Deutschland sucht den Superstar (DSDS; "Germany is looking for the Superstar") is a German reality talent show. Part of the Idol franchise, it was created by British media mogul Simon Fuller as a spin-off from the British show Pop Idol, of which two series were broadcast between the years of 2001 and 2003. Debuting to mediocre ratings in November 2002 on the RTL network, the show has since become one of the most successful shows on German television.
The program aims to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nationwide auditions in which viewer voting determines the winner. Voting is done through phone and SMS text voting.
It was initially announced by RTL in July 2022 that the 20th season would be its last. However, in the first live show of the 20th season, it was announced that there will be a 21st season in 2024.
Season summaries
Season 1
The first season 2002–2003 of Deutschland sucht den Superstar debuted without much hype in November 2002 on the RTL network. The show's co-hosts were Swiss actress Michelle Hunziker and former soap opera actor Carsten Spengemann, while the jury consisted of music producer Dieter Bohlen, radio host Thomas Bug, British music journalist Shona Fraser, and then-president of BMG Germany, Thomas M. Stein. 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.
thumb|upright|Debut season winner [[Alexander Klaws in 2008]] Winner Alexander Klaws signed a recording contract 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. 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 Award nominations, his independent 2006 release, Attention! failed to link on previous sales figures. He has since established a secondary career as an actor on the Sat.1 telenovela Anna und die Liebe and appeared in leading roles on musicals such as Dance of the Vampires and Tarzan. Gracia Baur also was signed to BMG, but was dropped after her moderate succeeded rock debut Intoxicated (2003). She then signed with Bros Music and was selected to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "Run & Hide", where it placed last in a field of 24. Following the success of the first installment, the second season was aired to a higher profile during 2003 fall schedule, including an increased number of episodes, budgets and charges for commercial spots. In contrast to the first season, however, the second 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. Her following two albums Moving Out (2007) and Human (2009) failed to chart anywhere. third-place finisher Philippe Bühler established himself as a professional songwriter and released two R&B-influenced singles, entitled "Warum?" (2005) and "Ich kann dich lieben" (2006), both of which entered the top forty of the German Singles Chart. 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 for the first time ever on Ibiza. From September on the casting crew toured throughout Germany. The first show, Now or never – Jetzt oder nie, aired on March 8, 2008.
Season 6
thumb|upright|Sixth season winner [[Daniel Schuhmacher]]
The sixth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar was aired on German channel RTL from January to May 2009. The season's winner, Daniel Schuhmacher, was awarded a contract with Sony BMG. The judges in this season were Dieter Bohlen, Nina Eichinger, and Volker Neumüller. It was hosted by Marco Schreyl. The viewers chose the contestant's fates as they were able to call for their favorite contestant. As with season 5, the "Top 10" was created by the Top 5 contestants with the most telephone and SMS voting and the other five were selected by the jury.
Season 7
thumb|upright|Seventh season winner [[Mehrzad Marashi in 2010]]
The seventh season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar was aired on German channel RTL from 6 January to 17 April 2010. The season marked a new national record with more than 35,000 participants. The season's winner was Mehrzad Marashi.
Public votes
Mehrzad Marahsi won the show. Second was Menowin Fröhlich and on third place Manuel Hoffmann. Menowin has won every liveshow but lost against Mehrzad who won the final with 56,04%. Manuel Hoffmann was eliminated in the 5th show, but he came back after Helmut Orosz was expelled from the show. Manuel came back and reached the semi-final, so that he was the first one who was eliminated and has survived more than one show again. Thomas Karaoglan, who reached the 5th place was known as der Checker and Kim Debkowski has made some advertisement during her video previous her performance with some beauty tips on Kim Gloss Tv.
