Deutschland sucht den Superstar (German for "Germany seeks the superstar") is a German television program, also commonly known by its initials DSDS. It is the German version of the Idols franchise, broadcast on RTL. (RTL owns the franchise worldwide.)

The producers were not allowed to use the words "pop" or "idol" in the title (Frank Farian has held title rights to "idol" since the 1970s in Germany, and a deal with the creators of Popstars forbids the use of the word "pop" for Pop Idol editions outside the UK, henceforth "(regional) Idol" in other countries).

Season 1

The first season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar debuted without a lot of hype in October 2002 on the RTL network. The show's co-hosts were Swiss actress Michelle Hunziker and former soap opera actor Carsten Spengemann, and the jury consisted of music producer, composer and half of former duo Modern Talking, Dieter Bohlen, radio host Thomas Bug, British music journalist Shona Fraser, and the former president of BMG Germany, Thomas M. Stein. (Bertelsmann is the majority owner of RTL, which owns the franchise, show, and network in Germany.)

Through word of mouth generated by the appeal of its contestants and the presence of Bohlen's acid-tongued commentary, the show grew into a phenomenon ending with a finale viewed by an estimated twelve million viewers in March 2003. Following such a success, the second season was moved to air the upcoming fall during the higher profile 2003 fall schedule. The number of episodes increased, as did the show's budget and the charge for commercial spots.

Winner Alexander Klaws signed with BMG, the label in partnership with DSDS. Immediately post-finale, Klaws released three singles, most notably the coronation song "Take Me Tonight" which was written by Bohlen and debuted on top of the German singles chart, eventually becoming the second biggest selling single of 2003 - only losing to We Have a Dream, the pre-released recording of all ten finalists. As part of the promotion planned for the show's first winner, the song had been prerecorded ready to air on radio stations the week after the finale. Appearances on numerous entertainment/news shows followed, as did videos for the singles that began airing on MTV Central and VIVA. Klaws has subsequently had three albums and several hit singles mostly from his more successful first album. While his debut, Take Your Chance (2003, and its follow-up, Here I Am (2004), saw nationwide success and garnered him several ECHO nominations, his independent 2006 release, Attention failed to link on previous sales figures.

Besides Klaws, all finalists with the exception of then-pregnant Andrea Josten signed record deals with various companies. Runner-up Juliette Schoppmann also signed with BMG, but in contrast to public expectations she denied working with Bohlen. Its said that the ballad Für dich (performed by Yvonne Catterfeld) was originally written by Bohlen for her. It went on to become the best selling-german single of 2003 and the biggest success for the singer. Schoppmann instead released three independent singles (of which two entered the Top 10) and a solo album, Unique which eventually debuted in 2004. Due to moderate sales BMG dropped her shortly after its release. She is currently working on a comeback.

Third-placed Daniel Küblböck also expanded his nationwide but extremely polarising popularity with a contract with BMG. Until June 2004 he released four major succeeded hit singles and a number-one album, titled Positive Energien. However, further efforts failed on the charts after a controversial participation in the German version of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! and the release of his flopped motion picture Daniel - Der Zauberer.

Vanessa Struhler became the protegé of Hip-Hop producer DJ Tomekk and saw solid commercial success with her first album, Ride With Me. Her second 2004 release failed to link on previous sales figures. Gracia Baur also was signed to BMG, but was dropped after her moderate succeeded Rock debut. She then signed with Bros Music and was selected to represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Run & Hide", beating out former-DSDS-opponent Nicole Süßmilch in the german pre-selection. However, the track placed last (24th). Daniel Lopes (seventh) and Nektarios Bamiatzis (eighth) have had little success after the show.

Semi Final Qualifiyings

Top 30
Format: 3 out of ten making the final each week + one Wildcard

Date	First	Second	Third
December 2	Alexander Klaws	Judith Lefeber	Daniel Küblböck
December 9	Juliette Schoppmann	Gracia Baur	Nektarios Bamiatzis
December 16	Daniel Lopes	Andrea Josten	Stephanie Brauckmeyer
December 16 (Wildcard)	Vanessa Struhler (Viewers Choice)1	Nicole Süßmilch (missed out)2	Tarik (missed out)
Notes: There was no wildcard show held, the percentage from every 4th placer in each group got revealed with Struhler having the highest out of the three. Süßmilch eventually made the finals in round four as being officially the 11th choice when Judith Lefeber withdrew.

