World Idol (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

World Idol

World Idol Contestants
First World Idol (2003)

Kurt Nilsen	Winner	106 points
Kelly Clarkson	2nd	97 points
Peter Evrard	3rd	83 points
Heinz Winckler	4th	80 points
Will Young	5th	72 points
Ryan Malcolm	6th	62 points
Guy Sebastian	7th	56 points
Alicja Janosz	8th	55 points
Diana Karazon	9th	45 points
Alexander Klaws	9th	45 points
Jamai Loman	11th	36 points

World Idol (Germany: SuperStar Weltweit, Middle East: SuperStar El Alaam) was the title of a one-off international version of the television show Pop Idol, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.

The competition was held in December 2003. After presenting the competitors, viewers from the 11 participating countries were allowed to vote by telephone, but not for the participant from their home country. All participants sang in English except for Diana Karazon, who sang in Arabic. Hosts of the show were British presenters Ant and Dec, although CTV edited the show in Canada to use Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney instead (the show on Fox, which used Ant and Dec as hosts, was not simulcast with the CTV feed, to prevent Canadians from calling the American toll-free Number to vote for Ryan Malcolm).

Judge Simon Cowell (from the original Pop Idol) was very critical of the format. He went as far as saying he hated it, in that it made the winners from the ten other Idol competitions into losers. Cowell also thought many of the judges were trying to copy his abrasive style. Television critics also panned the program, particularly as the UK phone voting was profit-making, whereas tradition dictates that Christmas specials of such programmes donate profits to charity. It was also claimed that the show existed purely as a marketing exercise for Cowell and BMG to expose Will Young and Kelly Clarkson to wider audiences.

Victoria Beckham performed her UK#3 hit Let Your Head Go during the results interval.

Results

The points awarded (Eurovision style) were:

Points Given	Alexander Klaws	Guy Sebastian	Diana Karazon	Ryan Malcolm	Jamai Loman	Heinz Winkler	Alicja "Alex" Janosz	Kelly Clarkson	Peter Evrard	Will Young	Kurt Nilsen
Germany	12	2	6	3	1	7	8	9	4	5	10
Australia	1	12	4	5	2	8	3	9	7	6	10
Pan-Arabia	10	2	12	9	1	8	7	5	6	3	4
Canada	1	6	5	12	2	7	3	9	8	4	10
Netherlands	4	6	1	5	12	2	3	9	7	8	10
South Africa	2	5	1	7	4	12	3	8	6	9	10
Poland	4	5	1	2	3	6	12	8	9	7	10
USA	1	6	8	4	2	9	3	12	7	5	10
Belgium	7	3	1	2	4	8	5	9	12	6	10
UK	2	6	4	5	1	7	3	9	8	12	10
Norway	1	3	2	8	4	6	5	10	9	7	12

_{Each country's Idol automatically gained the maximum 12 points. Therefore the most points an Idol could gain from another country was 10}

Rank	Performer	Country	Points	Song	Original artist
1	Kurt Nilsen	Norway	106	"Beautiful Day"	U2
2	Kelly Clarkson	United States	97	"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"	Aretha Franklin
3	Peter Evrard	Belgium	83	"Lithium"	Nirvana
4	Heinz Winckler	South Africa	80	"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"	Aerosmith
5	Will Young	United Kingdom	72	"Light My Fire"	The Doors
6	Ryan Malcolm	Canada	62	"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"	The Hollies
7	Guy Sebastian	Australia	56	"What a Wonderful World"	Louis Armstrong
8	Alicja "Alex" Janosz	Poland	55	"I Don't Know How To Love Him"	from Jesus Christ Superstar
9/10	Alexander Klaws	Germany	45	"Maniac"	Michael Sembello
9/10	Diana Karazon	Pan-Arabia	45	"Ensani Ma Binsak"	original song
11	Jamai Loman	Netherlands	36	"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"	Elton John

It is unclear whether there will be a second World Idol.

Judges

The judges of the competition were:

Randall Abrahams (South Africa)
Simon Cowell (representing United States, is also judge on original UK show)
Nina De Man (Belgium)
Ian "Dicko" Dickson (Australia)
Shona Fraser (Germany)
Jan Fredrik Karlsen (Norway)
Elias Rahbani (Pan-Arabia)
Henk-Jan Smits (Netherlands)
Pete Waterman (United Kingdom)
Zack Werner (Canada)
Kuba Wojewódzki (Poland)