Fame Academy was a German reality television program and casting show launched on

RTL II RTL Zwei (stylised as RTLZWEI), formerly spelled RTL 2 and RTL II, is a German-language television channel that is operated by ''RTL2 Television GmbH & Co. KG''. RTL2 is a private television broadcaster with a full program ''(Vollprogramm)'' ...

in 2003 under the same format of the international TV franchise

Star Academy ''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements. Format There are many versions of t ...

in search of a boy band to be launched by the programme from a number of contestants applying. The programme was not successful in comparison to the more successful counterparts like the Spanish

Operación Triunfo ''Star Academy'', called ''Operación Triunfo'' ("Operation Triumph") in Spanish-speaking countries, is a highly successful television pop music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements. Format There are many versions of t ...

or the French

. The reception however was lukewarm in Germany with an average of 900,000 tuning in. The series was discontinued after initial season. Winners went on to form the band

Become One Become One was a German boy/girl pop band. The six-members of the band were chosen by a casting German reality television show called Fame Academy, a German version of the international Star Academy franchise and hosted by Nova Meierhenrich on th ...

Season 1 (2003)

The German Fame Academy was launched on 7 September 2003 on

, with additional broadcasts on

Tele 5 Tele 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that broadcasts classic American films, series, cartoons and Japanese anime. On 3 July 2020, Discovery, Inc. agreed to acquire the channel from Leonine Holding, completing the purchase on 1 Se ...

and

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

. The season extended until 30 November 2003 when winners were announced. Every week, depending on the perceived quality of their performances, contestants would be put into either "safe" or "danger" zones. Anyone in the latter had to undergo a system of voting by the other participants to determine which one would then be forced to leave. The programme adopted its theme, the song made famous by

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

called " Fame" performed by the contestants for a potential spot in the band to be launched.Music video for "Fame" by the German Fame Academy contestants
/ref> The band that emerged from the talent show was to be named

with six male and female members. It was hosted by

Nova Meierhenrich Nova Meierhenrich (born 25 December 1973 in Ahlen, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German television presenter and actress. Nova Meierhenrich started her career as a TV-Host on German TV in 1996 and since then has been presenting numerous TV shows ...

and produced by Endemol. The main broadcasts each lasted from 1 to 2 hours, with supporting behind-the-scenes broadcast on a daily basis. The six finalists that made to the final to form the winning band Become One were

Ji-In Cho Ji-In Cho (born 30 December 1976) is a German heavy metal singer of Korean descent. She has been the lead vocalist of the symphonic metal band Krypteria since December 2004 until their hiatus after her pregnancy. Following this, she became the ...

(later part of

Krypteria And Then She Came is a rock music, rock band from Aachen, Germany. The band was formed as Krypteria, a symphonic gothic metal, gothic metal band. Originating from a 2001 "pop musical theatre studio project" of the same name, the idea was to use ...

, followed by And Then She Came), Carolin Arnold, Sedat Türüc (later part of Meant 2 Be), Thomas Bopp, David Hernandez (earlier a dancer with

No Angels No Angels are an all-female pop group from Germany, formed in 2000. Originally a quintet, consisting of band members Nadja Benaissa, Lucy Diakovska, Sandy Mölling, Vanessa Petruo, and Jessica Wahls, they originated on the debut season of th ...

) and Christopher Komm. Charting hits by the band included "I Don't Need Your Alibis" (their debut single release), and follow-up "Come Clean" before disbanding in July 2004. RTL II did not renew the broadcast due to is relative failure as compared with its British, Spanish and French counterparts.

References

{{reflist German music television series 2003 German television series debuts 2003 German television series endings German-language television shows RTL Zwei original programming Fame Academy