STAR ACADEMY LEBANON

'Star Academy Middle East' (also known as Star Academy LBC, and more correctly, Star Academy Middle East (Alakademia), as the majority of the candidates are not from Lebanon) is a pan-Arab televised talent show, started in 2003 that features a group of young male and female candidates from all over the Arab world,the show instantly went a huge success & a must-watch event everyday making it the most-watched show in the Arab world competing with Super Star ( the Pan-arab version of Idol ). It is the Arabic adaptation of the French television show Star Academy produced by Netherlands company Endemol, based in the Spanish format called Operación Triunfo.

Contents

Overview

Seasons

Star Academy

Star Academy 2

Star Academy 3

Star Academy 4

Star Academy 5

Overview

Based in Adma north of Beirut, Lebanon, the show is aired for 4 months on the Lebanese TV station LBCI. Hosted by Hilda Khalife. The show's concept consists of an academy and candidates/students where it is also talent competition to introduce a new artist among the 16 candidates. Talents are not restricted to singing only, but for acting and dancing as well.
It is divided into two formats: each day a program presents moments of the everyday life and training of the candidates (what they are called), and a prime show every Friday evening, which is live. In addition an affiliate TV station films them 24/7.
The concept of the show is training the students in several disciplines: singing, acting, vocalizing, theatre expression, musical culture and gymnastics.
Then, each week (usually on Tuesdays) the three weakest students are nominated. The nomination is done by the teaching staff after the candidates undergo an evaluation test the day before (Monday). Around the end of the week (Friday), a special live show called "Prime" is broadcast. During the prime show, the candidates perform and sing either by themselves or with guest artists. The 3 nominated candidates' initial voting is through the public. Ever since the nominations, people vote through phone calls and text messages. The one with the highest percentage of votes returns back. The left two candidates are to be voted by their fellow candidates and one of them returns. The remaining candidate leaves the academy. When the candidates' overall number reduces, the nomination comes down to two students. By this, it's completely up to the public to vote who is in and who gets out.
The show proved to be immensely popular, once attracting nearly 80% of the Lebanese adolescent population, and one of the more popular shows throughout the Arab world. LBC, the network airing the show, reaped huge profits from the show (but have been unable to replicate the show's success with other reality based programming).
The show received intense criticism when it started off, which led some people to falsely believe that it would not succeed.
This debate also caused the indefinite postponing of the Middle Eastern edition of ''Big Brother'', otherwise known as ''Big Brother - Al Raiss''.

Seasons

Star Academy

The first season of the show made its debut on early December, 2003. The first season ended on the 4th of April, 2004.
It quickly became a popular show. Tickets to show became harder to get as the show went on. The students, particularly the Top 8, became household names, and the those that made the Top 8 became instant stars. The winner was the Egyptian candidate, Mohammad Attia. The eight finalists were Mohammad Attia (Egypt), Bashar Al Shatti (Kuwait), Sophia El Mareekh (Morocco), Bahaa' El Kafy (Tunisia), Ahmed El Sherif (Tunisia), Myriam Attallah (Syria), Mohammad Khalawi (Saudi Arabia) and Cynthia Karam (Lebanon).
Once the show ended, an album featuring the Top 8 was released, as well a music video for one of the songs from that album. They then went on a Pan Arab tour, performing concerts in Dubai, Kuwait, Cairo & Alexandria, Amman, Damascus, and Beirut.
Many of them released albums, ranging in various degrees of success. However, the most successful has been Ahmed El Sherif (Tunisia), despite his coming in 5th place. His album has been the most successful of any student from Star Academy thus far, and has also dwarfed the albums of any of the contestants from rival show "SuperStar" on Future TV.
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★ Mohamed Attia (Winner)

★ Bashar Al Shatty (Finalist)

★ Bahaa' El Kafy (3rd place)

★ Mohammad Khalawi (4th place)

★ Ahmed El Sherif (5th place)

★ Sophia El Mareekh (6th place)

★ Cynthia Karam (7th place)

★ Myriam Attallah (8th place)
''Baha' is one of the best candidates. She is fabulous in her singing and very talented''
In order that the christian candidates were Cynthia Karam from Lebanon, and Miriam Attallah from Syria. And the Muslims were Mohamed Atteya from Egypt, Bahaa Kafy & Ahmed Sherif from Tunisia, Bashar Shatty from Kuwait, Sophia Marikh from Morrocco, and Mohamed Khalawy from Saudi Arabia.
The teachers were as follows: Wadih Abi Raad, Michael Fadel, Mary Mahfouth, Betty, Aida, Elissar and Rola Saad
They give a report of the eight students : Mohamed Ateya the winner : he is talented but not well too much in singing he could go to dramatic schools but don't think in singing. Bachar is quite enough to be a good artist with all his qualification in the music. Baha' is quite talented and good homoured. Her voice seems like Om Kalthoum and Fayrouz and Sabah. She can go in the thing she prefers. Mohamed Khalawy is good at music but needs some experience to get his vocal cord right, and his face is photogenic. Ahmed El sherif is loved by audience he is sexy and acts in sexy ways In singing or acting he is good. Sophia El mareekh is not good at singing Arabic she is good at English and French she'd be well on singing French. As the same as Cynthia Karam she's not good except In singing French and English. Myriam Atallah originates her voice from her nice vocal cords. She is a princess.
Baha/Miriam/Bachar/Ahmed are the best students reported by teachers.

