng Constantino
Season 2, 2008: Laarni Lozada

Nikki Gil (Season 1-2)
Toni Gonzaga (Season 1-2)
Bianca Gonzalez (Season 1)

Pinoy Dream Academy: Little Dreamers
(Kids Format)

Season 1, 2008: Philip Nolasco

 Poland Fabryka Gwiazd
Website
Polsat

Season 1, 2008: Martyna Melosik

Maciej Rock (Season 1)
 Portugal[9] Academia de Estrelas
Website
TVI

Season 1, 2002-2003: Mané Crestejo

Teresa Guilherme (Season 1)
Academia de Famosos
(Celebrity Format)
Website

Season 1, 2003: Romana

Paulo Pires (Season 1)
Operação Triunfo
Website
RTP

Season 1, 2003: Sofia Barbosa
Season 2, 2003-2004: Sofia Vitória
Season 3, 2007-2008: Vânia Fernandes
Season 4, 2010-2011: Jorge Roque

Catarina Furtado (Season 1-2)
Sílvia Alberto (Season 3-4)
 Romania Star Factory
Website
Prima TV

Season 1, 2003-2004: Alex Velea

Laura Iordache (Season 1)
Virgil Ianțu (Season 1)
 Russia Фабрика звёзд
Fabrika zvyozd

Website
Channel One

Season 1, 2002: Pasha Artemyev[10]
Season 2, 2003: Polina Gagarina
Season 3, 2003: Nikita Malinin
Season 4, 2004: Irina Dubtsova
Season 5, 2004: Victoria Dayneko
Season 6, 2006: Belarus Dmitry Koldun
Season 7, 2007: Ukraine Anastasiya Prikhodko

Yana Churikova (Season 1-8)
Фабрика звёзд. Возвращение
Fabrika Zvyozd. Vozvrachtcheniè

(All-Stars Format)
Website

Season 1, 2011: Victoria Dayneko

Yana Churikova (Season 1)
 Russia
 Ukraine
Фабрика звёзд. Россия-Украина
Fabrika Zvyozd. Rossiya-Ukrayina

(All-Stars Format)
Website
Russia Channel One
Ukraine Novyi Kanal

Season 1, 2012: Russia

Russia Yana Churikova (Season 1)
Ukraine Dmitry Shepelyov (Season 1)
 Spain
Operación Triunfo
Website
TVE (Season 1-3)
TeleCinco (Season 4-8)

Season 1, 2001-2002: Rosa López
Season 2, 2002-2003: Ainhoa Cantalapiedra
Season 3, 2003-2004: Vicente Seguí
Season 4, 2005: Sergio Rivero
Season 5, 2006-2007: Lorena Gómez
Season 6, 2008: Virginia Maestro
Season 7, 2009: Mario Álvarez
Season 8, 2011: Paraguay Nahuel Sachak

Carlos Lozano (Season 1-3)
Jesús Vázquez (Season 4-7)
Pilar Rubio (Season 8)

 Sweden
Fame Factory TV3

Season 1, 2002: Magnus Bäcklund
Season 2, 2003: Anders Johansson
Season 3, 2004: Johan Becker
Season 4, 2005: Sandra Oxenryd

Bert Karlsson (Seasons 1-4)

 Turkey Akademi Türkiye
Website
ATV

Season 1, 2004: Barış Akarsu

Öykü Serter (Season 1-3)
Star Akademi Türkiye
Website
Kanal 1

Season 2, 2008: Bahadır Sağlam

Star Akademi
Website
Star TV

Season 3, 2011: Giray Songül

 UK Fame Academy
Website
BBC One
BBC Three

Series 1, 2002: Scotland David Sneddon
Series 2, 2003: England Alex Parks

Cat Deeley (Season 1-2)
Patrick Kielty (Season 1-2)

Comic Relief Does Fame Academy
(Celebrity Format)

Series 1, 2003: England Will Mellor
Series 2, 2005: Scotland Edith Bowman
Series 3, 2007: England Tara Palmer-Tomkinson

Cat Deeley (Season 1-2)
Patrick Kielty (Season 1-3)
Claudia Winkleman (Season 3)

Fame Academy Bursary

Series 1, 2003: England Vishal Gopal
Series 2, 2003: England Shona Kipling
Series 3, 2003: England Daniel Allinson
Series 4, 2003: England Daniel Powell
Series 5, 2003: England David Rimbault

No presenters
 Ukraine Фабрика зірок
Fabrika Zirok

Website
Novyi Kanal

Season 1, 2007-2008: Olga Tsibulska & Alexander Bodyansky
Season 2, 2008: Vladimir Dantes & Vadim Oleynik
Season 3, 2009: Latvia Stas Shurins
Season 4, 2011: Yulia Rudneva

Andriy Domansky (Season 1, 3)
Dmitry Shepelev (Season 2)
Vasilisa Frolova (Season 1)
Masha Efrosinina (Season 3)
Oleksandr Pedan (Season 4)
Erika (Season 4)
Фабрика Суперфiнал
Fabrika Superfinal

(All-Stars Format)

Season 1, 2010: Oleksiy Matias

Masha Efrosinina (Season 1)

 USA The One: Making a Music Star
Website
ABC
Canada CBC

Season 1, 2006: Cancelled[11]

George Stroumboulopoulos (Season 1)
 Vietnam Star Academy: Ngôi nhà âm nhạc
Website
HTV

