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15 Star Academy Season 1 Moments That Will Trigger Your Nostalgia
It’s a cold December 2003 evening, you’re slacking in front of the TV after a long day, watching the inaugural prime of the first ever season of Star Academy Arabia, the reality show that is just about to have the entire Arab World hooked for the next four months to come…
Now that the mood has been set, grab hold of your fictional TV remote, press rewind and join us as we revisit some of Season 1’s most memorable moments!
Disclaimer: not all the videos could be found in high quality, but you can still enjoy the quality memories nonetheless!
1. The catchy opening song.
Nehna la min menghanni? Nehna la min menghanni? Menghanni elkon aal LBC, aal LBC! *queue upbeat choreography* [While we’re on the subject, allow me to point out it was a much simpler/more authentic time for Lebanese TV.]
2. The weekly ‘eval’ and following instructor debates.
Evaluation was a pivotal weekly milestone for contestants, from the time the topic was announced to the following preps leading up to ‘eval’ day. Student performances were subsequently dissected by the instructors’ committee, who filtered out candidates based on numerous factors, from presence and vocal ability to personal charisma and creativity.
3. Nomination Tuesdays.
Nomination was the most dreaded part of living in the academy. Contestants would gather in front of the TV every Tuesday afternoon and wait impatiently for Hilda’s live announcement of the nominees, which was often preceded by a student-signed song intervention.
4. French lessons, anyone?
French-speaking contestants enjoyed giving language/articulation lessons to their non-fluent peers and notable progress was made along the way (Je Suis Malade, anyone?).
5. Oussama Rahbani’s stark post-prime debriefs.
One simply cannot forget post-prime recaps with Oussama Rahbani. His hilarious comments, nuanced remarks and characterful interventions were always on point.
6. Vocalise with Madame Mary…
I’m not quite sure how to represent Madame Mary’s famous exercise in word-form but let’s just pretend MEE-EEE-EEEE-EEEEE-AA-AAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAA… does the trick.
7. Action-packed dance classes with Elissar Caracalla.
She’s got all dem moves! And the contestants eventually had to keep up with her rhythm.
8. Early morning sports sessions with George Assaf.
Raise your hand [or maybe throw in 10 push-ups?] if Assaf’s raspy voice still resonates in your ears to this day…
9. And let’s not forget about fun acting classes.
Students had to come up with improvised sketches as part of their acting classes. At times it seemed like nobody had a clue what they were doing but it was always fun nonetheless.
10. Sophia and Cynthia’s accident during stage rehearsals.
The two friends accidentally fell during one of the rehearsals and had to spend a few days at the hospital to recover from injury before resuming the competition.
11. Heart-stopping audience vote charts [and Hilda’s extended suspense].
The wait was long and stressful and Hilda just knew how to play it till the very last second.
12. The contestants’ voting dilemma at the end of each prime.
Contestant voting drama was a huge staple of Star Academy primes. Each vote was marked by a star and the contestant to ultimately gather the most stars returned to the academy.
13. Phone call stress [AND borrowing minutes].
The telephone room’s oval-shaped orange chair holds so many short-timed memories that the smartphone/social media generation will never understand. Also, borrowing phone-talk minutes from fellow students was totally a thing.
14. The song video top 8 finalists released after the show.
Celebrating truth, friendship and camouflage pants.
15. And the final moment of truth we all waited so long for.
These iconic TV minutes kept the entirety of Arab viewers on the edge [notice how cool the finalists’ post-results reactions were].
Now that the mood has been set, grab hold of your fictional TV remote, press rewind and join us as we revisit some of Season 1’s most memorable moments!
Disclaimer: not all the videos could be found in high quality, but you can still enjoy the quality memories nonetheless!
1. The catchy opening song.
Nehna la min menghanni? Nehna la min menghanni? Menghanni elkon aal LBC, aal LBC! *queue upbeat choreography* [While we’re on the subject, allow me to point out it was a much simpler/more authentic time for Lebanese TV.]
2. The weekly ‘eval’ and following instructor debates.
Evaluation was a pivotal weekly milestone for contestants, from the time the topic was announced to the following preps leading up to ‘eval’ day. Student performances were subsequently dissected by the instructors’ committee, who filtered out candidates based on numerous factors, from presence and vocal ability to personal charisma and creativity.
3. Nomination Tuesdays.
Nomination was the most dreaded part of living in the academy. Contestants would gather in front of the TV every Tuesday afternoon and wait impatiently for Hilda’s live announcement of the nominees, which was often preceded by a student-signed song intervention.
4. French lessons, anyone?
French-speaking contestants enjoyed giving language/articulation lessons to their non-fluent peers and notable progress was made along the way (Je Suis Malade, anyone?).
5. Oussama Rahbani’s stark post-prime debriefs.
One simply cannot forget post-prime recaps with Oussama Rahbani. His hilarious comments, nuanced remarks and characterful interventions were always on point.
6. Vocalise with Madame Mary…
I’m not quite sure how to represent Madame Mary’s famous exercise in word-form but let’s just pretend MEE-EEE-EEEE-EEEEE-AA-AAAA-AAAAA-AAAAAA… does the trick.
7. Action-packed dance classes with Elissar Caracalla.
She’s got all dem moves! And the contestants eventually had to keep up with her rhythm.
8. Early morning sports sessions with George Assaf.
Raise your hand [or maybe throw in 10 push-ups?] if Assaf’s raspy voice still resonates in your ears to this day…
9. And let’s not forget about fun acting classes.
Students had to come up with improvised sketches as part of their acting classes. At times it seemed like nobody had a clue what they were doing but it was always fun nonetheless.
10. Sophia and Cynthia’s accident during stage rehearsals.
The two friends accidentally fell during one of the rehearsals and had to spend a few days at the hospital to recover from injury before resuming the competition.
11. Heart-stopping audience vote charts [and Hilda’s extended suspense].
The wait was long and stressful and Hilda just knew how to play it till the very last second.
12. The contestants’ voting dilemma at the end of each prime.
Contestant voting drama was a huge staple of Star Academy primes. Each vote was marked by a star and the contestant to ultimately gather the most stars returned to the academy.
13. Phone call stress [AND borrowing minutes].
The telephone room’s oval-shaped orange chair holds so many short-timed memories that the smartphone/social media generation will never understand. Also, borrowing phone-talk minutes from fellow students was totally a thing.
14. The song video top 8 finalists released after the show.
Celebrating truth, friendship and camouflage pants.
15. And the final moment of truth we all waited so long for.
These iconic TV minutes kept the entirety of Arab viewers on the edge [notice how cool the finalists’ post-results reactions were].