The live-shows began with the Top-15 show to determine the contestants that would make up the Top 10 in the mottoshows. As done in the previous seasons, the Top 10 were contestants put through from the public vote and the jury's vote. However, 7 (instead of 5) contestants were put through with the public votes and 3 (instead of 5) would be put through by the jury; which ultimately became the contestants that ranked with the next three largest number of votes. In the first live show, Steffi Landerer, who was known for her sex appeal, was eliminated. Marcel Pluschke, who was eliminated on the second live-show, did not perceive an excellent audience respect because of his weak voice and country music roots (which was a first in DSDS). Though criticized for his song selection in the third live show, Nelson Sangaré was surprisingly eliminated after ranking as one of the top contestants throughout the first and second live-shows. After being in the bottom groups every week, Ines Redjeb was eventually eliminated in the fourth live-show. Though proving to be a favorite in the competition despite ranking in the bottom half of the voting, Manuel Hoffmann was eliminated in the fifth show against Helmut Orosz. Orosz, who was a Top 50 contestant in the second season, became criticized for his problems with singing correct texts; immediately after Hoffmann's elimination, the producers of DSDS had found a video of Orosz with a friend using cocaine recently, to which Orosz confessed. Because of this, Orosz was disqualified from the contest and Hoffmann returned to the live-shows surpassing crowd favorite Thomas Karaoglan in the sixth-live show and Kim Debkowski in the seventh live-show. However, Hoffmann's journey ended in the semi-final leaving the finale in the hands of the season's front-runners Menowin Fröhlich and Mehrzad Marashi. Fröhlich, a local DJ, successfully auditioned for the show in the third season making it to the Top-20 live-shows; he later became disqualified due to battery and fraud. Both friends throughout the recall, tensions rose throughout the competition between fans and themselves. After the final vote, Marashi won though only ranking in first place in the Top-15 and the finale as Fröhlich ranked first every week.
Season 8
thumb|upright|Eighth season winner [[Pietro Lombardi (singer)|Pietro Lombardi in 2014]]
Deutschland sucht den Superstar Season 8 is the eighth season of the Idol series in Germany began airing on RTL on 8 January 2011. The winner will get a recording contract with Universal Music Group. Their successors are Swiss singer Patrick Nuo and singer/dancer Fernanda Brandão. Marco Schreyl returned as the host. DSDS has extended participation privileges to Austria and Switzerland. The Top 35 will be going to the Maldives. In an interview, Anna-Carina was quoted as saying "It was cut together all wrong. I never said that I hate Sarah – but on the contrary, I do not hate Sarah Engels. That is what I said. But it was cut this way by RTL, because it looks good for the show." RTL was also fined 15,000 Euro for the incident.
The Hamburger Morgenpost questioned whether the liveshows were actually live broadcast. In the 3rd Mottoshow, Marco Angelini slipped up in his performance and forgot to sing at the correct time. The hardcore fans of Pietro Lombardi told his brother Marco about this and he wasn't happy about this. So, he decided to take "revenge." A camera shot of Marco Angelini showed him enraged towards the lens. Participants must be living in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. The law will not allow minors to participate on stage after 10 PM. RTL received a 15,000 Euro fine for the incident.
Hamburger Morgenpost hinted that Thomas Pegram's elimination was expected because of some of his statistics on Facebook. He has the fewest people who clicked the "like" button only 4.105 people and received only 813 comments after the official DSDS Facebook fanpage put up his photo. Silvia Amaru's photo had 4.761 "like" while the competition was at around 10.000 on Sunday 11 March at 10:15 CET. None of the mottoshows have reached 5 million viewers. This is the lowest viewership in the history of all the final shows of DSDS.
Season 10
thumb|upright|Tenth season winner [[Beatrice Egli]]
On 30 April 2012, RTL announced that the show will return for a tenth season, in spite of declining ratings in Season 9. It was also announced that previous judges Natalie Horler and Bruce Darnell as well as host Marco Schreyl will be replaced. Furthermore, a "female quota" will be introduced in order to have an equal balance of male and female contestant. This season returned to the traditional age limit from 16 to 30.
