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Star Academy Arab World, also known as Star Academy: Al-Academya (Arabic: الأكاديمية‎) or Star Academy LBC, is a pan-Arab televised talent show, which began in 2003 that features a group of young male and female candidates from all over the Arab world. The show became a huge success instantly and a must-watch event everyday for its fans. It is the Arabic adaptation of the French television show Star Academy, which is produced by Endemol. Star Academy Arab World is produced by Netherlands company Endemol, Vanilla Productions & PAC Ltd. The show is based on the Spanish format called Operación Triunfo.

The show basically revolves around 16–21 contestants that live in an isolated penthouse apartment for 4 months, with one of the contestants getting eliminated every week through a nomination process. The contestants get to showcase their talents in a weekly concert and perform on stage with various designs, dancers, solo performances, a cappella on piano sharing the stage with the most popular singers in the Arab World.

One of the show's highlights are the appearances of some of the Arab World's most important performers such as Najwa Karam, Diana Haddad, Haifa Wahbe, Elissa, Angham, Asalah, Ramy Ayach, Myriam Fares, Kazem Al Saher, Nawal Al-Zoghbi, Marwan Khoury, Carole Samaha, Ehab Tawfik, Wael Kfoury, Sherine, Fares Karam, Abdallah Al Rowaished and many more. The show has also been successful for its reinvention and continuous changes, just as, starting from the third season, the show witnessed guests from international superstars such as Julio Iglesias, Anggun, Karl Wolf, Tina Arena, Chris De Burgh and Massari.

After the last prime on July 15, 2011, LBC announced that Star Academy will renew another season. These castings began first with Bahrain and Tunisia from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. on July 22 and ended shortly with Tunisia on July 24 and will premiere in April 2012.

Overview[link]

Based in Adma north of Beirut, Lebanon, the show is aired for 3 months on the Lebanese TV station LBC. It is hosted by Hilda Khalife. The show's concept consists of an academy and candidates / students, where it is also a talent competition to introduce a new artist among the 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 every Friday at 8:30 pm a prime show 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, sports, vocalizing, theatre expression, dancing, and musical culture. Then, each Tuesday, 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). On Friday, a special live show called "Prime" is broadcasted. During the prime show, the candidates perform and sing either by themselves or with guest artists. The three nominated candidates' initial voting is through the public, done by either phone calls or text messages. The one with the highest percentage of votes returns back. The two remaining candidates are then voted on by their fellow candidates, and the one with the most votes remains. The other candidate has to leave the academy immediately. When the overall number of candidates is reduced, the nomination by the professors comes down to two students. At this point, it's completely up to the public to vote who is in and who is out, as the remaining candidates do not vote.

The show proved to be immensely popular. As the LBC station also provides satellite connections to the majority of the Arab countries and to Lebanese and/or Arab communities throughout the world, it became one of the most popular shows in the Arab-speaking 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 shows.

The show received intense criticism when it started off, which led some people to speculate that it would not succeed.^{[citation needed]}

This debate also caused the indefinite postponing of West Asian edition of Big Brother, also known as Big Brother – Al Raiss.

The winners for the various series were:

• Star Academy 1 (2003–2004): Mohamed Attieh
• Star Academy 2 (2004–2005): Hisham Abdulrahman
• Star Academy 3 (2005–2006): Joseph Attieh
• Star Academy 4 (2006–2007): Shatha Hassoun
• Star Academy 5 (2008): Nader Guirat
• Star Academy 6 (2009): Abdulaziz Abdulrahman
• Star Academy 7 (2010): Nassif Zaytoun
• Star Academy 8 (2011): Nesma Mahgoub

Teachers[link]

• Academy Director: Rola Saad
• Contestant Supervisor: Fouad Fadel
• Voice Instructor: Khalil Abu Obeid/Wadih Abi Raad
• Music Instructor: Michel Fadel
• Vocalize Instructor: Mary Mahfoud
• Dance Instructor: Alissar Caracalla
• Drama Instructor: Naji Sorati (changes annually)
• Fitness Instructor: George Assaf
• Swimming Instructor: Sevag Demirjian
• Basketball Instructor: Elie Mechantaf

Seasons[link]

Star Academy 1[link]

The first season of Star Academy 1 made its debut in early December 2003. The first season ended on the 4th of April 2004. The winner was the Egyptian candidate, Mohammad Attia.

The inaugural show quickly became popular and tickets for the show became harder to get as the show went on. The students, particularly the Top 8, became household names, and those that made the Top 8 became instant stars. The eight finalists were Mohammad Attia (Egypt), Bashar Al Shatty (Kuwait), Sophia El Mareekh (Morocco), Bahaa' El Kafy (Tunisia), Ahmed El Sherif (Tunisia), Myriam Attallah (Syria), Mohammad Khalawi (Saudi Arabia) and Cynthia Karam (Lebanon). The teachers were as follows: Wadih Abi Raad, Michael Fadel, Mary Mahfouth, Betty, Aida, Elissar Karakalla and Rola Saad.n At the end of the show, an album featuring the Top 8 was released, as well as a music video for the winner. 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. Bashar Al Shatty (Kuwait) has gained much success in his three albums which he released over the last five years. Also being crowned as the most successful teenage singer in the gulf region was added to his success of being the Star Academy finalist. However, the most successful was Ahmed El Sherif (Tunisia), despite coming in the 5th place. His album has been the most successful among all student from Star Academy thus far, and has also dwarfed the albums of any of the contestants from rival show SuperStar on Future TV.

