Pop's Ultimate Star was TV2's reality television show which pits former reality contestants against each other, most of whom are former NZ Idol contestants. The show was produced by Eyeworks Touchdown, with first prize $50,000 and a Kia 'Rio' car. It is hosted by Dominic Bowden and was originally scheduled to be held in the St. James Theatre in Auckland. After damage to the St. James theatre the show was shifted to the Bruce Mason theatre before finally relocating to TVNZ's Avalon studio in Wellington.
Originally, public voting occurred from the performance show on Sunday, where the eventual two contestants who have the lowest public votes will then be in a "sing off" on Wednesday, where the judges eliminated one contestant. After week five, TVNZ changed the format and a contestant was eliminated in the Sunday night show by the judges after the two with the lowest number of public votes were chosen.
The judges are music industry veterans Peter Urlich from Th' Dudes, Jordan Luck from The Exponents, Harry Lyon from Hello Sailor and Kim Willoughby from When The Cat's Away. Lyon is the show's musical director and Willoughby the performance coach and stylist.
The show debuted on 29 May 2007, receiving mainly negative reviews, ranging from judges, song choice, lighting, singing and the most common one was the sound issue. Another controversial issue was the introduction of immunity challenges, during episodes two through four.
Contestant | Placing | Status | Bottom 2 |
---|---|---|---|
Joe Cotton | Former singer – TrueBliss | Winner | |
Nik Carlson | Runner-up, NZ Idol Season two | Runner-Up | |
Matthew Saunoa | Winner, NZ Idol Season three | Eliminated | |
Emily Williams | Runner-up, Australian Idol and singer – Young Divas | Eliminated | Nik Carlson |
David Wikaira-Paul | Former actor – Shortland Street | Eliminated | Nik Carlson |
Ben Lummis | Winner, NZ Idol Season one | Eliminated | Emily Williams |
Camillia Temple | 3rd place, NZ Idol Season one | Eliminated | Nik Carlson |
Steve Broad | 3rd place, NZ Idol Season two | Eliminated | Camillia Temple |
Rosita Vai | Winner, NZ Idol Season two | Eliminated | Nik Carlson |
Keri Harper | Former singer – TrueBliss | Eliminated | Emily Williams |
American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to April 7, 2016, for 15 seasons. It was on hiatus for two years until March 11, 2018, when a revival of the series began airing on ABC.
Singapore Idol was a Singaporean reality television singing competition produced by MediaCorp Studios and FremantleMedia Operations BV. It began airing on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 9 August 2004 until 27 December 2009, as an addition to the Idol franchise based on the British show Pop Idol, and became one of the most popular shows in the history of Singaporean television.
My Restaurant Rules is an Australian reality television series that aired on the Seven Network.
Dancing on Ice is a British television series currently presented by Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby. Former hosts include Phillip Schofield, who hosted from 2006 to 2023, and Christine Lampard, who hosted in Willoughby's absence from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their professional partners figure skating in front of a panel of judges. The series, broadcast on ITV, started on 14 January 2006 and initially ended on 9 March 2014.
Campus SuperStar is a Singaporean reality television singing competition to find new singing talent, contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. The show began on 2 January 2006 and is broadcast on MediaCorp Channel U. It is a spin-off of Project SuperStar, and contestants comprise students from secondary schools, junior colleges and institutes of technical education.
Grease Is the Word is the United Kingdom version of NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want!. It aired during 2007, and was produced by Syco TV. The winning couple, Susan McFadden and Danny Bayne, went on to star in a long-running West End production of Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre.
The fifth season of Australian Idol premiered on 5 August 2007 on Network Ten. It concluded on 25 November.
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed against each other for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud won and would go on to achieve twenty consecutive top ten hits, four number ones and six top ten albums, two of which reached number one and from that, group member Cheryl would achieve five number-one singles and two number one albums.
Superstars of Dance was an American reality television show, first broadcast on January 4, 2009, on NBC. The show featured dance routines from eight countries from six continents. It was hosted by Michael Flatley, co-creator of Riverdance and creator of Lord of the Dance, and was co-hosted by former Miss USA title holder Susie Castillo. It was created by executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller, co-producers of So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol.
The first series of British reality television show Pop Idol was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom during the winter months of 2001 and 2002. The show was a singing competition open to people aged between 16 and 26 years old, with the winner receiving a £1 million recording contract to release their debut album. Pop Idol received ratings of as high as 10 million viewers for shows before the live final. The footage of the programme's opening titles, as well as the live final of this series, was used in the first season of American Idol, which began over four months after the airing of the live final, in which Kelly Clarkson won the season.
