Project Fame is a pan-African version of the international talent/reality show Star Academy. Held in Johannesburg, South Africa from June to August 2004, the show had 16 African contestants – 9 of them South Africans – groomed for stardom, with the weakest being eliminated on a weekly basis; the top three received record deals and the winner got a lot more prizes.
The contestants were eliminated in the following way: the judges placed four contestants on probation, the teachers could saved one, the other contestants could save another and viewers could save a third, thereby eliminating the last contestant. As the show progressed, the number of contestants placed on probation rose to five, resulting in two contestants being eliminated. The last five remaining contestants' fates were determined by viewers' votes.
An East African version; Tusker Project Fame (season 1), aired from 1 October to 17 December 2006. It continues to run each year and the latest is Tusker Project Fame season 4 which ended on 6 December 2010, and won by Ugandan Davis Hillary Ntare.
The show was described as Idols meets Big Brother Africa as the contestants' daily activities were recorded 24 hours a day.
Final results RankContestantDate of eliminationRef1Lindiwe Alam Zambia winner2Jonathan Ross South Africa 29 August3Daré Art Alade Nigeria 29 August4Tebogo Moloto South Africa 29 August5Tracey-Lee Oliver South Africa 29 August6Johan du Plooy* South Africa 22 August6Monica Burger South Africa 22 August8Kudzai Sevenzo* Zimbabwe 15 August8Karen Lucas Kenya 15 August10Claudia Mohr* South Africa 8 August10Steve Peralta South Africa 8 August12Didge Nyatome Kenya 1 August13Robyn Hendricks South Africa 25 July14Tumi Ramailane South Africa 18 July15Carl "Bodea" Eckle Tanzania 11 July16Jid'dah Ado-Ibrahim Nigeria 4 July
*These contestants performed better than their equally ranked contestants as they were on probation less often.
References