Finals elimination chart

NOTE: Not in every case these were the people revealed by RTL in the results shows

Date	Theme	Bottom Three
December 21	My Superstar	Stephanie Brauckmeyer	Gracia Baur	Andrea Josten
December 28	Love Songs	Andrea Josten (2)	Daniel Lopes	Nektarios Bamiatzis
January 4	Hits of 2002	Nektarios Bamiatzis (2)	Gracia Baur (2)	Vanessa Struhler
January 11	Musical	Daniel Lopes (2)	Juliette Schoppmann	Vanessa Struhler (2)
January 18	The 80s	Nicole Süßmilch	Vanessa Struhler (3)	Juliette Schoppmann (2)
February 1	Big Band	Gracia Baur (3)	Vanessa Struhler (4)	Juliette Schoppmann (3)
Date	Theme	Bottom Two
February 8	Disco	Vanessa Struhler (5)	Daniel Küblböck
March 1	Movies	Daniel Küblböck (2)	Juliette Schoppmann (4)
March 8	Finale	Juliette Schoppmann (5)	Alexander Klaws

Season 2

In Season 2, co-hosts Hunziker and Spengemann and all four jury members reprised their engagements in the show. In contrast to the first season, the second (which aired a half year after the first season's finale) soon found its main audience but never reached the overwhelming hype and demand which the first season had captured. This fact was underscored by decreasing phone votes and ratings, which were released after the show's final.

This time, Elli Erl emerged as the winner with Denise Tillmanns as runner-up. Though Erl agreed to release the Bohlen produced coronation song "This Is My Life" in a remixed edition, she denied collaborating with him on her debut album due to musical and personal conflicts. Elli instead released a self-written song, "In My Dreams", which saw minor success only with a chart peak at number 40. Her debut album Shout It Out saw similar success, when it eventually debuted in October 2004. Two further singles were released afterwards but none of them became a commercial hit. A second solo album is now scheduled for spring 2007.

Unlike in season one, the other finalists hit on major problems when they watched out for record deals. Third-place finisher Philippe Bühler released two R&B influenced singles, "Warum?" and "Ich Kann Dich Lieben"; both of them entered the Top 40 of the German singles chart in winter 2005 and spring 2006 respectively. Anke Wagner (sixth) signed with independent label Perleberg, but neither her debut single nor her album entered the Top 100. Benjamin Martell (third) was signed to BMG, but was dropped when he demanded to write the album by himself. Fifth-place finisher Gunther Göbbel became part of the R&B duo Lemon Ice, whose cover single "Stand by Me" entered the German top 20 in fall 2006. Lorenzo Woodard (eighth) didn't release any music but enjoyed short popularity when he appeared on various reality-TV shows.
Semifinalist Žanamari Lalić (known as Jeanne-Marie) went on to audition for the shows croatian equivalent Hrvatski Idol and eventually won the contest one year later. Being a native croatian but living in Germany for a couple of years, Lalić went back to her homecountry to become a well known artist in the media as well as on local festivals.

Semi Final Qualifiyings

Top 50
Format: 2 out of ten making the final each week + three Wilcards¹

Date	First	Second
October 8	Jessica Houston	Denise Tillmanns
October 15	Judith Burmeister	Ricky Ord
October 22	Benjamin Martell	Kemi Awosogba
October 29	Aida Iljasevic	Steffen Frommberger
November 5	Elli Erl	Lorenzo Woodard
November 12 (Wildcard)	Philippe Bühler (Viewers Choice)	Anke Wagner & Gunther Göbbel (Judges Choices)

Notes: Originally there were 12 spots in the final (with only one Judges' Choice) but when the judges decided to let two people through it became a top 13.

Finals elimination chart

NOTE: Not in every case these were the people revealed by RTL in the results shows

Date	Theme	Bottom Three
November 22	My Superstar	Ricky Ord	Jessica Houston	Steffen Frommberger
November 29	Love Songs	Steffen Frommberger (2)	Kemi Awosogba	Lorenzo Woodard
December 13	Birth Year	Lorenzo Woodard (2)	Kemi Awosogba (2)	Judith Burmeister
December 20	Christmas Songs	Kemi Awosogba (3)	Benjamin Martell	Judith Burmeister (2)
January 10	Elton John meets Madonna	Judith Burmeister (3)	Gunther Göbbel	Elli Erl
January 17	Big Band	Aida Ilijasevic	Gunther Göbbel (2)	Benjamin Martell (2)
January 31	Disco	Anke Wagner	Gunther Göbbel (3)	Elli Erl (2)
February 7	Movies	Gunther Göbbel (4)	Elli Erl (3)	Benjamin Martell (3)
Date	Theme	Bottom Two
February 14	Judges choice	Benjamin Martell (4)	Elli Erl (4)
February 21	The 60s	Phillipe Bühler	Denise Tillmanns
March 13	Finale	Denise Tillmanns (2)	Elli Erl

Season 3

After an absence of one year, the third season introduced several new elements. Neither Hunziker nor Spengemann were asked back as the show's hosts as the studio wanted a new complexion on the season. They were replaced with Marco Schreyl and Dutch co-host Tooske Ragas. The jury cast also went through radical changes; Dieter Bohlen remained the only original member, and was eventually joined by music producer Sylvia Kollek and former manager Heinz Henn.