According to reports, the show was supposed to have a live band accompanying the contestants in the live shows, which has been absent since season 8. However, the first motto show of the season did not feature a live band and contestants sounded to be singing to pre-recorded tracks.
On 14 September 2012, RTL announced Tom and Bill Kaulitz from the MTV Video Music Awards winning band Tokio Hotel and Mateo Jaschik founding member of the German dancehall band Culcha Candela as the replacements for Natalie Horler and Bruce Darnell in the jury. This is the first time since season 2 that the jury consisted of four judges.
The first episode attracted 5.18 Mio. viewers, which marks the lowest season premiere rating since season 1, which has not been broadcast on the primetime slot on 8.15pm. Despite this, the show was renewed for an eleventh season for 2014. Only 4,63 Mio. viewers watched the final, a major low record.
The winner of the tenth season was Beatrice Egli. She became the first female winner since season 2 and the first German Schlager singer to win the competition. The season featured a female finale which has happened only twice so far in the history of the show. Furthermore, this is the first time that three women reached the final four.
Season 11
thumb|upright|Eleventh season winner [[Aneta Sablik]]On 13 March 2013, RTL announced that there will be an eleventh season. The judges from the previous season, with the exception of Dieter Bohlen, were replaced by rapper Kay One, the singer Mieze Katz of the band MIA., and the Schlager singer Marianne Rosenberg. Nazan Eckes returned as the host of the eleventh season, however without Raúl Richter. The season started on Wednesday, 8 January 2014 on RTL. The season's headline was "Kandidaten an die Macht!" ("Candidates, take over!").
The top 30, which consisted of 15 female and 15 male contestants, were brought to Cuba for the further competition. In the top 20 round, the judges chose the top ten to compete in the live shows. Five of the ten eliminated contestants were given a wild card by the judges and made available for public voting. The two with the highest votes by the viewers will be joining the top 10.
The season premiere attracted 2,70 Mil. viewers, which makes it the least-watched season premiere in the history of Deutschland such den Superstar. However, ratings improved up to 3,33 Mil. viewers by episode three, which makes it the most watched episode of the season so far within the demographics between ages 14–49. Overall, this season showed the lowest ratings in the history of the show.
For the second year in a row this season featured a female final top two and producing a female Superstar for the third time in the history of the show. Aneta Sablik was announced as the winner on 3 May 2014.
Season 12
During the live-shows of season 11, it was announced that the castings for season 12 will start in August 2014. RTL's Head of Programm Frank Hoffmann stated in April 2014 that he wants to keep the series for the years the come, although the ratings continued to fall, especially in the live shows. He further explained that the live-shows will be cut to an "absolut minimum". In Fall 2014, RTL gave closer details to the changes of Season 12. The liveshows are replaced with pre-recorded concerts in clubs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Only the announcement of the results will be broadcast live. In contrary to the seasons before the final will not take place in a TV studio in Cologne, but in the ÖVB Arena in Bremen.
For the first time, auditions will be held in the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. Candidates had to be between 16 and 40 years old.
In October 2014, RTL announced that Marianne Rosenberg, Mietze Katz and Kay One won't return for the twelfth season. The new jury consists of Dieter Bohlen, Swiss discjockey DJ Antoine, Schlager singer Heino and singer Mandy Capristo.
The winner of the Deutschland sucht den Superstar 2015 was announced as Severino Seeger with Viviana Grisafi finishing as the runner-up. The winner song entitled Hero of My Heart was produced and written by juror Dieter Bohlen.
Season 13
In the first event show of the twelfth season, Oliver Geissen announced that 2016 should be a season for which you should be able to apply for now. In the final, Dieter Bohlen announced that for this season all previous limits such as the age restriction are repealed. Accordingly, the motto of the season is “No Limits”. In June 2015, RTL announced that Oliver Geissen will host the Final Shows in 2016 again. On October 1, 2015 RTL announced that next Dieter Bohlen also H.P. Baxxter, Vanessa Mai and Michelle are on the jury. During the auditions, each judge has the option to send a Golden CD a candidate directly in the foreign-Recall. was implemented along the Golden Turd, with the judges can distinguish particularly poor performances. The foreign-Recall took place on Jamaica. It was announced that, like the season before, the live shows are replaced with pre-recorded concerts in clubs in Germany. Only the announcement of the results will be broadcast live. The final will not take place in a TV studio in Cologne, but in the ISS Dome in Düsseldorf.
