Star Academy 1 The first season of
Star Academy 1 made its debut in early December 2003. The first season ended on 4 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
Cynthya Karam (
Lebanon). The teachers were as follows: Wadih Abi Raad, Michael Fadel, Mary Mahfouth, Betty Taoutel, Aida Sabra, Elissar Karakalla and Rola Saad. 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
Persian 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. • Mohammad Attia (Winner; released one album) •
Bashar Al Shatti (Finalist; released three albums) • Bahaa' El Kafy (3rd place; released one album) • Mohammad Khalawi (4th place; released one album) • Ahmed El Sherif (5th place; released two albums) •
Sophia El Mareekh (6th place; released one album) • Cynthya Karam (7th place; no albums released) • Myriam Attallah (8th place; released multiple songs & albums) 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 person, Elodie Frégé, won.
Primes : As there was a tie, Sophia had the casting vote and she saved Bruno. : 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. : As there was a tie, Amine had the casting vote and he saved Yasser.
Tour Mohamad A, Bashar, Bahaa, Ahmad, Mohamad K, Sophia, Cynthyia, and Myriam (the Top 8) were chosen to be part of the tour.
Star Academy 2 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 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.
Primes : As there was a tie, Mohammad Ibrahim had the casting vote and he saved Mohamed Dossary : As there was a tie, Rym had the casting vote and she saved Mohammad Ibrahim : As there was a tie, Chayma had the casting vote and she saved Mohammad Ibrahim : He withdrew from the academy after being nominated and saved by his colleagues vote and not by the public's 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 Shada Hassoun, from
Iraq, made history by being the first girl to take the title. 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 : 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 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 : As there was a tie, Badr had the casting vote and he saved Khaled : As there was a tie, Dia had the casting vote and she saved Amal M : 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 • at 12 May 2008 Abdullah Al-Dosari withdrew due to problems with Muhammad Qwaider, at the academy*
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 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 : He withdrew from the academy after not being in the weekly top 5. : Although it was a special prime for the children cancer center "St.Jude" in Lebanon both of them were not eliminated and their vote's percentage were donated automatically to St. jude children cancer medical center.
Tour Abdulaziz, Bassma, Ibrahim, Michel A, Lara, Mohamed B, Tania, Yehya and Nasser were chosen to be part of the tour. Once again, unlike the previous season, the tour chose to have 9 students to participate. But once again, for unknown reasons, the tour was canceled.
Star Academy 7 Star Academy 7 launched its first prime from Adma,
Lebanon on 19 February 2010 on
LBC. This year's winner was Nassif Zaytoun from
Syria. He made history by being the first contestant from Syria to win.
Primes : As there was a tie, Salwa had the casting vote and she saved Aline : As there was a tie, Tahra had the casting vote and she saved Bassel : As there was a tie, Tahra had the casting vote and she saved Asma : As there was a tie, Badreia had the casting vote and she saved Zeina : There were rumors that the lines in Iraq to vote for Rahma were free of charge on certain days
Tour Nassif, Rahma, Mohamed R, Ramy, Badria, Sultan, Asma, Tahra, Mahmoud, Zeina, Abdulaziz, Miral and Rayan were chosen to be part of the tour, but following the shocking and unexpected death of Ramy, the tour was cancelled.
Star Academy 8 Nesma Alaa Ali Mahgoub, a 20-year-old student from Egypt, was the winner this year. She is the second Egyptian to win in the show, after Mohamed Atieh, the second female contestant to win, after Shada Hassoun, and also the second candidate to win in the Arab show by singing mostly the western genre, after Nader Guirat. : As there was a tie, Karim had the casting vote and he saved Nina. : As there was a tie, Ahmad had the casting vote and he saved Husam. : The results were not shown. However, the presenter,
Hilda Khalife, said that Ahmad got 96%.
Star Academy 9 Star Academy Arabia returned with a brand new name after a hiatus of over a year. The series began on 26 September 2013 and ended on 9 January 2014, and was produced by Endemol Middle East. It aired on three channels including LBCI and CBC Egypt. The contestants of this series were, in order of elimination: 1. Menna Hany 2. Marita Abi Nader 3. Issa Almarzoug 4. Taher Mostafa 5. Mayssa Mejri 6. Maria Sarkis 7. Nour Farawati 8. Lilia Ben Chikha 9. Zaki Chreif 10. Mosab Al Khateeb 11. Abdallah Abd Al Aziz 12. Rana Samaha 13.
Soukaina Boukries 14. Jean Chahid 15. Zinab Oussama 16. Mahmoud Mohey (Winner)
Star Academy 10 The winner of Star Academy 10 made history by being the first contestant from a country that already had a student win from it.
Mohammed Chahin from
Egypt became the 4th Egyptian to win the title, and the 3rd consecutive one after
Mahmoud Mohey in Season 9 and
Nesma Mahgoub In Season 8 .
Primes Star Academy 11 Star Academy 11 began on 16 October 2015 and ended on 29 January 2016, with
Marwan Youssef from Lebanon crowned the season's winner. Marwan is the second Lebanese contestant to win the first place title after
Joseph Attieh (Star Academy 3). The season was produced by Endemol Shine Middle East and broadcast on
Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International aka LBC Lebanon) and
Capital Broadcasting Center aka CBC (Egypt) tv networks. Among many other prizes awarded to the winner of the season,
Marwan Youssef won a song produced by Endemol, and released his first single "Watan Hobi." Marwan later went on to release a second single alone with Watary Productions record label titled "Rafed Saddek," which saw great success and lead to him filming his first music video for the song. Marwan has since performed many concerts and performed in important music festivals. This also had a few noteworthy and historical things to mention for example, Ihab Amir made history as the first male Moroccan contestant since the first season and being the second male Moroccan contestant after Amine Errachidi in the first season. Also Algeria made history this season as this was the first time in the show's entire run that more than one contestant was chosen to represent the North African nation.
Marwan Youssef winner of star academy 11 ==Milestones, recordholders and trivia==