SuperStar () is an Arabic television show based on the British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment & developed by Fremantle Media. The show unites the Arab community by democratically choosing the next singing sensation. The show is broadcast worldwide on Future TV, a Lebanese television station. It was also the first Idol franchise to feature contestants from multiple countries.
The show was a huge success. Ali Jaber, the executive manager of Future TV, was quoted as saying "This (program) is the most successful for an Arab television. There isn't a television program that moved the Arab world like that."
However, SuperStar was eclipsed by rival show Star Academy on LBC in the Middle East, in terms of popularity and ratings, after only its first season. It has been surpassed by Star Academy as the number one Arab show, and did not move the Arab world the way it did during the first season.
Future TV subsequently lost the Idol licence to the MBC network, which on 9 December 2011 relaunched the programme after changing its name to Arab Idol on MBC 1.
Summary Season Year Winner Country Runner-up Country Third Place Country Fourth Place Country 1 2003 Diana Karazon Jordan Rouwaida Attieh Syria Melhem Zein Lebanon Saoud Abou Sultan United Arab Emirates 2 2004 Ayman Alatar Libya Ammar Hassan Palestine Hadi Aswad Syria Ranim Qteit Egypt 3 2005–2006 Ibrahim El Hakami Saudi Arabia Shahd Barmada Syria Ayman Lseeq Tunisia Ahmed El Faleh Iraq 4 2007 Marwan Ali Tunisia Saad Lamjarred Morocco Yosra Mahnouch Tunisia Ahmed Hussein Lebanon 5 2008 Elie Bitar Lebanon Abdel Majid Ibrahim Saudi Arabia Murad El Swaiti Palestine Asma El Jaberi Morocco
SuperStar 1 (2003) The first series aired between 20 April 2003 and 18 August 2003. The series was won by Jordanian Diana Karazon.
Participants and special guests Participants and date of elimination: Diana Karazon – Jordan – Winner Rouwaida Attieh – Syria – 18 August 2003 Melhem Zein – Lebanon – 11 August 2003 Saoud Abou Sultan UAE – 4 August 2003 Wael Mansour – Egypt – 28 July 2003 Shadi Aswad – Syria – 21 July 2003 Merhi Serhal – Lebanon – 14 July 2003 Mohammad Lafi – Palestine – 7 July 2003 Nancy Zabalawi – Syria – 30 June 2003 Saber Hawari – Algeria – 30 June 2003 Saad Jamal Al-Dine – Lebanon – 23 June 2003 Haitham Saeed – Egypt – 23 June 2003
Special Guests: Ragheb Alama Walid Toufic Sabah Fakhri Saber Rebai James Pitman
Diana Karazon in World Idol Diana Karazon participated alongside 10 other Idol winners from other countries in the mini-event World Idol held in London, known locally as "سوبر ستار العالم", 'World Superstar'. Diana placed equal in 9th place among the 11 contestants equal with the German SuperStar Alexander Klaws on 45 points. The event was won by the Norwegian Idol, Kurt Nilsen.
Diana Karazon performed the first radio single from her CD Super Star El Arab – Ensani Ma Binsak.
Diana Karazon received the following scores respectively: United Kingdom awarded 4 points Belgium awarded 1 point Australia awarded 4 points United States awarded 8 points Arab world awarded 12 points (default award) Poland awarded 1 point Netherlands awarded 1 point Canada awarded 5 points Germany awarded 6 points Norway awarded 2 points South Africa awarded 1 point
SuperStar 2 (2004) The second series aired between 21 April and 23 August 2004. Paris and Bahrain were newly added as audition cities while Algiers was dropped. Tonia Moreeb decided to quit after receiving bad comments about her judging skills in the previous season. She was replaced with music critic/agent Fadia Tanab. 83 contestants had advanced to the semi-finals of SuperStar 2, 81 ended up performing before 2 contestants each week would advance to become part of the Top 14 contestants. This series also offered a Wildcard show where it was revealed by the CEO of Future TV – Ali Jaber, that the Top 14 would become a Top 17 & that the Top 5 vote getters in the Wildcards would advance.
Ayman Alatar from Janzour, Libya won the second season on 23 August 2004, beating runner up Palestinian Ammar Hassan with a weighting of 54% to 46%.
It was revealed later that Ayman had missed the audition in Cairo, Egypt by one day & had one last chance to audition in Damascus, Syria.
