World Idol (Germany: SuperStar Weltweit, Arab World: SuperStar El Alaam) is a one-off international version of the singing competition television show Pop Idol, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.

World Idol
Also known asSuperStar Weltweit (German)
SuperStar El Alaam (Arabic)
Created bySimon Fuller
Directed byJonathan Bullen
Presented byAnt & Dec
Ben Mulroney (CTV version)
Judges
Original languageVarious
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes2
Production
Executive producersJohn Brunton
Simon Fuller
Producers
  • Sue Brophey
  • Conrad Green
  • Ken Warwick
Production locationsThe Fountain Studios, London, England
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Production companies19 Entertainment
FremantleMedia North America
Original release
NetworkSee below
Release25 December 2003 (2003-12-25) –
1 January 2004 (2004-01-01)
Related
Various national Idol shows
World Idol
WinnerKurt Nilsen
Runner-upKelly Clarkson

Background edit

The performance show was broadcast on Christmas Day 2003, with the results show aired on New Year's Day 2004. It was produced in the United Kingdom at Fountain Studios in London, using the set from the recently completed second series of Pop Idol. After presenting the competitors, viewers from the 11 participating countries were allowed to vote by telephone, but not for the participant from their home country.

All participants sang in English except for Diana Karazon, who sang in Arabic.

British presenters Ant & Dec hosted the show on most English speaking countries, while local presenters hosted for their own country in the local language. Additionally, Canada’s CTV Network used Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney (with the show on Fox, which used Ant and Dec as hosts, was not simulcast with the CTV feed, to prevent Canadians from calling the American toll-free number to vote for their idol, Ryan Malcolm). Victoria Beckham performed her UK No. 3 hit "Let Your Head Go" during the results interval.

The show was broadcast on 11 television broadcasters worldwide.[2]

Broadcasters edit

Results edit

The points were awarded in a similar fashion as the Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. each country awarded a number of points from 1 to 10 to each other country, using each number once. The results were:

Rank Performer Country Points Song Original artist
1 Kurt Nilsen Norway 106 "Beautiful Day" U2
2 Kelly Clarkson United States 97 "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" Aretha Franklin
3 Peter Evrard Belgium 83 "Lithium" Nirvana
4 Heinz Winckler South Africa 80 "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" Aerosmith
5 Will Young United Kingdom 72 "Light My Fire" The Doors
6 Ryan Malcolm Canada 62 "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" The Hollies
7 Guy Sebastian Australia 56 "What a Wonderful World" Louis Armstrong
8 Alicja "Alex" Janosz Poland 55 "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar
9 (tie) Alexander Klaws Germany 45 "Maniac" Michael Sembello
9 (tie) Diana Karazon Arab States 45 "Ensani Ma Binsak" original song
11 Jamai Loman Netherlands 36 "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" Elton John

Scoreboard edit

Each country's Idol automatically gained the maximum 12 points. Therefore, the most points an Idol could gain from another country was 10.

Points Given GER AUS Pan-
Arabia
CAN NED RSA POL USA BEL UK NOR Total Place
Alexander Klaws (GER) 12 1 10 1 4 2 4 1 7 2 1 45 9
Guy Sebastian (AUS) 2 12 2 6 6 5 5 6 3 6 3 56 7
Diana Karazon (Pan-Arabia) 6 4 12 5 1 1 1 8 1 4 2 45 9
Ryan Malcolm (CAN) 3 5 9 12 5 7 2 4 2 5 8 62 6
Jamai Loman (NED) 1 2 1 2 12 4 3 2 4 1 4 36 11
Heinz Winckler (RSA) 7 8 8 7 2 12 6 9 8 7 6 80 4
Alicja Janosz (POL) 8 3 7 3 3 3 12 3 5 3 5 55 8
Kelly Clarkson (USA) 9 9 5 9 9 8 8 12 9 9 10 97 2
Peter Evrard (BEL) 4 7 6 8 7 6 9 7 12 8 9 83 3
Will Young (UK) 5 6 3 4 8 9 7 5 6 12 7 72 5
Kurt Nilsen (NOR) 10 10 4 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 106 1

10 points edit

Below is a summary of all 10 (max) points in the final:

N. Contestant Voting nation
9 Norway Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States
1 Germany Arab States
1 United States Norway

Judges edit

The judges of the competition were:

Reception edit

Simon Cowell, who judged American Idol as well as the original Pop Idol, was very critical of the format. He went as far as to say he hated it, in that it made the winners from the ten other Idol competitions into losers.[3] Cowell also thought many of the judges were trying to copy his abrasive style. Television critics also panned the programme, particularly as the UK phone voting was profit-making, whereas tradition dictates that Christmas specials of such programmes donate profits to charity.

Ratings edit

In Canada, the special was watched by 1.9 million viewers.[4] In Poland, World Idol was the highest-rated in its timeslot, 4.5 million viewers, and 28.6 share per cent.[4] In the United States, World Idol was the number-one show of the night among adults from 18–34 but drew a disappointing 6.5 million viewers overall.[4] In Australia, it was the highest-rated show of the night, it had about 2.4 million viewers.[4] In the Netherlands, it was the No. 1 rated show in its timeslot.[4] In the UK, over 4 million tuned in, but the show was beaten by other popular programs that aired Christmas night.[4]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "First Canada, Now The World. Canadian Idol Ryan Malcolm Takes Global Stage In World Idol, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1 on CTV". Bell Media. 13 November 2003. Retrieved 26 April 2012.[dead link]
  2. ^ "Entriq, Inc. and FremantleMedia Sign Agreement to Bring 'World Idol' Pay-Per-Video to the Internet". PR Newswire. California. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Cowell disses 'World Idol'". Today. Associated Press. 21 January 2004.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "'World Idol' draws OK ratings in US but mixed ratings throughout the world". Reality TV World. 29 December 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2019.

External links edit