Star Idol
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Star Idol () was a Singaporean televised acting competition held in 2005 and aired on MediaCorp TV Channel 8. The competition was first announced through the Internet on 11 August 2005, and elimination rounds commenced on 2 November of the same year. The programme aired weekly on Wednesdays at 8:00pm and ended with a two-hour grand final on 19 March 2006.


Background

When the official announcement for Star Idol was made via Internet, an article posted asked for suggestions of the mascot. It was later decided that a large red gorilla that resembled
King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...
would become the official mascot for Star Idol.


Selection process


Auditions

To be eligible for Star Idol, contestants must be either a Singaporean citizen or permanent resident and belong to the age range of 16 and 35. There was no specification for race, although fluency in the Chinese language is required due to the competition being Chinese-based. Auditions were held on 3 September 2005. Participants had to memorize dialogues from five scripts given, one of which would be randomly chosen by the panel of judges to be performed during the actual audition. Registration for the competition required a fee of S$10, which was paid on the day of the audition itself. An estimated total of 2,000 people auditioned for Star Idol. Roughly 500 people from the auditions made the cut and became part of the callbacks. The number of contestants was filtered down by a series of eliminations until only 10 male and female semi-finalists remained to compete in the quarter-finals.


Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals saw the pairing up of one male and one female contestant. An ever-changing panel of judges would comment after an acting performance by each pair. However, the fates of the contestants were decided by public voting. Each week, one male and one female contestant is eliminated until 4 of each remain. The final 8 would proceed to the semi-finals of the competition. *Top 10 Female Quarter-finalists **Alicia Neo **Cheryl Ng **Kate Ong **Jacqueline Sue **Joey Tan **Leann Koh Bee Khee **Lilian Lai **Quek Siow Wei **Tan Ming Chieh **Tan Yan *Top 10 Male Quarter-finalists **Albert See **
Bryan Wang Bryan may refer to: Places in the United States * Bryan, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Bryan, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Bryan, Ohio, a city * Bryan, Texas, a city * Bryan, Wyoming, a ghost town * Bryan County, Georgia * ...
**Garrett Lim ** Kang Cheng Xi **Koh Ben Hui **Leo Lam **Lincoln Khoo **Terence Tan **William Lawandi **Zhao Zhi Rong


Semi-finals

Alicia Neo, Jacqueline Sue, Leann Koh, Lilian Lai, Bryan Wang, Kang Cheng Xi, Lincoln Khoo and Leo Lam became the eight Semi-finalists of Star Idol and had to compete in an interactive television drama titled ''Who Is It?''. Episodes of Who Is It? were pre-recorded and aired every Wednesday at 8:00pm. The only shows recorded live were through the results shows at 10:30pm, with the exception of the episode on 22 February 2006. It was pre-recorded and aired at 11:30pm due to the airing of the
eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a term o ...
of former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (; 25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean statesman, journalist and diplomat who served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1965 and 1980, and 2nd De ...
at 10:30pm, who died earlier that day. Each episode of ''Who Is It?'' ends with a cliffhanger with an anonymous scream, indicating a character has gone missing. The contestant with the fewest votes is eliminated from Star Idol and is identified in the next episode of the interactive drama as the character who goes missing. ''Who Is It?'' also featured veteran actors San Yow,
Ann Kok Ann Kok (born 11 January 1973) is a Singaporean businesswoman, singer and an actress who film on an ad-hoc basis. During the 1990s, Kok was ranked the "Third ''Ah Jie''" by the local media, which defined her as the third most prominent actre ...
and
Thomas Ong Thomas Ong Thian Chai (born 1 February 1969) is a Singaporean actor, television host and businessman. Career Ong was a flight steward with Singapore Airlines before entering the entertainment industry. He joined the newly formed Television ...
. Lilian Lai is the first contestant to leave after garnering the fewest among votes at the end of the first episode. Subsequently, Wang, Koh and Khoo were eliminated. An episode featured the four eliminated contestants where they were chased by an assassin to the sea shore of a remote island and managed to find a raft. The raft can only accommodate two people and only one of the four contestants can escape from the island with the main character of the drama. The rescued contestant was indicated to be allow to return to the competition after being rescued. Wang was revived back into the competition. Kang Cheng Xi was the last to be eliminated during the semi-finals with Wang and Lam surviving the semi-finals.


