| Genre: | Talent show |
| Creator: | |
| Presenter: |
|
| Judges: |
|
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Num Seasons: | 16 |
| Num Episodes: | 186 |
| Runtime: | 60 to 180 minutes |
| Company: | GRUNDY Light Entertainment GmbH |
| Last Aired2: | present |
| Related: | Got Talent |
| Channel: | RTL |
Das Supertalent (Germany's Got Talent, Got Talent Germany) is a German talent show, part of the internationally successful Got Talent franchise, presented by Victoria Swarovski and Knossi. Just like in all other versions of the franchise, auditions take place and the judges review their talent and then later the home audience votes in an election to deem who wins. The prize money is €50,000.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 1). Season 1 was presented by Marco Schreyl (also the host of Deutschland sucht den Superstar – the German version of Pop Idol). The first episode premiered on 20 October 2007 on RTL and ended on 3 November 2007. The auditions took place in Cologne, Hamburg, Oldenburg and Munich and approximately 5000 people applied for the three-part show. The auditions took place in the first two programs on 20 and 27 October 2007, in the Schiller Theater in Berlin. The judges were Dieter Bohlen (musician and also a judge on Deutschland sucht den Superstar), Ruth Moschner (TV presenter) and André Sarrasani (circus director). The show reached up to 6.72 million in audience figures. On 3 November 19-year-old opera singer Ricardo Marinello won €100,000 in the final.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 2). On 18 October 2008, the second season premiered on RTL and ended on 29 November 2008. Due to good ratings, the number of episodes was increased to 7 episodes; 4 audition shows, each 1 hour long and 3 live shows, each 2 hours long. Dieter Bohlen remained as a judge but the two others were replaced by Bruce Darnell (an American model and choreographer who also judges Germany's Next Topmodel) and Sylvie Meis (a Dutch TV presenter and former wife of footballer Rafael van der Vaart) and the TV presenter Daniel Hartwich joined Marco Schreyl as the new host. The last episodes were on 15 and 22 November. 44-year-old harmonica player Michael Hirte won the second season and €100.000 with 72.62 percent of all votes.
On 5 December Michael Hirte released an album called Der Mann mit der Mundharmonika (The Man with the Harmonica) which placed No. 1 on the German Charts and did the same little later in Austria and Switzerland.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 3). The third season premiered on 16 October 2009 on RTL and ended on 19 December 2009. The judge line-up remained the same from Season 2. Due to the high viewing figures in the second season, RTL Television increased the number of the audition episodes from 4 to 7 and the number of the semi-finalists from 24 to 30. Yvo Antoni won this season and €100.000 for an act with his dog, which received a controversial response.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 4). Season 4 began on 16 May 2010 in Frankfurt am Main. The first episode was screened on 24 September 2010 on RTL and the last on 18 December 2010. The judges and the hosts returned for this season. The first episode had some of the best quotes of all the seasons: 7.47 million viewers. The second episode the following day topped that with 7.74 million viewers. The top 40 semi-finals began on 27 November. The opera singer Freddy Sahin-Scholl, who has two different voices during the singing, won this season and €100,000.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 5). The fifth season premiered on 16 September 2011 on RTL and ended on 17 December 2011, while the castings started on 1 May in Hamburg. The judge line-up was changed as Bruce Darnell decided to leave the show to be replaced by professional dancer Motsi Mabuse. The first episode attracted 7,34 million viewers. On 24 November 2011, the show aired with a "special episode" on Thursday to compete with the new talent show The Voice of Germany from rival networks ProSieben/Sat.1. The episode hit a season low with only 5,83 million viewers and lost against The Voice of Germany in the target group 14–49. Panpipe player Leo Rojas won this season and €100,000.
The sixth season premiered on 15 September 2012 on RTL and ended on 15 December 2012. There have been significant changes to the show. From then on, Daniel Hartwich hosted the show without Marco Schreyl, and Dieter Bohlen was the only judge to remain on the panel. On 22 June 2012 former host of the popular German show Wetten, dass..?, Thomas Gottschalk, was confirmed as a new judge.,[1] while Michelle Hunziker, who previously worked with Gottschalk on (Wetten, dass..?) and Bohlen on the local version of singing franchise Pop Idol (Deutschland sucht den Superstar). Auditions only took place in the Tempodrom in Berlin. 44,000 people auditioned for season six of Das Supertalent.[2] This season, a "golden buzzer" was introduced. If one of the judges pushes the buzzer the candidate comes to the next round, no matter what the other judges think. At the last day of taping the auditions, performer Rene Richter asked jury member Michelle Hunziker to get involved in the performance where she was being held by a lead with Rene holding it with his teeth. While holding Hunziker, the lead snapped which resulted Hunziker getting a brain concussion and bruises.[3] [4]
This season has featured a number of failed auditioners from international "Got Talent" shows such as Dan Sperry and Brad Byers of America's Got Talent, Area 51 and Lucky Franco from Britain's Got Talent. Sperry was one of the few auditioners who automatically made it through to the semi-finals due to the golden buzzer rule.