Top 20 Bottom 4

Top 20
Format: First Week: 3 boys and 3 girls eliminated. Second Week: 2 boys and 2 girls eliminated.

Date	Eliminated	Eliminated	Eliminated/or Saved Last	Saved Last/or Saved First
December 14	Luca Krykon	Julian Kasprzik	Markus Derwall	Stephan Darnstaedt
December 17	Angelika Wolf	Selina Mateo	Laura Holstermann	Carolina Escolano
December 21	Didi Knoblauch1	Fabian Behnisch	Stephan Darnstaedt (2)	Daniel Munoz
December 28	Meri Voskanian	Sharyhan Osman	Lena Hanenburg	Dascha Semcov

¹ Didi was eliminated but was brought back into the top 10 after Stephan Darnstaedt quit the competition.

Elimination Chart
NOTE: Not in every case these were the people revealed by RTL in the results shows

Finals elimination chart

Season 3

Date	Theme	Bottom Three
January 7	Greatest Hits	Carolina Escolano	Lena Hanenberg	Daniel Muñoz
January 14	80s	Dascha Semcov	Daniel Muñoz (2)	Lena Hanenberg (2)
January 21	Rock Hits	Lena Hanenberg (3)	Daniel Muñoz (3)	Nevio Passaro
February 4	Big Band	Daniel Muñoz (4)	Nevio Passaro (2)	Didi Knoblauch
February 11	Love Songs	Anna-Maria Zimmermann	Tobias Regner	Nevio Passaro (3)
February 18	#1 Hits	Didi Knoblauch (2)	Vanessa Jean Dedmon	Mike Leon Grosch
Date	Theme	Bottom Two
February 25	Soul	Nevio Passaro (4)	Vanessa Jean Dedmon (2)
March 11	Ballads	Vanessa Jean Dedmon (3)	Mike Leon Grosch (2)
March 18	Finale	Mike Leon Grosch (3)	Tobias Regner

• Stephan withdrew from the competition.

Season 4

Because of the success of season three, RTL decided to create a fourth season for 2007. In the jury Anja Lukaseder replaces Silvia Kollek after just one season.

These are the last 10 contestants for the big live shows debuting on February 24 and ending on May 5: Lauren Talbot, Francisca Urio, Lisa Bund, Laura Martín, Julia Falke, Jonathan Enns, Thomas Enns, Martin Stosch, Mark Medlock and Max Buskohl.

The cast album for this season, called Power of Love, was released on 19 March 2007 and features these songs:

1. Francisca Urio: If I Ain't Got You (Alicia Keys)
2. Max Buskohl: Here Without You (3 Doors Down)
3. Lauren Talbot: True Colors (Cindy Lauper)
4. Mark Medlock: Endless Love (Lionel Richie)
5. Lisa Bund: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Aretha Franklin)
6. Martin Stosch: If Tomorrow Never Comes (Ronan Keating)
7. Laura Martin: Woman in Love (Barbra Streisand)
8. Thomas Enns: I Want To Know What Love Is (Foreigner)
9. Julia Falke: Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
10. Jonathan Enns: All Or Nothing (O-Town)
11. DSDS Top 10: If You Don't Know Me By Now (Simply Red)

Top 20 Bottom 4 and 5

Top 20
Format: First week: 2 Boys eliminated and 3 girls eliminated. Second week: 3 boys eliminated and 2 girls eliminated.

Note: These are the live results. These may not be dependent on actual percentage of votes.