The sixth series of Dancing on Ice aired from 9 January to 27 March 2011, on ITV. Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby returned as hosts, while Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returned as mentors. As part of a major revamp, the show moved from Elstree Studios to Shepperton Studios, where they unveiled a new set. It was the also the first series to be broadcast in HD.
Soñando por Bailar 2011 is an Argentinian reality show hosted by Santiago del Moro and broadcast by El Trece. Unlike Bailando por un Sueño, every week the contestants danced along with a professional dancer but the jury scored the couples with a positive vote and the remaining contestants give a negative vote to another contestant. A group of young contestants compete for the chance to be competing in Bailando por un Sueño, the show hosted by Marcelo Tinelli.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The ninth series began airing on ITV on 18 August 2012 and ended on 9 December 2012. Dermot O'Leary returned as presenter of the main show on ITV, whilst Caroline Flack and Olly Murs returned to co-present The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow and Tulisa returned as judges. Nicole Scherzinger was confirmed as the fourth permanent judge after Geri Halliwell, Leona Lewis, Rita Ora, Mel B, Anastacia and Scherzinger herself stood in as guest judges for the vacant position left by Kelly Rowland. After the show of 8 December, two of Scherzinger's acts, James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas, became the top two, meaning that Scherzinger was guaranteed to win. Arthur was announced as the winner on 9 December, and released a cover of Shontelle's "Impossible" as his winner's song. As of 2016, it is the most successful winner's single in the show's history.
Strictly Come Dancing returned for its tenth series and began with the launch show on 15 September 2012. The live shows began on 5 October. Sir Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly returned to present the main show on BBC One and Claudia Winkleman returned to present the results show with Daly. Zoë Ball returned to present the spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. Judges Len Goodman, Craig Revel Horwood, and Bruno Tonioli all returned and were joined on the judging panel by series 7 guest judge Darcey Bussell, who replaced Alesha Dixon.
New Zealand's Got Talent was a New Zealand reality television show, based on the original UK series, to find new talent. The third and final series began airing on TV One from 15 September 2013. Host Tāmati Coffey returned to the show, along with judges Jason Kerrison and Rachel Hunter and key sponsor Toyota New Zealand. Cris Judd also joined the judging panel, replacing Ali Campbell. The series screened at 7.30pm on Sunday evenings.
The first season of The Final 1 premiered on MediaCorp Channel 5 on 24 April 2013. It is a Singaporean reality-singing competition programme created by the director of Hype Records Ken Lim. The judges were singer-songwriter Taufik Batisah, singer-actress Kit Chan and Ken Lim. Fly Entertainment artiste Vanessa Vanderstraaten was employed as the host of the show. Class 95FM radio personality Mike Kasem later joined the show as the second host, and hosted the finals together with Vanderstraaten.
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. The eleventh series began airing on ITV on 30 August 2014 and finished on 14 December 2014. Dermot O'Leary presented his eighth series of the main show on ITV and Sarah-Jane Crawford presented spin-off show The Xtra Factor on ITV2, replacing Caroline Flack and Matt Richardson. Louis Walsh was the only judge from series 10 to return and was joined by former judges Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Simon Cowell, and new judge Mel B, who replaced Sharon Osbourne, Gary Barlow and Nicole Scherzinger. Former judge Tulisa returned as a guest judge for the final on 13 December due to Mel B being ill. The series also saw the lower age limit decreased from 16 to 14, as it was in series 4 and 5. This was Walsh's final series as a judge before returning in series 13. It was O'Leary's final series as presenter on the main show, as he announced on 27 March 2015 that he was leaving to pursue other projects, before returning in series 13. On 11 May, Crawford also confirmed via Twitter that she would leave her position as The Xtra Factor presenter.
The first season of Pakistan Idol premiered on Geo on 6 December 2013 and continued until 24 April 2014. It was won by Zamad Baig. The first season was hosted by Mohib Mirza, while Anoushey Ashraf joined in semi-finals and also hosted the spin-off show Pakistan Idol-Sur Ka Safar.
The fifteenth and final series of the British television music competition The X Factor began airing on ITV on 1 September 2018, presented by Dermot O'Leary. Simon Cowell returned alongside new judges Louis Tomlinson, Ayda Field, and Robbie Williams who replace departing judges Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne, and Louis Walsh. Nile Rodgers filled in for Williams while he was away on his tour for weeks 3–5 of the live shows.
X Factor Malta is the Maltese version of the British television music competition The X Factor, created by Simon Cowell. The first season premiered on 7 October 2018 and has since been broadcast on Television Malta. The show was used to determine the artist that would represent Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 and 2020. In July 2020, it was announced that the show would be replaced by Malta's Got Talent, but after a one-year hiatus, a third season began in October 2021. Season four started on 08 October 2023.