Former DSDS runner-up Juliette Schoppmann appeared on the show after 10 years she was last seen on RTL. Schoppmann, who originally saw success following her second place, had eventually been dropped by her label and failed to make a comeback. Schoppmann felt that this was a way to make it back into music. After successfully auditioning in front of the judges, she had to compete in a sing-off, in which she won a spot in the semi-finals.
The singer and pianist Jean-Michel Aweh won this season and €100,000.
See main article: Das Supertalent (season 7). The seventh season premiered on 28 September 2013 on RTL and ended on 14 December 2013. It was the first season with four judges. The model Lena Gercke and fashion designer Guido Maria Kretschmer joined Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell as judges and the host Daniel Hartwich returned for this season. Lukas Pratschker and his dog Falco won this season.
It was the first time that the winner won a performance in Las Vegas in addition to the €100,000. It was the same for the next three seasons.
The eighth season premiered on 27 September 2014 on RTL and ended on 20 December 2014. All of the four judges and the host returned for this season. Drag singer Marcel Kaupp won this season.
It was the first season, since 2008, without semi-finals.
After two seasons, it was announced that the judges would be only three again. The judges were Dieter Bohlen, Inka Bause and Bruce Darnell. Daniel Hartwich returned as host. The ninth season premiered on 19 September 2015 on RTL and ended on 12 December 2015. The singer Jay Oh, who was usually an audience member during the auditions, won this season.
The tenth season premiered on 10 September 2016 on RTL and ended on 17 December 2016. The TV presenter Inka Bause was replaced by model and singer Victoria Swarovski and Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell returned as judges. The host Daniel Hartwich returned too. The Golden Buzzer returns as well in this season. In this and the following two seasons, there was a Golden Chair in the audience. This gave an audience member the opportunity to state his or her opinion after each audition, however, this person had no voting rights. The singer Angel Flukes won this season.
The eleventh season premiered on 16 September 2017 on RTL and ended on 16 December 2017. It was announced that the TV presenter Nazan Eckes would replace Victoria Swarovski. Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell returned as judges and Daniel Hartwich as host. Alexa Lauenburger won this season with her dogs. There was again €100,000 to be won, but no longer a performance in Las Vegas.
In this season, there was a decision show before the final.
The twelfth season premiered on 15 September 2018 on RTL and ended on 22 December 2018. Dieter Bohlen returned for his twelfth series, Bruce Darnell returned for his seventh series and Sylvie Meis returned after six seasons to replace Nazan Eckes. Daniel Hartwich returned for his eleventh series as a host. The regurgitator Stevie Starr won this season and €100,000.
The thirteenth series premiered on 14 September 2019 on RTL and ended on 21 December 2019. Sylvie Meis was replaced from singer Sarah Engels, while Dieter Bohlen returned for his thirteenth season and Bruce Darnell returned for his eighth series. Daniel Hartwich returned for his twelfth series as a host. American dog act Christian Stoinev and Percy won this season and €100,000.
*Ameli Bilyk was supposed to compete in the final in 2018 but had to be replaced due to an injury.
The fourteenth season premiered on 17 October 2020 on RTL and ended on 19 December 2020. On 18 June 2020, it was announced that television personality Evelyn Burdecki and comedian Chris Tall would join Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell as the two new judges. It was also announced that Victoria Swarovski would join Daniel Hartwich as the new host.[5] Singer and guitarist Nick Ferretti won this season and €50,000.
The places 4 to 11 have not been revealed, but here are the other contestants who made it to the finals, in order of appearance:
RTL announced in March 2021 that Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell would no longer be judges on the show. Three months after that, RTL announced that hosts Daniel Hartwich and Victoria Swarovski would no longer be part of the show as well. Later, RTL confirmed that fashion designer Michael Michalsky, football player Lukas Podolski, Dutch TV presenter Chantal Janzen, and the magician duo Ehrlich Brothers would be the new judges. Due to various absences of the main judges, there were changing guest judges throughout the season. While Evelyn Burdecki didn't return to the show, Chris Tall switched sides. He co-hosted the season with Lola Weippert. The season aired on RTL from 2 October 2021 to 11 December 2021. For the first time since 2013, there were two semi-finals again. Opera singer Elena Turcan won this season and €50,000.