Date	Eliminated	Eliminated	Eliminated/or Saved Last	Saved Last/or Saved First	Saved First
February 7	Lindsay Stabe	Aleksan Cetinkaya	Jonathan Enns	Arcangelo Vigneri
February 10	Madleleine Boly	Dominika Mrugala	Nebiha Celenler	Julia Falke	Sarah Jahncke
February 15	Arcangelo Vigneri (2)	Dennis Haberlach	Tristan Iser	Jonathan Enns (2)	Martin Stosch
February 17	Priscilla Harris	Sarah Jahncke (2)	Laura Martin	Julia Falke (2)

Elimination Chart
NOTE: Not in every case these were the people revealed by RTL in the results shows

Finals elimination chart

Season 4

Date	Theme	Bottom Three
February 24	Greatest Hits	Laura Martin	Julia Falke	Jonathan Enns
March 10	80s & 90s	Jonathan Enns (2)	Thomas Enns	Martin Stosch
March 17	Power of Love	Julia Falke (2)	Lauren Talbot	Martin Stosch (2)
March 31	Today's hits	Francisca Urio	Martin Stosch (3)	Thomas Enns (2)
April 7	Big Band	Thomas Enns (3)	Martin Stosch (4)	Lauren Talbot (2)
April 14	Divas & Heroes	Lauren Talbot (3)	Martin Stosch (5)	Lisa Bund
Date	Theme	Bottom Two
April 21	70s & Dedications	Martin Stosch (6)	Lisa Bund (2)
April 28	Judges' choice	Lisa Bund (3)	Martin Stosch (7)
May 5	Finale	Martin Stosch (8)	Mark Medlock

• Max Buskohl dropped out of the competition.

Season 5

Main Article: Deutschland sucht den Superstar (season 5)

Because of the success of season four RTL decided to create a fifth season. This was announced just before the fourth season final show was shown on TV. There were several changes: Marco Schreyl became the sole host of the show, without the assistance of Tooske Ragas. Due to some arguments with Dieter Bohlen, Heinz Henn was replaced in the jury by Andreas "Bär" Läsker. Läsker discovered and is the manager of Die Fantastischen Vier (The Fantastic Four), and joined existing jury members Bohlen and Anja Lukaseder. The last substantial change concerns only one semi-final shows ("Top 15 shows") with the name Jetzt oder nie (Now or Never): So far the 10 best candidates had been determined by telephone and SMS voting. Instead the jury selected the Top 10 live in front of 1,000 spectators. The five contestants with the highest number of votes from the public went through to the motto shows. The judges picked five more contestants of the remaining 10 to join them. Later, the candidates enter the final shows with public voting as in the earlier series. With the new rules, the producers hope to increase the excitement and to prevent good candidates from being knocked out too early. The auditions started in August on Mallorca and - again - on Ibiza. From September on the casting crew toured throughout Germany. The first show ,Now or Never-Jetzt oder Nie, started on March 8.

Top 15 candidates

(ages stated are at time of contest)

• Christopher Schnell, age 19, from Bremen
• Felix Gaisberger, age 17, from Jettingen
• Juna Manaj, age 16, from Butzbach
• Simon Gincberg, age 21, from Korschenbroich
• Viviana Stengel, age 27, from München
• Eliminated on March 8

The Top 10 are:

Guys:

• Benjamin Herd, age 16, from Worms Eliminated on 19th April
• Collins Owusu, age 25, from Düsseldorf - Eliminated on 12th April
• Fady Maalouf, age 28, from Hamburg - Runner-up on 17th May
• Jermaine Alford, age 20, from Langenselbold - Eliminated on 15th March
• Thomas Godoj, age 30, from Recklinghausen - Winner

Girls:

• Linda Teodosiu, age 16, from Köln - Eliminated on 10th May
• Monika Ivkic, age 18, from Vienna (Austria) - Eliminated on 3rd May
• Rania Zeriri, age 22, from Gronau-Epe (NRW) - Eliminated on 26th April
• Sahra Drohne, age 18, from Werl - Eliminated on 22nd March
• Stella Salato, age 22, from Bad Homburg - Eliminated on 5th April

Finals elimination chart

Season 5

NOTE: Not in every case these were the people revealed by RTL in the results shows

Date	Theme	Bottom Three
March 15	Current Hits	Jermaine Alford	Stella Salato	Sahra Drone
March 22	Film Hits	Sahra Drone (2)	Stella Salato (2)	Collins Owusu
April 5	Mariah Carey & Take That	Stella Salato (3)	Benjamin Herd	Collins Owusu (2)
April 12	Greatest Hits	Collins Owusu (3)	Monika Ivkic	Benjamin Herd (2)
April 19	Judges' Choice	Benjamin Herd (3)	Rania Zeriri	Monika Ivkic (2)
April 26	Party Hits & Ballads	Rania Zeriri (2)	Monika Ivkic (3)	Linda Teodosiu
Date	Theme	Bottom Two
May 3	Germany Against England	Monika Ivkic (4)	Fady Maalouf
May 10	Number 1 Hits/ Beatles/ Dedications	Linda Teodosiu (2)	Fady Maalouf (2)
May 17	Finale	Fady Maalouf (3)	Thomas Godoj