Participants and special guests Participants, their countries and date of elimination Ayman Alatar – Libya – Winner Ammar Hassan – Palestine – 23 August 2004 Hadi Aswad – Syria – 16 August 2004 Ranim Qteit – Egypt – 9 August 2004 Brigitte Yaghi – Lebanon – 2 August 2004 Mohannad Mshallah – Syria – 26 July 2004 Houssam Madanieh – Syria – 19 July 2004 Abeer Nehme – Lebanon – 12 July 2004 Abdulrahman Mohammed – Saudi Arabia – 12 July 2004 Houssam Shami – Lebanon – 28 June 2004 Mohamed Daoud – Kuwait – 21 June 2004 Waad Al Bahri – Syria – 14 June 2004 Mustafa Shwiekh – Egypt – 14 June 2004 Raneen El Shaar – Lebanon – 7 June 2004 Zahi Saffeyeh – Lebanon – 7 June 2004 Rania Shaban – UAE – 31 May 2004 Yasmine El Husaini – Egypt – 31 May 2004
Special guests: Wadih El Safi Diana Karazon Rouwaida Attieh Melhem Zein Saoud Abou Sultan Asalah Nasri Nawal El Kuwaiti Sherine Diana Haddad The Judges Including: Elias Rahbani, Abdullah Al Qoud, and Fadia Tanb Al-Hajj Nancy Ajram Moeen Charif Assi El Helani
SuperStar 3 (2005–2006) SuperStar 3 was the longest Idol production ever with auditions beginning in Cairo on 10 November 2004, telecasts starting on 11 October 2005 and the program culminating on 6 February 2006.
The telecast of SuperStar 3 was delayed after the assassination of Future TV founder & Lebanese Prime Minister – Rafik Hariri, as the TV station went into mourning.
Rania Kurdi did not want to renew her hosting position for Season 3, as a result Heba Sisi was hired for Season 3, but due to the lengthy hiatus over the Hariri murder, her contract prematurely ended before the semi-finals had begun, leaving Ayman to host solo for the rest of the season.
Auditions took place in the following cities: Beirut, Lebanon Damascus, Syria Tunis, Tunisia Dubai, United Arab Emirates Cairo, Egypt Amman, Jordan Sydney, Australia Los Angeles, USA
Participants and special guests
94 contestants advanced to the theatre round in Beirut. 6 from America, 4 from Australia, 21 from Lebanon, 8 from Egypt, 5 from Jordan, 9 from Syria, 32 from Tunisia & 5 from UAE.
Participants, their countries of origin and date of elimination: Ibrahim El Hakami – Saudi Arabia – Winner Shahd Barmada – Syria – 6 February 2006 Ayman Lseeq – Tunisia – 30 January 2006 Ahmed El Faleh – Iraq – 23 January 2006 Asma Othmani – Tunisia – 23 January 2006 Nancy Nasrallah – Lebanon – 9 January 2006 Haitham El Shoumali – Palestine – 2 January 2006 Ibrahim Abd El Adheem – Libya – 26 December 2005 Asma Ben Ahmed – Tunisia – 19 December 2005 Hatem Adar – Morocco – 19 December 2005 Samar Andeel – Egypt – 5 December 2005 Yusra Hamzawi – Tunisia – 28 November 2005
The special guests were: Once again this season, special musical guests have been invited to the show to offer their support & critiques.
Ayman Alatar Ammar Hassan Hadi Aswad Ranim Qteit Tony Hana Abdallah Al Rowaished Walid Toufic Marwan Khoury Nabil Shaeil Lotfi Boushnaq Talal Salamah Julia Boutros Nancy Ajram
The new semi final format from Denmark & America was similarly adopted this season whereby the Top 21 (10 male & 11 female) were placed in male & female groups with 5 contestants advancing to the Top 12.
The semi finalists of SuperStar 3 are: Samar Andeel (Egypt), Aida El Rahbani (Lebanon), Nancy Nasrallah (Lebanon), Rashel El Rasi (Lebanon), Hasna Zlagh (Morocco), Shahd Barmada (Syria), Asma Ben Ahmed (Tunisia), Asma Othmani (Tunisia), Fouzia El Betri (Tunisia), Olfa El Barhoumi (Tunisia), Yusra Hamzawi (Tunisia), Mohamed El Abd (Egypt), Mohamed Jamal (Egypt), Ahmed El Faleh (Iraq), Youssef Kazar (Iraq), Ibrahim Abd El Adheem (Libya), Hatem Adar (Morocco), Haitham El Shoumali (Palestine), Ibrahim El Hakami (Saudi Arabia), Anis Ltaief (Tunisia), Ayman Lseeq (Tunisia)
As of 12 December 2005, the competition of SuperStar has been delayed due to the assassination of Lebanese senator Gebran Tueni, the results show scheduled to air on Monday 12 December 2005 will be included with the results due on Monday 19 December 2005.
