Location of different versions of Star Academy
     Own version     Joint version

Star Academy is a highly successful television show format based on the Spanish format "Operación triunfo" produced by Endemol, that has been broadcast in over 50 countries. It is a pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements.

[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 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.

[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, 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.

[edit] Star Academy around the world

Region	Local name / Official website	Channel	Winner	Main Presenters
Africa[1]	Project Fame Website	M-Net	Season 1, 2004: Lindiwe Alam	James Alexander (Season 1) Vusi Twala (Season 1)
Arab World[2]	Star Academy الأكاديمية Website	LBC	Season 1, 2003-2004: Mohamed Attia Season 2, 2004-2005: Hisham Abdulrahman Season 3, 2005-2006: Joseph Attieh Season 4, 2006-2007: Shatha Hassoun Season 5, 2007-2008: Nader Quirat Season 6, 2008-2009: Abdul Aziz Abdulhamid Season 7, 2009-2010: Upcoming season	Hilda Khalife (Season 1-present)
Argentina	Operación Triunfo Website	Telefe Monte Carlo TV	Season 1, 2003: Claudio Basso Season 2, 2004-2005: José García Season 3, 2005-2006: Benjamín Rosales Season 4, 2009: Cristian Soloa Season 5, 2010: Upcoming season	Alejandro Wiebe (Season 1-present)
Belgium	Star Academie (French) French Website	RTL-TVi	Season 1, 2002: Mélanie Martin's	Plastic Bertrand (Season 1)
	Star Academy (Dutch) Dutch Website	Kanaal Twee	Season 1, 2005: Katerine Avgoustakis	Walter Grootaers (Season 1)
Brazil	FAMA Website	Globo	Season 1, 2002: Vanessa Jackson Season 2, 2003: Marcus Vinícius Season 3, 2004: Tiago Silva Season 4, 2005: Fabio Souza	Angélica Ksyvickis (All seasons)
Bulgaria	Star Academy Website	Nova Television Nova+ (Live)	Season 1, 2005: Marin Yonchev	Maria Ilieva (Season 1)
Canada-Quebec	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	Julie Snyder (Season 1-present)
Chile	Operación Triunfo Website	Mega	Season 1, 2003: Mónica Rodríguez	Álvaro Escobar (Season 1)
East Africa[3]	Tusker Project Fame Website	M-Net (Africa) NTV Channel 10 UBC	Season 1, 2006: Valerie Kimani
	Tusker Project Fame Website	Citizen TV StarTV WBS Rwanda TV (Season 3-)	Season 2, 2008: Esther Nabaasa Mugizi Season 3, 2009: Alpha Rwirangira	Gaetano Kagwa (Season 2) Fumnilayo Raimi (Season 2) Mich Egwang (Season 3) Sheila Mwanyigah (Season 3)
France	Star Academy Website	TF1	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: Quentin Mosimann Season 8, 2008: Mickels Réa Season 9, 2010: Upcoming season	Níkos Aliágas (All seasons)
Georgia	Star Academy ვარსკვლავების აკადემია Website	Rustavi 2	Season 1, 2008: Dito Lagvilava Season 2, 2009: Cancelled[4]	Sopho khalvashi & Giorgi Qorqia
Germany	Fame Academy Website	RTL II	Season 1, 2003-2004: Become One [5]	Nova Meierhenrich (Season 1)
Greece and 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 [6] Website		Season 1, 2005: Amit Sareen
Italy	Operazione Trionfo Website	Italia 1	Season 1, 2002: Bruno Cuomo	Miguel Bosé (Season 1)
Maghreb[7]	Star Academy Website	Nessma TV	Season 1, 2007: Hajar Adnane	Nabila Kilani (Season 1)
Mexico	Operación Triunfo Website	Televisa	Season 1, 2002: Darina Márquez	Jaime Camil (Season 1)
Moldova	Fabrica de Staruri Website	Prime 2 plus	Season 1, 2008-2009: Alexandru Manciu	Andreea Raicu (Season 1)