Audition cities

• Berlin (All 5 seasons)
• Munich (All 5 seasons)
• Hamburg (All 5 seasons)
• Cologne (All 5 seasons)
• Erfurt (Seasons 1,2 & 3)
• Frankfurt (Season 4&5)
• Dresden (Season 4)
• Nuremberg (Season 3)
• Stuttgart (Season 4&5)
• Wiesbaden (Season 4)
• Leipzig (Season 2)
• Wuppertal (Season 3)
• Palma de Mallorca (Season 4&5)
• Ibiza (Season 5)

Season 6

A sixth season of RTL already has been officially confirmed for 2009 and it's been announced that there will be clear and visible changes to the format.

First Season contestants

Nektarios Bamiatzis

Nektarios Bamiatzis was born on 10 July 1975 and is of Greek descent. He placed 8th in the competition. Since the show, Bamiatzis has released two singles. His solo single, "Looks Like We Made It", was released in 2003. In 2005, Bamiatzis teamed up with three other fellow DSDS alumni to form "4 United". The group only released one single, titled "Don't Close Your Eyes".

Stephanie Brauckmeyer

Stephanie Brauckmeyer was born on 11 May 1980. Brauckmeyer joined the top 10 on December 14 2002. She was in the third group of the 30 semi-finalists. However, she was the first member of the top 10 to be eliminated. After Idol, Stephanie only released one single, "Don't Close Your Eyes", as part of a group called "4 United", consisting of her and three other DSDS alumni.

Andrea Josten

Andrea Josten was born Andrea Lopez on 9 September 1985. Josten is from Chile and was adopted by her German stepfather. Andrea received 9th place in the show. After the show, it was revealed that she was pregnant. Her son Jeremy was born October 19 2003 in Frankfurt. Since the show's end, Josten has largely disappeared from the public eye.

Daniel Küblböck

Daniel Küblböck, born 8 August 1985 in Hutthurm, Bavaria, Germany, received third place in the show, after which he signed a contract with BMG. Until June 2004 he released four major hit singles and a #1 album. As a public persona, Küblböck is extremely polarising due to his carefully cultivated image as der schräge Daniel (Wacky Daniel), a boy-girl persona with a distinctly Bavarian dialect, who, according to reliable yellow-press reports, loves to wear girlish clothes, use cosmetics and make-up, and collect perfumes and incense. After a controversial participation in the German version of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, his popularity faltered. He was voted by the viewers of the German TV channel Pro7 as the most annoying personality of 2003, and the second most annoying person in 2004.

Daniel Lopes

Daniel Lopes was born on 12 November 1976 in Brazil, and was adopted by his German stepfather. During the show he dated fellow contestant Juliette Schoppmann; they have since broken up. Daniel was eliminated on January 11 2003, and got 7th place on the show. After his elimination, Lopes was signed to a record label. His album "For You" was released in February 2003, while the competition was still going on. Because of this, he was apparently dropped from the tour. Lopes released 2 singles, "For You": "Shine On" and "I Love You More Than Yesterday". He has released two other singles including "Last Christmas/I Used To Cry" in late 2003 and "Change The World" in 2005.

Second Season contestants

Kemisola Awosogba

"Kemi" Awosogba was born on 15 November 1982. Her father is a native of Nigeria. Kemi joined the top 13 on October 22 2003 along with Benjamin Martell. She was eliminated on 20 December 2003 after receiving 3.54 percent of the votes in the top 9. She was a contestant on Popstars: On Stage, the sixth season of the German version of Popstars. Where she was part of the Final 20 contestants.

Judith Burmeister

Judith Burmeister was born 9 September 1986. Burmeister joined the top 13 after getting into the top 2 vote-getters of her group along with Ricky Ord. She was eliminated in the top 8 after receiving 5.97 percent of the vote.

Steffen Frommberger

Steffen Frommberger was born 29 January 1982. He joined the top 13 on October 29 2003 along with Aida Iljasevic. He was eliminated on November 29 2003 after receiving 2.46 percent of the vote.

Gunther Göbbel

Gunther Göbbel was born 6 May 1979. Gunther was eliminated in the top 5 after receiving 12.58 percent of the vote. Originally, Göbbel did not advance to the top 13. However, he was brought back as a wildcard and advanced then. Since the show, Gunther has released a single, "Caramba!", as a part of the duet "Meant 2 Be". Gunther is currently a member of the band "Lemon Ice".