• Mohamed Attia (Winner; released one album)
• Bashar Al Shatty (Finalist; released three albums)
• Bahaa' El Kafy (3rd place; released one albumn
• h place; released one album)
• Ahmed El Sherif (5th place; released two albums)
• Sophia El Mareekh (6th place; released one album)
• Cynthia Karam (7th place; no albums released)
• Myriam Attallah (8th place; no albums released)

The candidate that took the 9th place, Bruno Tabbal, participated in the "World Best" contest that englobed about 11 countries that have this reality show in their country. He took the 10th place, and the French, Elodie Frégé, won.

Primes

^Note 1.1 : As there was a tie, Sophia had the casting vote and she saved Bruno.
^Note 1.2 : One week after the beginning of the program, She was chosen to participate in the program because of the withdrawal of the Syrian candidate Wafaa due to some pregnancy problems.
^Note 1.3 : As there was a tie, Amine had the casting vote and he saved Yasser.

Tour

Mohamad A, Bashar, Bahaa, Ahmad, Mohamad K, Sophia, Cynthia, and Myriam (the Top 8) were chosen to be part of the tour.

Star Academy 2[link]

Hisham, from Saudi Arabia, was declared as the winner this year, even though he was not the critic's favorite. He is also the winner with the most nominations in the show's history, with a record 4 nominations. Most felt that Amani or Zizi were the better performers overall. Many also felt that this year was a step-down in the quality of students from the previous year, with only Amani, Zizi, and Ahmed being deemed good singers.

Primes

Tour

Hisham, Amani, Zizi, Ahmad H, Bashar G, Katia, Samer, and Salma (once again, the Top 8) were chosen to be part of the tour.

Star Academy 3[link]

Joseph Attieh, who is a radio and TV production student received a trophy, $50,000 in cash and a brand new 2006 car. He was 19 years old and the first Lebanese to win the Title. This year was seen as an improvement over the previous year, and a return to the level of the first season, with many talented students. Some like Hani, Hanaa, and Shayma were deemed just as worthy of winning as Joseph. There were also many other strong performers like Fadi, Khalifa, Rakiya, Maya, and Wajdi.

This year, the show expanded the number of students from 16 contestants in the two previous years to 19 students this year.

Primes

^Note 3.1 : As there was a tie, Mohammad Ibrahim had the casting vote and he saved Mohamed Dossary
^Note 3.2 : As there was a tie, Rym had the casting vote and she saved Mohammad Ibrahim
^Note 3.3 : As there was a tie, Chayma had the casting vote and she saved Mohammad Ibrahim
^Note 3.4 : He withdrew from the academy after being nomintaed and saved by his colleagues vote and not by the publics vote

Tour

Joseph, Hani, Hanaa, Chayma, Fady, Khalifa, Maya, Rakiya and Wajdi were chosen to be part of the tour. This was the first year 9 students instead of 8 went on tour. It was also the first time where the Top finishing students did not all go on tour. Despite finishing 8th and 9th, Rym and Mohammed I were not chosen for the tour, Rakiya and Wajdi were selected to go on tour instead.

Star Academy 4[link]

Shada Hassoun, from Iraq, made history by being the first girl to take the title, as well as the first Iraqi to do so.

The fourth season (2007) was also the first season where two girls claimed the first and second place when Shada Hassoun came in first, and Marwa (from Tunisia) came in second. It was also noteworthy to feature the first female contestant from the Persian Gulf, Shoroq (from Bahrain), as well as the first contestant from Oman, Ayoub.

Primes

^Note 4.1 : As there was a tie, Ali had the casting vote and he saved Sally

Tour

Shada, Marwa, Mohamed, Carlo, Sally, Ali, Tina, Ahmad, and Imed were chosen to be part of the tour. Once again, 9 students were chosen for the tour. even though Amel was placed ahead of Imed, he was chosen to go on tour instead of her.

Star Academy 5[link]

The fifth season of Star Academy began on 25 January 2008. There were several changes in the academy that included a new swimming pool, a basketball court, a trampoline, a pool and tennis table and a newly decorated building. New lessons were added this season including swimming lessons, basketball lessons and music lessons. Another change was the increase in the number of students, from 19 in the previous season to now 20.

The final prime of Star Academy 5 held on 23 May 2008, witnessed the crowning of Nader Guirat, the first winner from Tunis and the Maghreb region.

His victory was somewhat controversial, as Nader Guirat was the first winner of the program to sing primarily in non-Arabic languages (English, French, etc.). Even though he did sing in Arabic on rare occasions, many felt that his Arabic singing was nowhere near up to the standards of the other contestants, and not worthy of a variety show that is primarily in Arabic. Nader is also the first winner to be a nominee without being saved by the public, as he had received a low percentage of votes.

Primes

^Note 5.1 : As there was a tie, Badr had the casting vote and he saved Khaled
^Note 5.2 : As there was a tie, Dia had the casting vote and she saved Amal M
^Note 5.3 : He withdrew from the academy in the semifinals week due to several fights with Mohamad qwidaer which made him take the decision to leave the academy. There were also rumors that the Saudi Arabia government advised all their citizens to leave Lebanon due to the current unrest

Tour

Nader, Mohamad, Saad, Shahinaz, Mirhan, Diaa and Amel B were chosen to be part of the tour. This was the first time only 7 students had been chosen for the tour (previous years had 8 or 9 students). However, for unknown reasons, the tour was cancelled.

Star Academy 6[link]

The winner of Star Academy 6 made history by being the first contestant from a country that already had a student win from it. Abdulaziz Abdulrahman from Saudi Arabia became the second Saudi Arabian, after Hisham Abdulrahman from season 2, to win the title.

Star Academy 6 has undergone some major changes, the studio was enlarged and the Academy itself went through an extreme makeover and now includes a theater for movies, a spa, and a DJ Studio.

Primes