Netherlands	Star Maker Website	Yorin Veronica	Season 1, 2001: K-otic [8]	Gijs Staverman (Season 1)
	Star Academy Website	Yorin	Season 2, 2002: Cancelled	Danny Rook (Season 1)
Philippines	Pinoy Dream Academy Website	ABS-CBN Studio 23	Season 1, 2006: Yeng Constantino Season 2, 2008: Laarni Lozada Season 3, 2010: Upcoming season	Nikki Gil (Season 1-2) Toni Gonzaga (Season 1-2) Billy Crawford (Season 2) Bianca Gonzalez (Season 1)
	Pinoy Dream Academy: Little Dreamers		Season 1, 2008: Philip Nolasco Season 2, 2010: Upcoming season
Poland	Fabryka Gwiazd Website	Polsat	Season 1, 2008: Martyna Melosik	Maciej Rock
Portugal[9]	Operação Triunfo Website	RTP	Season 1, 2003: Sofia Barbosa Season 2, 2003-2004: Sofia Vitória Season 3, 2007-2008: Vânia Fernandes	Catarina Furtado (Season 1-2) Sílvia Albertoe (Season 3)
	Academia de Estrelas Website	TVI	Season 1, 2002-2003: Mané Crestejo	Teresa Guilherme (Season 1-Famosos)
	Academia de Famosos[6] Website		Season 1, 2003: Romana
Romania	Star Factory Website	Prima TV	Season 1, 2003-2004: Alex Velea	Laura Iordache (Season 1) Virgil Ianțu (Season 1)
Russia	Star Factory Фабрика звёзд Website	1TV	Season 1, 2002: "Korni" Season 2, 2003: Polina Gagarina Season 3, 2003: Nikita Malinin Season 4, 2004: Irina Dubtsova Season 5, 2004: Victoria Dayneko Season 6, 2006: Dmitry Koldun Season 7, 2007: Anastasiya Prikhodko Season 8, 2010: Upcoming season	Yana Churikova (Season 1-present)
Spain	Operación Triunfo Official Website	TVE	Season 1, 2001-2002: Rosa López Season 2, 2002-2003: Ainhoa Cantalapiedra Season 3, 2003-2004: Vicente Seguí	Carlos Lozano (Season 1-3)
	Operación Triunfo Official Website	Telecinco (Season 4-present) La Siete (Season 7-present) Telecinco 2 (Season 6)	Season 4, 2005: Sergio Rivero Season 5, 2006-2007: Lorena Gómez Season 6, 2008: Virginia Maestro Season 7, 2009: Mario Álvarez	Jesús Vazquez(Season 4-present)
Turkey	Akademi Türkiye Website	ATV	Season 1, 2004: Barış Akarsu	Öykü Serter (Season 1-2)
	Star Akademi Türkiye Website	Kanal 1	Season 2, 2008: Bahadir Sağlam
UK	Fame Academy Website	BBC One BBC Three	Series 1, 2002: David Sneddon Series 2, 2003: Alex Parks	Cat Deeley (Season 1-2) Patrick Kielty (Season 1-2) Claudia Winkleman (Season 1)
	Comic Relief Does Fame Academy[6] Website		Series 1, 2003: Will Mellor Series 2, 2005: Edith Bowman Series 3, 2007: Tara Palmer-Tomkinson	Cat Deeley (Season 1-2) Patrick Kielty (Season 1-3) Claudia Winkleman (Season 3)
	Fame Academy Bursary Website		Series 1, 2003: Daniel Allinson Series 2, 2004: Daniel Powell Series 3, 2005: David Rimbault Series 4, 2006: Shona Kipling Series 5, 2007: Vishal Gopal	No presenters
Ukraine	Star Factory Фабрика зірок Website	Novyi Kanal	Season 1, 2007-2008: Olga Tsibulska Season 2, 2008: Volodimir Dantes & Vadim Oliïnik Season 3, 2009: Current season
USA	The One: Making a Music Star Website	ABC CBC	Season 2006: Cancelled [10]	George Stroumboulopoulos
West Africa[11]	Project Fame Website	TV3 Clare TV NTA ABC TV	Season 1, 2008: Inyanya Mbuk Season 2, 2009: Mike Anyasodo	Dare Art Alade (Season 1) Fumnilayo Raimi (Season 1)
Western Balkans[12]	Operacija trijumf Операција триумф Website	B92 Nova TV TV In FTV/RTRS A1 TV	Season 1, 2008-2009: Adnan Babajić Season 2, 2010: Upcoming season	Ana Mihajlovski (Season 1) Nikolina Pišek (Season 1) Milan Kalinić (Season 1) Maca Marinković (Season 1)