Aida Iljasevic

Aida Iljasevic, born 4 January 1976 in Bosnia, was a contestant in the second season, finishing in 7th place.

At the age of sixteen, in 1992, Aida escaped from her home country because of the Bosnian War, and she found a new home in Münster. She became the lead singer of her school's band, and became a back-up vocal for the cover band ROXANE. Interestingly, they were booked to perform on the Clubship Aida.

In the summer of 2003 Aida auditioned for the second season of the famous TV show Deutschland sucht den Superstar and easily made the cut to the top 150. She was eventually eliminated, but was later brought back with six other contestants to perform again. She fought for one of the three positions left in the top 50, finally making it to the semifinals.

After her experience on DSDS, Aida performed a few gigs with her former DSDS rivals Denise Tillmanns and Ricky Ord. Later, she became a member of the girl group CASTAWAY formed by German VJ Mola Adebisi. She continues to live in Münster, Germany.

Benjamin Martell

Benny Martell was born 1 March 1980. Benjamin was eliminated from the show in the top 4 after receiving 16.91 percent of the vote. Benny joined the top 13 on 2003-10-22 after placing in the top 2 vote-getters of his group. Also joining the top 13 that night was Kemi. Since the show, Benny has released one single as a solo artist "1st Fan Edition". In 2005, he was featured on a single entitled "Once In A Lifetime".

Ricky Ord

Ricky Ord was born 5 July 1978, was a contestant in the second season. Ord joined the top 13 on October 15 2003 along with Judith Burmeister. He was eliminated first out of the competition after receiving only 2.47 percent of the vote.

Anke Wagner

Anke Wagner, born 25 January 1975, was a contestant in the second season. Wagner is the oldest contestant to appear on any season of the show. She was eliminated in the top 6 after receiving 8.37 percent of the vote. Wagner joined the top 13 as a wildcard. She was originally in group 5 but was beat out for a spot by Elli Erl and Lorenzo Woodard. Since the show, Wagner has released two CDs: "Close To Me" and "Weihnachten".

Lorenzo Woodard

Lorenzo Woodard is an Afro-German, born 24 December 1983. He was a contestant on the second season. Lorenzo joined the top 10 on November 5 2003 along with Elli Erl, who later won the competition. He was eliminated on December 13 2003 after receiving only 4.34 percent of the vote. Today he is out as a transgendered woman named Lory Glory.

Third Season contestants

Stephan Darnstaedt

Stephan Darnstaedt, born 10 October 1987 was a contestant on the third season. He quit the competition the week of 2006-01-21. His first performance, "Anywhere for you", was not the most satifactory as he was off-key while coming into the chorus of the song. After performing in the first Top 20 Show, Stephan was placed in the bottom 4. Two of the four were already declared eliminated and Stephan was one of the two that had not found out. Host Marco Schreyl announced that contestant Markus Derwall was safe and Stephan was eliminated. But the notary of DSDS had gone up on stage after the fact to tell Schreyl that Markus was eliminated, and Stephan was actually safe with the forth lowest number of votes, 6th overall. In the second Top 20 show, Stephan had also landed in the bottom group and later was revealed to be the last male contestant in the Top 10. Although Darnstaedt was mostly booed before and after every performance, he only landed in the bottom group in the Top 20 Shows. In the finals, Stephan was declared safe and also in the top percentage of votes although the judges believed he should have been sent home after the first night of the finals. After being declared the top 4 vote-getter, Stephan had decided that he no longer wanted to be in the eye of the public in a negative way. He finally withdrew the competition a day before the live show. He was replaced by Didi Knoblauch who later placed 5th overall in the competition.Top 20 Show - Boys 1

"Anywhere For You" by Backstreet Boys(Bottom Four)Top 20 Show- Boys 2

"Hello" by Lionel Richie (Bottom Three)Top 10 - Greatest Hits

"You Are Not Alone" by Michael JacksonTop 9- Greatest Hits of the 80's

"Forever Young" by AlphavilleTop 8 - Rock

(Withdrew)

Vanessa Jean Dedmon

Vanessa Jean Dedmon, born 28 April 1987 to Russel and Waltraud Dedmon was a semifinalist in the third season and was voted out by the audience in the Top 3 Show. From March to June 2006 she was going out with former co-competitor Mike Leon Grosch.

In October 2006 her first single Sonnenschein, a duet with German Hip Hop band Rapsoul, entered the German single charts at #17.

Carolina Escolano-Fernandez

Carolina Escolano-Fernandez, born 19 March 1984 in Pforzheim, Germany, was a contestant in the third season. She is of Spanish ancestry.