On 15 January 2006, the competition was once again postponed due to the passing of another key political figure, Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The performance show was recorded on Tuesday & aired on Thursday 19 January. The votes from this round will be combined with the performance show on 22 January with the elimination of 2 contestants.
On the evening of Monday 6 February 2006, Ibrahim El Hakami from Saudi Arabia became the 3rd SuperStar over Shahd Barmada with a 53% to 47% weighting. Along with the title of SuperStar, Ibrahim also won a Ford Focus.
Finals elimination chart Stage:Semi-finalsFinalsWeeks:11/0711/1411/2111/2812/0512/1912/2601/0201/0901/2301/3002/06PlaceContestantResult1Ibrahim El HakamiIN Btm4 Btm3 Btm2 Winner2Shahd BarmadaIN Btm3 Btm3 Runner-up3Ayman LseeqIN Btm3 Elim4-5Ahmed El FalehIN Btm2 ElimAsma Othmani Elim WC Btm2 Btm2 Elim6Nancy NasrallahIN Btm4 Elim7Haitham El ShoumaliIN Elim8Ibrahim Abd El Adheem Elim WC Elim9-10Hatem AdarIN ElimAsma Ben AhmedIN Btm3 Elim11Samar AndeelIN Elim12Yusra HamzawiIN Elim + Legend Female Male Safe Safe first Safe second Safe third Eliminated Wildcard
SuperStar 4 (2007) The fourth series aired between 22 January 2007 and 4 June 2007. The performance show airs on Sunday night with the results show on Monday night.
Season 4 of SuperStar was officially confirmed of the season 3 Grand Final.
On 10 April 2006, the following audition cities were revealed on the official Future TV website and took place in September 2006: Beirut, Lebanon Cairo, Egypt Amman, Jordan Tunis, Tunisia Kuwait City, Kuwait Dubai, United Arab Emirates Montreal, Quebec, Canada Los Angeles, USA Detroit, USA (São Paulo, Brazil was to be included but scrapped at the last minute)
Participants and special guests
107 contestants advanced to the theatre round in Beirut. 8 from America, 5 from Canada, 36 from Lebanon, 11 from Egypt, 8 from Jordan, 5 from Kuwait, 31 from Tunisia & 3 from UAE.
Participants, their countries of origin and date of elimination Marwan Ali – Tunisia – Winner Saad Lamjarred – Morocco – 4 June 2007 Yosra Mahnouch – Tunisia – 28 May 2007 Ahmed Hussein – Lebanon – 14 May 2007 Rihab Saleh – Egypt – 7 May 2007 Ibrahim Ashri – Egypt – 30 April 2007 Fadi Abd El Khaliq – Lebanon – 23 April 2007 Nesma Kurdi – Egypt – 23 April 2007 Youssef Bara – Syria – 9 April 2007 Mustafa Said – Egypt – 2 April 2007 Rawda Bin Abdallah – Tunisia – 26 March 2007 Elian Ba'ini – Lebanon – 19 March 2007 Nada Omar – Egypt – 19 March 2007
Special Guests: Mayada El Hennawy Ibrahim El Hakami Wadih El Safi Brigitte Yaghi Hani Shaker Melhem Zein Sabah Fakhry Carole Samaha Ehab Tawfik Assi El Helani
The new semi final format was similarly adopted this season whereby the Top 22 (12 male & 10 female) were placed in male & female groups with 5 contestants advancing to the Top 13.
The semi finalists of SuperStar 4 are: Yosra Mahnouch (Tunisia), Mirai Zahab (Lebanon), Selwa El Ghali (Egypt)، Elian Ba'ini (Lebanon), Sawsan Najar (Iraq), Nada Omar (Egypt), Rawda Bin Abdallah (Tunisia), Nesma Kurdi (Egypt), Rihab Saleh (Egypt), Hoba Biba (Tunisia), Fadi Abd El Khaliq (Lebanon), Mustafa Said (Egypt), Marwan Ali (Tunisia), Youssef Bara (Syria), Ahmed Hussein (Lebanon), Wael Atallah (Libya), Yazid El Maghribi (Saudi Arabia), Salah El Kurdi (Lebanon), Tawfik Kelesh (Lebanon), Fouaz Hadchiti (Lebanon), Saad Lamjarred (Morocco), Ibrahim Ashri, (Egypt)
Finals elimination chart