Prince Damien Ritzinger was the winner of the Deutschland sucht den Superstar 2016 with Laura van den Elzen finishing as the runner-up. The winner song is entitled "Glücksmoment".
Season 14
thumb|upright|Thirteen season winner Alphonso Williams in 2018
During the live-shows of season 13, it was announced that the castings for season 14 will start in August 2016. The motto was still "No Limits". In Fall 2016, RTL gave closer details to the changes of Season 14. This season's the foreign-Recall was in Dubai and the contestants were performing in the desert, on the helipad of the Burj Al Arab, in front of the world's tallest free-standing-structure, the Burj Khalifa. The pre-recorded concerts in clubs in Germany were replaced by the mottoshows (theme shows) which were used from season 1 to 10.
In 2016, RTL announced that H.P. Baxxter, Michelle and Dieter Bohlen would return, while Vanessa Mai was replaced by YouTuber Shirin David. Oliver Geissen returned as the host of the live shows. This season marked an all-time high because there was a final 14 which was the highest amount of mottoshow contestants ever. Also for the first time, a wild card voting was introduced where the public voted Alphonso Williams who was eliminated just before the mottoshows back in the competition. Alphonso Williams was announced the winner on 6 May followed by Alexander Jahnke, Maria Voskania and Duygu Goenel. With 54 years Williams is the oldest winner to date.
Season 15
For Season 15, Dieter Bohlen announced a new jury that consists of Carolin Niemczyk, Ella Endlich and Mousse T. The winner was the 16 years old Marie Wegener. She is the youngest winner ever and only the fourth woman to win the show and the first to win against a male in the top two. Michel Truog was the Runner-Up and Michael Rauscher reached the third Place. This season returned to the traditional age limit from 16 to 30. The prize money was reduced to 100,000 euros.
Season 16
For Season 16, RTL and Dieter Bohlen engaged German soul singer Xavier Naidoo, Season 8's winner Pietro Lombardi and professional dancer Oana Nechiti to be a judges on Deutschland sucht den Superstar. 20 year old Davin Herbrüggen was the winner, where Nick Feretti and Joana Kesenci came in second and third pace.
Season 17
For the start of Season 17, the judges stayed as they are. The season premiered on 4 January 2020. Xavier Naidoo was subsequently excluded from the jury and replaced by Florian Silbereisen.
The winner was Ramon Kaselowsky, Chiara DꞌAmico reached 2nd, Joshua Tappe 3rd and Paulina Wagner the 4th place. For the second time the winner was a singer of german Schlager and the first male to do so. He reached the highest percentage of voting in the show's history.
Season 18
The eighteenth season will begin airing on 2021. On 13 August 2020, it was announced that next to the judge Dieter Bohlen will seat Mike Singer and Michael Wendler. On 16 August 2020, it was announced Maite Kelly as the fourth judge. Due to his public belief in conspiracy theories and other statements, Michael Wendler was completely cut out of the show. The season will be the last season with Dieter Bohlen as a judge. Thomas Gottschalk replaced Bohlen in the live shows since he was unable to participate because of an illness. For the first time there were only two live shows and also it was the first top four to just consist of male contestants. This time, the live shows took place at the
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord. Jan-Marten Block was the winner of the season and Karl Jeroboan came in the second place.
Season 19
The 19th season started on January 22, 2022 and was won by Harry Marcello Laffontien while his younger brother Gianni Laffontien finished fourth. This was the first time in the show that two brothers reached a seasons final. The Jury consists of Florian Silbereisen, Toby Gad and Ilse Delange.
