Deutschland sucht den Superstar (season 4)

Controversies

Contestant Lisa Bund caused a controversy on 10 March when the headline of the German tabloid newspaper Bild read that she fought with bullying, and harassmentby some of the other contestants. On 14 March Bild-Online reported about a loud argument between Bund and former contestant Tristan Iser, which happened to have also been filmed by a mobile phone camera. Bund stated in an online diary entry that she felt the video was “like a bad horror movie”.

On 22 April German newspaper Bild announced that contestant Max Buskohl quit the competition due to RTL's rejection of his request to let his school band Empty Trash get a recording contract alongside him. Viewers had wondered about judge Dieter Bohlen's uncharacteristic behaviour when he gave an extremely critical review of Buskohl's performance on 21 April. Buskohl is alleged to have said that Bohlen was asocial, which explains Bohlen's negative reaction. Contestant Martin Stosch, who was eliminated on 21 April, remained as a contestant despite being voted off the week prior, replacing Buskohl. However, Buskohl's father Carl Carlton told Spiegel Online that his son already made his decision to leave on 19 April but waited until Sunday to make his announcement at request of RTL.

Judges Dieter Bohlen and Heinz Henn had started a quarrel with each other during the show. On April 14's show Henn made it clear that he did not agree with contestant Mark Medlock's song choices. Bohlen, the staunch supporter of Medlock, began imitating Henn during his review of Lisa Bund's performance. Henn later stated that he thought it was “in bad taste, in bad style and disrespectful towards the contestants”.

On 24 April, German entertainer Stefan Raab announced a performance by Buskohl set for 25 April at his show TV total which at that time aired on RTL's rival television channel ProSieben. RTL pronounced against a performance by Buskohl and his band Empty Trash on TV total the next day. So during his show on 25 April and 26 April Raab publicly instigated a protest demonstration set for Saturday's Deutschland sucht den Superstar show and was said to have obtained about 120 tickets. However the show eventually went off without any disturbance.

1st Top 20 Show (Boys)

Original Airdate: 7 February 2007

Bottom four: Jonathan Enns, Aleksan Cetinkaya, Arcangelo Vigneri, Lindsay Stebe

Eliminated: Aleksan Cetinkaya and Lindsay Stebe

Judges' forecasts: Aleksan Cetinkaya and Lindsay Stebe (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)

2nd Top 20 Show (Girls)

Original Airdate: 10 February 2007

Bottom five: Julia Falke, Dominika Mrugala, Madeleine Boly, Sarah Jahncke, Nebiha Celenler

Eliminated: Nebiha Celenler, Madeleine Boly, Dominika Mrugala

Judges' forecasts: Nebiha Celenler, Madeleine Boly, Dominika Mrugala (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)

3rd Top 20 Show (Boys)

Original Airdate: 15 February 2007

Tristan Iser is there for Roman Lob, who withdrew due to illness. Eventually, Lob was asked back for the season 5 mottoshows but declined due to his studies.

Bottom five: Jonathan Enns, Arcangelo Vigneri, Tristan Iser, Martin Stosch, Dennis Haberlach

Eliminated: Dennis Haberlash, Arcangelo Vigneri, Tristan Iser

Judges' forecasts: Jonathan Enns, Martin Stosch, Tristan Iser (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)

4th Top 20 Show (Girls)

Original Airdate: 17 February 2007

Bottom four: Sarah Jahncke, Laura Martin, Priscilla Harris, Julia Falke

Eliminated: Sarah Jahncke and Priscilla Harris

Judges' forecasts: Sarah Jahncke and Priscilla Harris (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)

1st Mottoshow: Die größten Hits aller Zeiten (Greatest Hits of All Time)

Original Airdate: 24 February 2007

Bottom four: Laura Martin, Julia Falke, Jonathan Enns, Martin Stosch

Eliminated: Laura Martin

Judges' forecasts: Laura Martin (Bohlen), Jonathan Enns (Henn, Lukaseder)

2nd Mottoshow: Die größten Hits der 80er und 90er (Greatest Hits of the 80s and 90s)

Original Airdate: 10 March 2007

Bottom four: Thomas Enns, Martin Stosch, Max Buskohl, Jonathan Enns

Eliminated: Jonathan Enns

Judges' forecasts: Julia Falke (Lukaseder, Bohlen), Jonathan Enns (Henn)

3rd Mottoshow: Power of Love

Original Airdate: 17 March

On March 19, 2007 a CD featuring all of the songs from the show and an additional version of If You Don't Know Me By Now by Simply Red sung by all contestants was released.

Bottom four: Lauren Talbot, Julia Falke, Martin Stosch, Thomas Enns

Eliminated: Julia Falke

Judges' forecasts: Julia Falke (Bohlen, Henn, Lukaseder)

4th Mottoshow: Hits von heute (Today's Hits)

Original Airdate: 31 March 2007

For the first time in the history of Deutschland sucht den Superstar the show aired at the same time as "Wetten, dass..?" (one of the most successful TV shows in Europe) on the public channel ZDF.