Season 1, 2012: Phạm Quốc Huy

Yến Trang
Tuấn Tú
Star Academy Vietnam: Học viện ngôi sao
Website
VTV

Season 1, 2014: TBA

Dustin Nguyễn
Tú Linh
West Africa[12] Project Fame West Africa
Website
Ghana TV3 (Season 1-3)
Ghana Metro TV (Season 4-present)
Liberia Clare TV (Season 1-3, 5-present)
Liberia SKY TV (Season 4)
Nigeria AIT (Season 1-5)
Nigeria GET TV (Season 5-present)
Nigeria MiTV
Nigeria NTA
Nigeria Nigerzie
Nigeria ONTV
Nigeria Silverbird
Nigeria SoundCity
Sierra Leone ABC TV (Season 1-3)
Sierra Leone SLBC (Season 4-5)

Season 1, 2008: Nigeria Iyanya Mbuk
Season 2, 2009: Nigeria Mike Anyasodo
Season 3, 2010: Nigeria Chidinma Ekile
Season 4, 2011: Nigeria Monica Ogah
Season 5, 2012: Nigeria Ayobami Ayoola
Season 6, 2013: Nigeria Olawale Ayodele
Season 7, 2014: Nigeria Geoffrey Oji

Dare Art Alade (Season 1)
Funlola Raimi (Season 1)
Joseph Benjamin (Season 2-present)
Adaora Oleh (Season 2-6)
Bolanle Olukanni (Season 7-present)
Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Republic of Macedonia Montenegro Serbia
Western Balkans[13]
Операција триумф
Operacija Trijumf

Website
Serbia B92
Croatia Nova TV
Montenegro TV In
Bosnia and Herzegovina FTV/RTRS
Republic of Macedonia A1 TV

Season 1, 2008-2009: Bosnia and Herzegovina Adnan Babajić

Ana Mihajlovski (Season 1)
Nikolina Pišek (Season 1)
Milan Kalinić (Season 1)
Maca Marinković (Season 1)
  1. Pan regional version with 11 African countries involved: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
  2. Adaptation for the Maghreb area. Countries taking part: Tunisia , Algeria, Libya and Morocco.
  3. Egyptian and Lebanese-Produced, Arab World version, with 19 contestants chosen from the Arab World 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.
  4. Mónica Rodríguez was chosen as the winner by the jury, however César Ávila was the most voted by the public.
  5. Joint version with contestants from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
  6. The five-storey building housing Georgia's "Star Academy" collapsed on April 26, 2009. Two people on the production staff were killed, and the series was abandoned out of respect to those killed. Eight contestants remained. No decision on the future of the series or contestants.
  7. (resulting six-member band).
  8. Resulting a seven-member band.
  9. Endemol produced two versions for each channel.
  10. Pasha Artemyev decided to share the award with the other finalists and to create the band Korni.
  11. After two weeks, ABC cancelled the series with four episodes aired. No results were announced.
  12. Joint version with contestants from Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
  13. Joint version with contestants from Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.

Current franchises

     Season currently being aired.
Country Season Name Launch date Finale date Days Contestants Grand Prize
Arab League Arab World Star Academy 10 September 11, 2014 18
Argentina Argentina Operación Triunfo: La Banda December 9, 2013 20
France France Star Academy 2012 November 29, 2013 16
Vietnam Vietnam Học viện ngôi sao: Star Academy Vietnam 19 March, 2014 12

Parodies of Star Academy

Special concerts of Star Academy

Country Concert Winner
 Spain "Gala de los ganadores" (The Winners Gala) No winners
 France EUROBEST Chenoa (from Spain)
 France WORLDBEST Elodie (from France)

EUROBEST

Country Contestant Song
 Spain Chenoa (finalist of Operación Triunfo 1) "It's Raining Men"
 Belgium Mélanie Martin's "Like a Prayer"
 United Kingdom Lemar (finalist of Fame Academy 1) "With or Without You"
 Portugal Mané Crestejo and Lília Matos "Sussudio"
 Greece Notis Christodoulou "1,2,3… Maria"
 France Nolwenn Leroy "I Will Always Love You"
 Netherlands Sita Vermeulen "All I Wanna Do"
 Russia Korni "We Will Rock You"
 Italy Bruno Cuomo "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"

"Gala de los ganadores" (The winners gala)

Country Contestant Song
 Spain Ainhoa Cantalapiedra "Sobreviviré"
 Mexico Darina Márquez "Mujer contra mujer"
 Brazil Vanessa Jackson "De volta pra mim"
 Italy Bruno Cuomo "L'atmosfera"

WORLDBEST

Country Contestant Song
 Spain Miguel and Davinia (Operación Triunfo 3's finalists) "As"
 Argentina Emanuel (finalist of Operación Triunfo 1) "Feel"
 United Kingdom Alistair (Fame Academy 2's finalist) "Everything I do"
 Brazil Nalanda (finalist of FAMA 1) "Whenever"
 Chile Mónica Rodríguez "Lady marmalade"
 France Elodie Frégé "S'il suffisait d'aimer"
 Lebanon Bruno (Star Academy 1) "The cup of life"
 Russia Yulia Savicheva(finalist of Fabrika Zvezd 2) "Thorn"
 Mexico Darina Márquez "Hero"
 Canada Wilfred Le Bouthillier and Marie-Elaine "Turn around"
 Germany Become One "Fame"

Near copies of Star Academy

See also