Finals

The judging process of the finals differs from the semi-finals. The original production was replaced by a drama consisting of three acting segments that depicted Wang and Lam competing to become an actor.
Julian Hee Julian Hee (, born 11 June 1978) is a former Singaporean Chinese actor and model. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 2001 to 2014. His younger brother, Haden Hee, 许立楷 was also a former Mediacorp artiste. Career Modelin ...
,
Adam Chen Adam Chen (born 24 June 1976) is a Singaporean actor, host and businessman. Early life Chen was educated at The Chinese High School and Hwa Chong Junior College. Whilst a civil engineering student at the National University of Singapore he ...
,
Zheng Geping Zheng Geping (born Edmund Tay Kok Peng on 27 May 1964), formerly known as Zheng Guoping, is a Singaporean actor, executive producer and businessman. He has appeared in several MediaCorp Channel 8 television series. He left MediaCorp in 2023. ...
and
Felicia Chin Felicia Chin Foong Ling (born 24 October 1984) is a Singaporean actress, host and content creator who was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006. In 2013, Chin decided to use her given Chinese name instead for her acting c ...
acted in the drama also. The judges unanimously chose Wang as the winner but the winner is fully decided by the voting public. Wang was announced winner of Star Idol, who had garnered 61% of the total votes. He won himself a 2-year contract with Mediacorp.


Criticism

Star Idol was an acting competition, with format similar to singing competitions like Singapore Idol and Project Superstar, where the winner was determined by public voting instead of professional judging. The interactive drama ''Who Is It?'' was criticised for its unrealistic and distracted nature. The ever-changing and unpredictable script of the drama also caused several storyline flaws and loopholes. Jacqueline drugged and attempted to rape Cheng Xi prior to her character "disappearing" from the television show. However, neither Cheng Xi nor her existing girlfriend Alicia were deemed suspects. Inspector Zhu played a completely innocent person and was seen investigating the cases even when he was alone and did not need to pretend. However, he was conclusively revealed as the ultimate villain of the show. It is justifiable that he was neurotic.


Post-Star Idol careers

Only winner Bryan Wang and second-runner up Kang Cheng Xi were offered contracts with Mediacorp. Bryan's first role was playing Shu Tang in
An Enchanted Life ''An Enchanted Life'' () is a Singaporean Chinese drama that was telecast on Singapore's free-to-air channel, MediaCorp TV Channel 8. This show made its debut on 9 October 2006 and made ended its run on 1 December 2006. The show consists of a tota ...
. Kang's first role was the second male lead after Li Nan Xing as Ma Lu in '' A Million Treasures''. Other contestants like Lincoln, Alicia and Leann have appeared in minor roles or cameos that appear for less than a minute. Examples are Lincoln being a gangster. Leann has a larger role and plays Ma Lu's (Cheng Xi) first love interest who cheats on him. Jacqueline was offered a supporting role as Ah Lian, Joanne Peh's best friend, in Like Father Like Daughter, for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Star Awards nomination.


Incident

After the auditions for Star Idol are over and before the Top 20 had been announced, handwritten posters were posted at bus stops along
Upper Thomson Road Thomson Road is a major trunk road linking Singapore's central business district with the northern suburban areas of the country. The road is one of the longest in Singapore, starting from Novena in the south towards MacRitchie Reservoir, before ...
and Andrew Road where Mediacorp was located. The posters claimed Mediacorp were "unfair and cruel" to contestants and one poster claiming that some of the original Top 20 contestants were replaced after selection. An online forum post also claimed several contestants were accepted and later disqualified as they were not new to the media scene. Mediacorp had lodged police report against the posters.


References


External links

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Program Format (archive)
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Reality competition television series Singaporean reality television series 2005 Singaporean television series debuts 2006 Singaporean television series endings Channel 8 (Singapore) original programming Competitions in Singapore