Season 20
January 14, 2023. Dieter Bohlen, who should have had his final season as a judge in season 18, returned as a judge, as did Pietro Lombardi. New members were Katja Krasavice and Leony.
This season should have been the last season of the series, but Dieter Bohlen announced that the series will return for a 21st season. The winner was Sem Eisinger.
Finalists
{|class="wikitable center" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Place
! Contestant
! Age
! Hometown
! Occupation
! Status
|-
| 1
| Sem Eisinger
| 29
| Frankfurt
| Barkeeper
| bgcolor="gold"|Winner
|-
| 2
| Monika Gajek
| 21
| Salzgitter
| Warehousewoman (trainee)
| bgcolor="silver"|Runner-up
|-
| 3
| Lorent Berisha
| 19
| Dierikon
| Medical practice assistant
| bgcolor="#F4C7B8" rowspan=2|Eliminated<br />
|-
|4
| Kiyan Yousefbeik
| 25
| Hannover
| Content manager at TikTok
|-
| 5
| David Leischik
| 27
| Cologne
| Music student
| bgcolor="#F4C7B8" rowspan=4|Eliminated<br />
|-
| 6
| Peris Grigoriadis
| 25
| Pleidelsheim
| Mechanic and DJ
|-
| 7
| Aileen Sager
| 23
| Birkenfeld
| Medical assistant
|-
| 8
| Lawa Baban
| 25
| Gießen
| Mini-jobber
|-
| 9
| Natalie Nock
| 29
| Baden-Baden
| Real estate clerk
| rowspan="2" bgcolor="#F4C7B8"|Eliminated<br />
|-
| 10
| Rose Ndumba
| 23
| Essen
| Student
|}
Elimination chart
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| style="background:pink; width:100px;"| Females
| style="background:cyan; width:100px;"| Males
| style="background:#8ab8e6; width:100px;"| Top 10
| style="background:gold; width:100px;"| Winner
| style="background:silver; width:100px;"| Runner-up
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| style="background:white; width:100px;"| Safe
| style="background:lightgreen; width:100px;"| Most votes
| style="background:#b8dbff; width:100px;"| Safe Last
| style="background:#8ab8e6; width:100px;"| Eliminated
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; font-size:85%"
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|Stage:
| style="background:#8ab8e6;"|Top 10
| style="background:#8ab8e6;"|Semi-Final - Top 8
|colspan="2" style="background:#8ab8e6;"|Final - Top 4
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|Week:
!style="width:120px;" |4/1
!style="width:120px;"|4/8
!colspan="2" style="width:120px;"|4/15
|-
!style="width:35px;"|Place
!style="width:150px;"|Contestant
!colspan="7"|Result
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 1
|style="background:cyan;"| Sem Eisinger
|style="background:lightgreen;"| 1st<br>36,97%
|style="background:lightgreen;"| 1st<br>35,80%
| style="background:gold;|Winner<br>54,81%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 2
|style="background:pink;"| Monika Gajek
| 3rd<br>12,24%
| 2nd<br>16,18%
| style="background:silver;|Runner-up<br>18,52%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 3
|style="background:cyan;"| Lorent Berisha
| 2nd<br>18,41%
| style="background:#b8dbff;"|4th<br>10,03%
| style="background:#8ab8e6; |3rd<br>13,88%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 4
|style="background:cyan;"| Kiyan Yousefbeik
|4th<br>8,29%
|3rd<br>15,65%
|style="background:#8ab8e6; |4th<br>12,79%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 5
|style="background:cyan;"| David Leischik
| 5th<br>7,98%
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 5th<br>8,14%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=4|
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 6
|style="background:cyan;"| Peris Grigoriadis
| 7th<br>4,09%
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 6th<br>6,09%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=4|
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 7
|style="background:pink;"| Aileen Sager
| 6th<br>4,15%
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 7th<br>4,82%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=4|
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 8
|style="background:pink;"| Lawa Baban
| style="background:#b8dbff;"| 8th<br>3,10%
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 8th<br>3,29%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=4|
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 9
|style="background:pink;"| Natalie Nock
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 9th<br>2,45%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=2|
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 10
|style="background:pink;"| Rose Ndumba
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 10th<br>2,32%
|style="background:#999999;" colspan=2|
|}
Season 21
In this season contestants above 30 years can participate to win the title Superstar because there is no more limit of age. The last "No Limits" season was season 14. The jury in this season consisted of Dieter Bohlen, Pietro Lombardi, Beatrice Egli and Loredana. The season premiered on 18 September 2024. That was the first time since season 2 that Deutschland sucht den Superstar begins airing a season in September. From season four to twenty the airdate was always January. The four finalists compete in the only live show this year and for the second time since season 18 all of them being male. The season was won by Christian Jährig who breaks the record of the highest percentage of votes by 4 finalists with 75,61%.
