Das Supertalent

Season 1 (2007)

Season 1 was presented by Marco Schreyl (also the host of Deutschland sucht den Superstar - the German version of Pop Idol). 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 October and 27 October 2007, in the Schiller Theater in Berlin. The judges were Dieter Bohlen (also a judge on Deutschland sucht den Superstar), Ruth Moschner (comedian) 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 in the final by singing and won 100,000 euros.

Season 2 (2008)

On 18 October 2008, the second season began. Due to good ratings, the amount 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 van der Vaart (a Dutch TV presenter and former wife of footballer Rafael van der Vaart). The last episodes were on 15 and 22 November. 44-year-old harmonica player Michael Hirte won the second season with 72.62 percent of the vote and won the 100,000 euros with it. On 5 December he released an album called Der Mann mit der Mundharmonika (The Man with the Mouth-organ) which placed #1 on the German Charts and did the same little later in Austria and Switzerland.

Season 3 (2009)

Season 3 began on the 16th of October 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 semifinalists from 24 to 30. On 20 December 2009, Yvo Antoni went on to win the show, for his act with his dog, which received a controversial response.

Season 4 (2010)

Season 4 began on 16 May 2010 in Frankfurt am Main. The first episode was screened on the 24th of September. 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 the 27th November. Freddy Sahin-Scholl won the competition and €100.000.

Season 5 (2011)

Season 5 started airing on 16 September 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.

The Final was aired on 17 December 2011. Juan Leonardo Santillia Rojas (27) won by 31,93%.

2nd: Sven Müller (13,68%), 3rd Ricky Kam (6) (13,23%), 4th Jörg Perreten (10,68%), 5th Julian Pecher (7,17%), 6th Mark Ashley (6,60%), 7th Miroslav Zilka (6,24%) 8th Desirée Capaldo (5,92%) 9th Dergin Tokmak (2,85%), 10th Oleksandr Yenivatov (1,70%)

Season 6 (2012)

The sixth season began on 15 September 2012. There have been significant changes to the show. Daniel Hartwich took over hosting duties, 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., 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. 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.

This season has featured a number of failed auditionees 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 audtioners 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, was eventually was 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 Final was aired on 16 December 2012. Jean-Michel Aweh (singer, pianist) won by 25,39 %. of the vote. In second place was Christian Bakotessa (singer; 19,56 %), and third, 3rd Dan Sperry (illusionist; 13,75 %).

Season 7 (2013)

The seventh season premiered in September 2013 and concluded in December 2013. The host was Daniel Hartwich, whilst Dieter Bohlen was the only returning judge from season six. Lena Gercke, Guido Maria Kretschmer and Bruce Darnell are new members on the jury panel.

Lukas and his dog Falco won the show.

Season 8 (2014)

The 8th season premiered in September 2014 The host was Daniel Hartwich, whilst Dieter Bohlen was the only returning judge from all seasons. Lena Gercke, Guido Maria Kretschmer and Bruce Darnell are also members on the jury panel. The bearded drag queen Marcel Kaupp won the show.

Season 9 (2015)

The 9th season was won by singer Jay Oh.

Season 10 (2016)

Season 10 has been confirmed. Inka was replaced by Victoria Swarovski, while Bruke and Dieter returned. The Golden Buzzer returns as well in this season. However, this year there is a Golden Chair in the audience, this gives the opportunity to the audience to voice their opinion after each auditions, however, the audience has no obligation to use the Golden Buzzer or the red one.

Reception

Barbara Grofe of RP Online wrote in an early review: "Talents are little to see, but an awful lot of people with ego problems". In another review, it was criticized that also children at a very young age can present their talents. 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'". It was also published by the Bild as "super cheating" that RTL paid some of their talents money for their participation in the show. 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.