Didi Knoblauch

Didi Knoblauch (actually Jamie Dwayne Knoblauch), born as Diana Knoblauch 15 December 1980 in Illerkirchberg/Baden-Württemberg, Germany was a contestant in the third season. He is female to male transsexual. He lost against Stephan Darnstaedt in the Top-20 Show but took over Stephan's place after he gave up. His first night in the finals, Didi sang "The Final Countdown" by Europe, which is what Stephan was suppose to perform that day. The judges gave praise to him due to the fact he had to learn the song in only 24 hours. When the results came in, Didi received the highest number of votes. Weeks, had followed and Didi was in the Top 5, landing in the bottom group once. Didi's journey had finally ended in the Top 5 after receiving the lowest number of votes. After his leaving he had an appearance in the television show TV total and performed a duet with talk show host Stefan Raab. Knoblauch is a member of the Rock 'n' Roll coverband The Cash in Baden-Württemberg.

Dascha Semcov

"Dascha" Semcov was born 30 March 1988 in Kishinev, Moldova. Prior to Superstar, Dascha had been in Germany for only 18 months. Her father Alexej and mother Diana moved from Moldova to Erfurt and currently run and live in a hotel. Dascha has taken roles in 3 musicals including Starlight Express & also is part of the band Soul AG from Weimar. In September 2005, Dascha won first place in the Erfurt Song Contest. In 2008 she teamed up with season 2 almumni Jessica Houston to create a girl group named I'm your Baby.

Daniel Muñoz-Repko

Daniel Muñoz-Repko born on 28 December 1983, was a contestant in the third season. Daniel is of mixed Spanish and Dutch ethnicity. He has 2 brothers: Ricardo and Raul. His brother Ricardo is also a talented singer. He received the fourth most votes in the first round of voting and despite being in the suggested bottom 4 the second week, he was the first sent to safety and made the top 10. Daniel performed 4 times, until he was voted out. His personal website is operated by his brother Raul.

Fourth Season contestants

Lisa Bund

Anna-Lisa Bund was born May 31, 1988 in Frankfurt am Main. She lives with her brother and her parents in Hattersheim. Prior to becoming a contestant she worked for two years in her parents lingerie shop in Mainz. Lisa received a lot of support by the German media. Despite this she got a lot of promotion by a scandal video where she had a hard argumentation with her boyfriend and former contestant, Tristan Iser. After the show Bund received a record contract and released her first single "Learn to Love You" on August 31, 2007. In January she participated as a contestant on Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!, Season 3.

Julia Falke

Julia Falke was born 21 June 1988 in Schärding, Austria. She lives with her older brother and her parents in Fürstenzell and attends the 12th class of a high school.

Mark Medlock

Mark Medlock was born 9 July 1978 in Frankfurt am Main and lives in Offenbach, Hesse. He worked as carer for the elderly before joining the show. His father Lauria came from Georgia, USA and was a gospel singer. Mark got married to a man on 6 December 2001 but they separated end of 2004.He won the 4th season of DSDS.

Francisca Urio

Francisca Urio was born 6 February 1981 in Meiningen but grew up in Berlin. She is the only child of her German mother and her father from Tanzania.

After finishing high school she started a career as singer and songwriter. She worked as background singer for Mousse T., Seal, Shakira and Wyclef Jean. Together with N’gone Thiam, Boussa Thiam and Priscilla Harris, who was also a DSDS contestant (but was voted out just before reaching the Top-10 'Motto' shows), she founded 1996 the band Silvashado which performed (after first Boussa Thiam and later also N’gone Thiam left the band) as Duo until 2006. Urio also worked as fashion model and radio presenter for the radio station Jazz-Radio 101,9 in Berlin. In the musical show The Magic Night of Dancing Musicals she presented five songs as solo singer.

Lauren Talbot

Lauren Talbot was born on 15 March 1990 in Hannover. She is the youngest female contestant in this season and attends the 10th class of a Hauptschule. After living in Edinburgh, Milan, Frankfurt and Hamburg she moved with her mother and stepfather to Winsen (Aller).

Martin Stosch

Martin Stosch was born on 30 July 1990. He was a girl-teen favorite because he was the youngest contestant on the show, which is possibly believed for his success on the show. In the first week of voting of the studio shows, he was known as one of the best. But weeks had followed, and Martin was found in the bottom 2/3/4/ and 5 (during Top 20) every week. He was finally voted out of the competition in the 7th mottoshow. But, Stosch was brought back onto the show because original Top 3 contestant, Max Buskohl quit the competition due to disagreements. Stosch surprised the public in the 8th result show when he beat an assumed finale contestant, Lisa Bund. Of course, no surprise had come in the final show when Stosch placed 2nd since Mark Medlock received about three-forths of the public vote.