Finalists
{|class="wikitable center" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Place
! Contestant
! Age
! Hometown
! Occupation
! Status
|-
| 1
| Christian Jährig
| 30
| Reichertshofen
| Sales team leader
| bgcolor="gold"|Winner
|-
| 2
| Philip Matas
| 25
| Heidenheim an der Brenz
| Financial clerk
| bgcolor="silver"|Runner-up
|-
| 3
| Nissim Mizrahi
| 61
| Hamburg
| Bistro operator
| bgcolor="#F4C7B8" rowspan=2|Eliminated<br />
|-
|4
| Tom Mc Conner
| 23
| Duisburg
| Casual worker
|-
|}
Elimination chart
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| style="background:cyan; width:100px;"| Males
| style="background:#8ab8e6; width:100px;"| Top 4
| style="background:gold; width:100px;"| Winner
| style="background:silver; width:100px;"| Runner-up
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
| style="background:#8ab8e6; width:100px;"| Eliminated
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; font-size:85%"
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|Stage:
|colspan="2" style="background:#8ab8e6;"|Final - Top 4
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:right;"|Week:
!style="width:120px;" |11/9
|-
!style="width:35px;"|Place
!style="width:150px;"|Contestant
!colspan="7"|Result
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 1
|style="background:cyan;"| Christian Jährig
| style="background:gold;|Winner<br>75,61%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 2
|style="background:cyan;"| Philip Matas
| style="background:silver;|Runner-up<br>9,92%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 3
|style="background:cyan;"| Nissim Mizrahi
| style="background:#8ab8e6; |3rd<br>8,38%
|-
|style="background:#8ab8e6;"| 4
|style="background:cyan;"| Tom Mc Conner
|style="background:#8ab8e6; |4th<br>6,09%
|}
Season 22
In the 22th season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar has started on 4th April with the Jury being Dieter Bohlen, Isi Glück and Bushido. This is the first time since season 19 there are only three judges in the panel. It is also the first time in the shows history that Menowin Fröhlich, a former contestant and runner-up of season 7 is allowed to participate. The Final of this season is on May 9th and has the most finalists to date with 5 on of them beeing Menowin Fröhlich.
That means he is the first ever contestant to reach a Final of Deutschland sucht den Superstar twice. The season was won by Menowin Fröhlich with 56,52 % of the publicvote. This marks also a novum in the history of the show, that a previous contestant from the Liveshows has won the title.
Criticisms and controversies
The German Cultural Council accused RTL "malicious disregard" for humanity after a 17-year-old had a nervous breakdown during his audition. The Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz opened a review procedure against Deutschland sucht den Superstar Again, in season 8, RTL created fake stories. RTL misquoted DSDS season 8 candidate Anna-Carina Woitschack. The ages will be from 4 to 14. There were 38.664 applications for season 1 of the show.
German child protection association president Heinz Hilgers advised parents not to apply for the show. He claimed that the adult version "was based on humiliation and embarrassment".