Star Academy 2

The second version featuring same settings as the previous one, and started on 31st December 2004. The show ended on the 15th April. The final prime featured Hisham Abdulrahman (Saudi Arabia) and Amani Souissi (Tunisia). Hisham won by a close 51.85% to be crowned as the winner of Star Academy 2, and taking the $50,000 and the 2005 Ford Mustang GT.
The show was stalled for one week when former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on the 14th February; also for three successive times, the weekly prime was interrupted by explosions in Lebanon, on the 26th March, the 1st of April and on the 8th.
Season 2 is regarded as the weakest season overall, even if the problems with the explosions are not factored in. The quality of the students was seen as very substandard overall, and most were thought of being lazy and untalented. Few seemed to take their classes seriously and (with the exception of Amani Souissi and a few others) fewer still seemed to improve as the show went on. As it stood only Amani Souissi (Tunisia), Zizi Adel (Egypt), and Ahmed Hussein (Kuwait), were considered by most to be truly talented. Many felt that Amani should have been declared the winner, as she was a constant presence in the prof's weekly Top 5 rankings, while Hisham only appeared twice. In addition, many also felt Zizi and Ahmed deserved to outlast Hisham as well.
Amani moved on to act in a prestigious Rahbani play and eventually put out her own album. Zizi Adel has also released an album and video clip. Ahmed Hussein has also released a successful album/video clip. Hisham eventually moved on to an acting career, starring in two Ramadan shows and the first ever Saudi movie "Kef al Hal".

★ Hisham Abdulrahman (Winner)

★ Amani Souissi (Finalist)
The top 8 this year included Hisham, Amani, Zizi (Egypt), Ahmed, Samer (Lebanon), Salma (Algeria), Katya (Lebanon), and Bashar (Jordan).

Star Academy 3

The third version of Star Academy started off in mid-December 2005. Dramatic changes have been noticed. A new set of teachers and new classes (like Arabic Poetry) were introduced. Also, the usual number of 16 Candidates (8 Females, 8 Males) was changed to become a total of 19 Candidates (10 males, 9 females).
As the Final Prime concluded, Joseph Attieh from Lebanon had won the third season of Star Academy. Joseph claimed around 55% of all the votes.
Joseph walked away with his new title, as well as prizes like $50,000 and a Toyota Yaris.
After the substandard second season, many saw Season 3 as a return to form and vast improvement in overall talent. Besides Joseph, there were many other talented students this year, among them Hani (Egypt), (Fadi) (Palestine), Shayma (Tunisia), Hanaa (Morocco), and Khalifaa (United Arab Emirates). This season was unusual as 2 Christian males (Joseph and Fadi) made the top 8, and was also unusual as the Gulf contestants did not dominate the public voting as in previous years. This season was also unusual because 9 students were accepted into the tour, as opposed to the standard 8, as well as 3 finalists as opposed to 2.

★ Joseph Attieh (Winner)

★ Hany Hussein Abd El Ghaffar (Finalist)

★ Hanaa El Idrissi (Finalist)
The 9 students who participated in the tour this year were Joseph, Hany, Hanaa, Shaymaa, Fady, Khalifa, Rakya, Maya, and Wajdi.

Star Academy 4

Star Academy 4 began on December 15th, 2006. This year's candidates were: Abdul-Aziz Al-Aswad and Ahmad Dawood from Kuwait; Ali Alsaad from Saudi Arabia; Amel Al-Anbary and Imane Moulabbi from Morocco; Ayoub Al Zadjali from Oman; Carlo Nakhleh, Nelly Maatouk, Tina Yamout, and Dany Chamoun from Lebanon; Khaled Fardan and Shoroq Ahmed from Bahrain; Shada Hassoon from Iraq; Marwa Bensghaier, Intissar Al-Azhar, and Imed Jallouli from Tunisia; and Saly Ahmed, Maisoun Sedky, and Mohammad Qammah from Egypt.
As with last year, there were 19 candidates; however, this year there were 10 female candidates and 9 male candidates. This year also featured the first ever male candidate from Oman, Ayyoub, and the first ever female candidate from a Gulf Arab country, Shoroq, from Bahrain.
9 candidates have been chosen to be in the fourth Arabic tour: Carlo Nakhleh, Tina Yamout from Lebanon; Saly Ahmed, Mohammad Qammah from Egypt; Imed Jallouli, Marwa Bensghaier from Tunisia,Ahmad Dawood from Kuwait; Ali Alsaad from Saudi Arabia; and Shatha Hassoon from Iraq.
The Fourth Season of Star Academy included four finalists. Unlike previous seasons, which only had two or three, the remaining candidates (finalists) were: Mohammad Qammah from Egypt, Marwa Bensghaier from Tunisia, Carlo Nakhleh from Lebanon and Shatha Hassoon from Iraq. The voting for the four finalists began at the end of the 15th prime on the 23rd of March and kept running till the 30th of March, the day on which the 16th prime (final prime) was aired live from Lebanon. Only one of the four candidates left became the fourth new born star of this season.
Shatha Hassoon won with 40.63% with more than 7 million votes from inside Iraq only, where as Marwa Bensghaier was second with 28.65%, and Mohammad Qammah third with 25.06% and Carlo Nakhleh with 5.66% finishing fourth.

Star Academy 5

Coming Soon!