Fifth Season contestants

Rania Zeriri

Rania Zeriri was born on 6 January 1986 in Gronau-Epe (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). Her father, who left the family when she was still very young, is from Algeria and her mother from the Netherlands. After finishing school with a General Certificate of Secondary Education (Mittlere Reife), she moved at the age of 17 with her mother to Salamanca to study Spanish. Later she acquired a hotel animation diploma in Mallorca and than worked mainly on Ibiza. She resigned from her job and moved back to Germany after she reached the Top 10 of the fifth season of DSDS. She was born with holes in her vocal cords and since an operation a few years ago she has problems to phonate in the falsetto register. . She was eliminated on April 26, 2008; finishing on 5th place.

Benjamin Herd

Benjamin Herd was a contestant on the fifth season. He was the youngest on the show at 16 years old. He was born in Worms where he goes to a housekeeping-school. He was an early favorite in the competition for his performing skills and entertainment value rather than his voice. He was put into the bottom group every week, only to be saved and moved on to the next round. He was a fan favorite until Mariah Carey/Take That week where he took a judges comments into offense, saying disrespectful words during the result show and the crowd began booing. Benni then decided to withdraw from the competition a couple days later. But after Dieter Bohlen talked to Herd about his problems, he came back into the competition but with a different outlook on the audience. He was eliminated on April 19, 2008; finishing on 6th place.

Thomas Godoj

Winner of the fifth season. 30 years old and born in the South of Poland, raised in Recklinghausen. His winning titel is called "Love is you" (available: 23 of May 2008).

Bottom Group Controversies

Like all Idol shows, DSDS has voting via telephone and SMS after the end of the show. Later on in the night, there is a results show indicating the contestants with the lowest number of votes and the contestant with the lowest is eliminated and sent home. In many cases, the "bottom group" is picked at complete random and even contestants with the highest percentages are sometimes in the bottom group. Examples:

Season 1: Top 7 (Musicals) Daniel Küblböck and Daniel Lopes were the bottom 2 of the night in which Lopes was sent home with the lowest number. However, Daniel Küblböck received the second highest number of votes.

Season 2: Top 5 (Film) Gunther Göbbel and Denise Tillmann were in the bottom 2 with Göbbel being eliminated with the lowest number of votes. However, Denise Tillmann received the second highest number of votes.

Season 2: Top 4 (Jury Picks) Benny Martell and Philippe Bühler were in the bottom 2 of the night in which Martell was eliminated with the lowest number of votes. However, Philippe received the second highest number of votes.

Season 3: Top 4 (Soul) Nevio Passaro and Mike Leon Grosch were in the bottom 2 of the night with Passaro being eliminated with the lowest number of votes. However, Mike Leon received the highest number of votes.

Season 4: Top 20 Shows (Men/week 2) Jonathan Enns and Martin Stosch were placed into the bottom 5. However, both of these contestants received the second highest and third highest number of votes over declared safe contestants Max Buskohl and Thomas Enns.

Season 4: Top 10 (Greatest hits) Martin Stosch was placed into the bottom 4, although he received the 5th highest number of votes with 7.59%. Max Buskohl received the 7th highest number of votes with 6.00% and was declared safe

Season 4: Top 9 (Hits of 80's and 90's) Max Buskohl was placed into the bottom 4 after receiving the 5th highest number of votes with 8.92%. Julia Falke placed with the 6th highest number of votes with 8.52% of the votes and was declared safe.

Season 4: Top 7 (Today's hits) Lauren Talbot and Francisca Urio were in the bottom 4 with Urio eliminated. However, Talbot received the second highest number of the votes.

Season 5: Top 10 (Greatest hits) Fady Maalouf and Jermaine Alford got placed in the bottom 2 with Alford eliminated. However, Maalouf received the second highest number of the votes while Stella Salato, who was the very first contestant to be declared save, only barely made the cut into the next round. Only two contestants in the suggested bottom five of that show (Alford and Collins Owusu) have actually been among the second half vote getters while Linda Teodosiu, Fady Maalouf and Benjamin Herd (who were declared as being in danger of getting the boot) all have been among the top 5 vote getters of that night.

Season 5 Thomas Godoj, the winner of Season 5, was placed into the bottom groups twice, but actually received the highest number of votes every week.

References

External links

• Official Site
• DSDS News
• DSDS Portal
• DSDS Finale
• DSDS page on Facebook