[edit] Parodies of Star Academy

• Mexico: Aperración al Triunfo
• France: StarLoose Academy

[edit] Trivia of Star Academy

• France was the first one country to air the show
• Rosa López from Spain is the first winner
• In Mexico, the "Academy" was called "The institute"
• In Portugal, the setting and the academy were exactly the same as in Spain
• In Chile, the setting was exactly the same as in Argentina
• Marin Yonchev from Bulgaria, won the Star Academy, when he was 17
• Darina Márquez from Mexico, Joseph Attieh from Lebanon and Quentin Mosimann from France never were nominated
• Spanish final on TVE 68% market share
• Six million albums were sold during series 1 in Spain
• BBC choice in the UK the most watched program
• Nearly doubled ratings of TV Globo in Brazil
• In Italy, Operazione Trionfo scored seven singles in the top 30 charts
• In Russia the Factory of the Stars' website averages 60 000 visitors per day
• Vanessa Jackson from Brazil, won FAMA With 18 millions of votes
• In the Arab world, the Star Academy is the most watched TV program
• In India there were 2 winners
• In Russia, Pasha Artemyev decided to share his award with his partners, they integrate the band "Korni"
• David Sneddon from UK was invited to participate in "The Winners gala" but he couldn't go
• In Portugal Endemol produced two Star Academy versions in different channels
• In UK David Sneddon was chosen to replace Naomi who had to leave the Fame Academy due to the problems with her throat
• The series was abandoned in two countries:
  • North American English (US/Canada), 2006: Show abandoned after two weeks.
  • Georgia, 2009: Two members of the production staff were killed when the building collapsed.

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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"

[edit] "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"

[edit] WORLDBEST

Country	Contestant	Song
Spain	Miguel and Davinia (they were finalist of Operación Triunfo 3)	"As"
Argentina	Emanuel (finalist of Operación Triunfo 1)	"Feel"
United Kingdom	Alistair (finalist of Fame Academy 2)	"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 (from Lebanon, finalist of Star Academy 1)	"The cup of life"
Russia	Yulia (finalist of Fabrika Zvezd 2)	"Thorn"
Mexico	Darina Márquez	"Hero"
Canada	Wilfred Le Bouthillier and Marie-Elaine	"Turn around"
Germany	Become One	"Fame"

[edit] Near copies of Star Academy

• Fame Factory
  • Países: Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.

• La Academia
  • Países: Indonesia (Akademi Fantasi Indosiar), Malaysia (Akademi Fantasia), Mexico (La Academia), Thailand (Academy Fantasia) and The United States (La Academia USA).

• Dream Show, the music: Greece.

• Amici di Maria De Filippi: Italy.

• Super Girl: China.

• Showtime: Croatia.

• Akademia e Yjeve: Albania.

• Showvival: Korea South.

• One Million Star: Taiwan.

• Protagonistas de la Música: Chile and USA.

[edit] See also

• List of television show franchises
• American Idol
• Australian Idol
• Making The Band

v • d • e Star Academy Americas Canada (Quebec)  • United States Location of different versions of Star Academy. Europe Bulgaria • France • Georgia, Republic of (2009 abandoned after 7 weeks, collapse of building)  • Greece • Russia • Spain • United Kingdom • United Kingdom (Celebrity) Asia India • Philippines Pan-Regional Africa • Arab World • Adriatic Region