Bottom four: Martin Stosch, Lauren Talbot, Thomas Enns, Francisca Urio

Eliminated: Francisca Urio

Judges' forecasts: Lauren Talbot (Bohlen, Henn, Lukaseder)

Beside the show's contestants another casting candidate was eventually given the chance to perform on stage namely Menderes Bagcı who had come to every season's casting audition never getting an admission ticket for the casting call-back. He performed Beat It by Michael Jackson on stage.

The viewers' decision in this episode came as a complete surprise, as Urio, who was eliminated this time, ranked among this season's best and most favored contestants. Before the decision, jury member Dieter Bohlen ironically predicted Urio's elimination in what he thought was an April fool hoax. Subsequently, he and his co-judges watched the decision with dismay and shock written all over their faces.

5th Mottoshow: Big Band

Original Airdate: 7 April 2007

This was the first "Mottoshow" to be co-hosted by female host Tooske Ragas along with Marco Schreyl in this season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar. Ragas gave birth to her daughter and was not able to present the first four Mottoshows.

Bottom four: Thomas Enns, Martin Stosch, Lauren Talbot, Lisa Bund

Eliminated: Thomas Enns

Judges' forecasts: Thomas Enns (Bohlen, Henn, Lukaseder)

6th Mottoshow: Die größten Diven und Helden der Musik (Greatest Divas and Heroes of Music)

Original Airdate: 14 April 2007

Bottom three: Martin Stosch, Max Buskohl, Lauren Talbot

Eliminated: Lauren Talbot

Judges' forecasts: Mark Medlock (Henn), Lauren Talbot (Bohlen), Martin Stosch (Lukaseder)

Once again Menderes Bagcı was given the permission to perform on stage. This time he chose Bad by Michael Jackson.

7th Mottoshow: Hits der 70er / Dedicated to… (Hits of the 70s / Dedicated to…)

Original Airdate: 21 April 2007

Bottom three: Max Buskohl, Martin Stosch, Lisa Bund

Eliminated: Martin Stosch

Judges' forecasts: Martin Stosch (Henn, Lukaseder, Bohlen)

On 22 April, Bild newspaper announced that contestant Max Buskohl was dismissed by RTL Television afterwards. (See Controversies.)

8th Mottoshow: Songs der Jury (Judges’ Choice)

Original Airdate: 28 April 2007

Bottom three: Lisa Bund, Martin Stosch, Mark Medlock

Eliminated: Lisa Bund

Judges' forecasts: Martin Stosch (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)

9th Mottoshow: Finale

Original Airdate: 5 May 2007

The two finalists performed Elton John's and George Michael's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me together on stage.

Winner: Mark Medlock

Runner-up: Martin Stosch

Judges' forecasts of who would win: Mark Medlock (Lukaseder, Bohlen), irresolute (Henn)

Mark Medlock

Mark Medlock, born on 9 July 1978 in Frankfurt, Hesse, was the winner of the 4th season. His father Lauria immigrated from Georgia, USA and was a gospel singer. Medlock is openly gay. Prior to his participation of Deutschland sucht den Superstar he worked as a nurse.

Martin Stosch

Martin Stosch was born on 30 July 1990 in Landshut, Bavaria. Martin was the youngest male contestant of the show. Being voted out in the 7th mottoshow he returned as a replacement for Max Buskohl, who quit the contest by his own will after having serious disagreements with jury-member Dieter Bohlen.

Lisa Bund

Lisa Bund, was born 31 May 1988 in Frankfurt, Hesse. Bund received a lot of promotional support by the German media. Bund later signed a recording contract and released her first single "Learn to Love You" on August 31, 2007.

Max Buskohl

Max Buskohl is from Berlin. He auditioned for DSDS because he lost a bet. He lives with his mother and sister. He was part of a band called Empty Trash. He stated in an interview with Der Spiegel that he left DSDS voluntarily while RTL claims they threw out Max. He was considered a heartthrob on the show with his "super-slim" body and being 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) tall.

Lauren Talbot

Lauren Talbot, was born on 15 March 1990 in Hannover, Lower Saxony. She was the youngest female contestant in season 4.

Francisca Urio

Francisca Urio, born on 6 February 1981 in Meiningen is an only child to a German mother and a Tanzanian father.

Julia Falke

Julia Falke, was born on 21 June 1988 in Schärding, Austria.

Note:

Bottom 3/4 indicates that the contestant was 'saved' last. The Bottom Group results are based on published results after the show that determined the number of percentages for each contestant. This may or may not indicate his or her actual vote rank.

Martin Stosch brought back when Max Buskohl withdrew from the competition.

Roman Lob withdrew from the competition due to illness in the second Top 20 show and was replaced by Tristan Iser.