After a break, the sixteenth season premiered on 27 January 2024 on RTL and ended on 17 February 2024. On 18 August 2023, it was announced that Dieter Bohlen and Bruce Darnell will return to the jury. Professional dancer Ekaterina Leonova and model Anna Ermakova would join them as the two new judges.[6] On 7 December 2023 it was announced that Victoria Swarovski would be hosting the show for the second time and Knossi would be taking part for the first time.[7] Opera singer Alexander Doghmani won this season and €50,000.[8]
The places 4 to 10 have not been revealed, but here are the other contestants who made it to the finals, in order of appearance:
| Season | Start | End | No. of episodes | Winner | Winner's act |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 October 2007 | 3 November 2007 | 3 | Ricardo Marinello | Opera singer |
| 2 | 18 October 2008 | 29 November 2008 | 7 | Michael Hirte | Harmonica player |
| 3 | 16 October 2009 | 19 December 2009 | 11 | Yvo Antoni & PrimaDonna | Dog act |
| 4 | 24 September 2010 | 18 December 2010 | 15 | Freddy Sahin-Scholl | Opera singer |
| 5 | 16 September 2011 | 17 December 2011 | 16 | Leo Rojas | Panpipe player |
| 6 | 15 September 2012 | 15 December 2012 | 14 | Jean-Michel Aweh | Singer and pianist |
| 7 | 28 September 2013 | 14 December 2013 | 12 | Lukas Pratschker & Falco | Dog act |
| 8 | 27 September 2014 | 20 December 2014 | 13 | Marcel Kaupp | Drag singer |
| 9 | 19 September 2015 | 12 December 2015 | 14 | Jay Oh | Singer |
| 10 | 10 September 2016 | 17 December 2016 | 14 | Angel Flukes | Singer |
| 11 | 16 September 2017 | 16 December 2017 | 14 | Alexa Lauenburger & her dogs | Dog act |
| 12 | 15 September 2018 | 22 December 2018 | 14 | Stevie Starr | Professional regurgitator |
| 13 | 14 September 2019 | 21 December 2019 | 14 | Christian Stoinev & Percy | Hand balancer and dog act |
| 14 | 17 October 2020 | 19 December 2020 | 11 | Nick Ferretti | Singer and guitarist |
| 15 | 2 October 2021 | 11 December 2021 | 10 | Elena Turcan | Opera singer |
| 16 | 27 January 2024 | 17 February 2024 | 4 | Alexander Doghmani | Opera singer |
| Seasons | Hosts | Judges | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Schreyl | Dieter Bohlen | Ruth Moschner | André Sarrasani | rowspan="6" | |
| 2 | Daniel Hartwich | Sylvie Meis | Bruce Darnell | |||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | Sylvie Meis | Dieter Bohlen | Motsi Mabuse | |||
| 6 | Daniel Hartwich | Dieter Bohlen | Michelle Hunziker | Thomas Gottschalk | ||
| 7 | Lena Gercke | Guido Maria Kretschmer | Bruce Darnell | |||
| 8 | ||||||
| 9 | Inka Bause | Bruce Darnell | rowspan="5" | |||
| 10 | Victoria Swarovski | |||||
| 11 | Nazan Eckes | |||||
| 12 | Sylvie Meis | |||||
| 13 | Sarah Engels | |||||
| 14 | Victoria Swarovski | Daniel Hartwich | Evelyn Burdecki | Chris Tall | Bruce Darnell | |
| 15 | Lola Weippert | Chris Tall | Michael Michalsky | Lukas Podolski1 | Chantal Janzen2 | Ehrlich Brothers3 |
| 16 | Victoria Swarovski | Knossi | Dieter Bohlen | Ekaterina Leonova | Anna Ermakova | Bruce Darnell |
| 17 | Tony Bauer | |||||
Annotations
Barbara Grofe of RP Online wrote in an early review: "Talents are little to see, but an awful lot of people with ego problems".[9] In another review, it was criticized that also children at a very young age can present their talents.[10] The youth protection also takes a close eye on the show for years now. Next to that, it has been highly criticized in recent seasons that candidates with no real talent are presented to the audience after a pre-casting to humiliate these people and push the ratings. Christian Richter writes about the show that the "performances are artificially drawn in the length" and the candidates "tell their personal tragic story with overly dramatic music", even repeating the crucial scenes again in slow motion. Richter goes on saying that "RTL characterizes the term 'Emotainments'".[11] It was also published by the Bild as "super cheating" that RTL paid some of their talents money for their participation in the show.[12] In spite of the critics, the show is very popular among viewers. In 2010, Das Supertalent also won the Golden Camera award as Best Entertainment Show.[13]