Deutschland sucht den Superstar (season 8)

Controversies

The Hamburger Morgenpost questioned whether RTL misquoted DSDS Top 10 candidate Anna-Carina Woitschack. 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 received a statement from the Office of Public Safety stating that Sebastian Wurth was not allowed to participate after 10 PM. 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.

Pietro Lombardi's brother posted nude picture of Sarah Engels after she used Pietro's cell phone to talk to girls. 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." Pietro's brother also wrote "Everyone knows how cheap Sarah Engels is. She is sneaky. A liar."

DSDS host Marco Schreyl mixed up the phone numbers for candidates Zazou Mall and Marco Angelini. A camera shot of Marco Angelini showed him enraged towards the lens. A reporter for the Hamburger Morgenpost, who was present, reported there were chaotic scenes shortly before the end of the recording. Dieter Bohlen mentioned the mistake and Marco Schreyl replied that "It could be made easier for the host". RTL decided that no candidate would be eliminated and the final show has been pushed back a week and is now scheduled to air on 7 May.

On the 6th mottoshow, Sarah Engels had two wardrobe incidents, when dancing to "Walking on Sunshine", where she began dancing too close to one of the cameras, causing two upskirts. This was eventually shown to the studio audience during the recap of her performance and was noted by the judges.

Auditions

As with season 7, an audition truck, in which the candidates can qualify for the televised auditions, stopped in various cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between August 2010 and October 2010. Open auditions took place in September 2010 in Cologne, Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. 34,956 people auditioned throughout the 35 cities that hosted auditions. 135 candidates advanced to the Recall. Menderes Bagci, who failed in the auditions in the previous 7 seasons, advanced to the recall.

Recall

The first recall show aired on February 2. The 135 candidates who advanced to the Recall were split up into groups where the judges picked 60 candidates for the next round. The 60 candidates who advanced participated in groups and duets. Nico Raecke, who originally was one of the participants advancing to the Top 35, was thrown out of Deutschland sucht den Superstar because of his arrest for robbery and assault. Menderes Bagci was one of the candidates eliminated on the February 5 Recall show. The Top 35 went to the Maldives.

"Die Top 15 – Jetzt oder nie" (The Top 15 - Now or Never)

Original Airdate: February 19, 2011

Advancing to Top 10 (Public votes): Norman, Marvin, Marco, Sebastian, Pietro, Ardian, Anna-Carina

Advancing to Top 10 (Jury selection): Sarah, Zazou, Nina

"Top 10 - Megahits"

Original Airdate: February 26, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Nina Richel or Zazou Mall (Dieter & Fernanda), Nina Richel (Patrick)

Bottom 3: Nina Richel, Norman Langen & Sarah Engels

Eliminated: Sarah Engels

"Top 9 - Apres-Ski Hits"

Original Airdate: March 5, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Nina Richel (Dieter & Patrick), Norman Langen or Nina Richel (Fernanda)

Bottom 3: Anna-Carina Woitschack, Ardian Bujupi & Marvin Cybulski

Eliminated: Marvin Cybulski

"Top 8 - Frühlings Gefühle" (Spring Feelings)

Original Airdate: March 12, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Ardian Bujupi or Zazou Mall (Dieter), Ardian Bujupi (Fernanda), Can't Decide (Patrick)

Bottom 3: Zazou Mall, Norman Langen & Anna-Carina Woitschack

Eliminated: Anna-Carina Woitschack

"Top 7 - Party Kracher"(Party Hits)

Original Airdate: March 19, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Zazou Mall or Norman Langen (Dieter, Fernanda & Patrick)

Bottom 3: Sebastian Wurth, Marco Angelini & Norman Langen

Eliminated: Norman Langen

"Top 6 - English & German Hits"

Original Airdate: April 2, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Zazou Mall, Marco Angelini

No elimination after wrong televoting numbers were announced for Zazou and Marco.

"Top 6 - America vs Europe"

Original Airdate: April 9, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Marco Angelini or Zazou Mall

Bottom 2: Marco Angelini & Zazou Mall

Eliminated: Zazou Mall

"Top 5 - Hits of the 80's, 90's, and Today"

Original Airdate: April 16, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: —

Bottom 2: Ardian Bujupi & Sebastian Wurth

Eliminated: Sebastian Wurth

"Top 4 - Pop, Rock and Discofever"

Original Airdate: April 23, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Marco Angelini (Patrick Nuo), Pietro Lombardi (Fernanda Brandao), No one (Dieter Bohlen)

Bottom 2: Marco Angelini & Sarah Engels

Eliminated: Marco Angelini

"Top 3 - Semifinal"

Original Airdate: April 30, 2011

Jury Elimination Forecast: Can't Decide

Bottom 2: Pietro Lombardi & Ardian Bujupi

Eliminated: Ardian Bujupi

Top 2 - Final (Contestant's Choice, Highlight Song & Winner's Single)

Original Airdate: May 7, 2010

Judges' forecasts of who would win: Sarah Engels (Patrick), Pietro Lombardi (Fernanda & Dieter)

Winner: Pietro Lombardi

Runner-Up: Sarah Engels

Group song

Top 15: "Higher" by Taio Cruz ft. Kylie Minogue

Top 10: "Club Can't Handle Me" by Flo Rida ft. David Guetta

Top 9: "The Time (Dirty Bit)" by The Black Eyed Peas

Top 8: "Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" by Flo Rida

Top 7: "Yeah 3x" by Chris Brown

Top 6: "On The Floor" by Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull

Top 6: "Who's That Chick" by David Guetta ft. Rihanna

Top 5: "I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas

Top 4: "Crying at the Discoteque" by Alcazar

Top 3: "When Love Takes Over" by David Guetta ft. Kelly Rowland

Top 2: "We've Got Tonight" by Ronan Keating ft. Jeanette Biedermann
"The Time (Dirty Bit)" by Black Eyed Peas
Top 10: "Higher" by the Taio Cruz ft. Kylie Minogue (without Pietro and Sarah)

On February 19 it was intended that the viewers would choose 7 and the judges 3 finalists. The judges, or mostly Dieter Bohlen, however chose not to decide and therefore the three people with the next highest votes made it through to the finals automatically. They were Sarah Engels, Zazou Mall and Nina Richel.

On March 10, Nina Richel was taken out of the competition due to her numerous breakdowns. It was stated that she withdrew, however as it turned out RTL took Richel out against her will. She was replaced by Sarah Engels who returned after a one-week absence since her original elimination - finishing 2nd instead of 10th, Engels became the most successful replacement candidate in the history of the show.

On April 2 RTL switched the numbers of Zazou Mall and Marco Angelini several times during the recap. The voting was therefore stopped at the beginning of the results and it was announced that no one would get eliminated that week and that the series will be extended with a one-week delay for the final. All votes that came in before the first mistake, were included in the result of the following week, people who called later got a refund.

Pietro Lombardi

Pietro Lombardi (Born in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg)

Sarah Engels

Sarah Engels was born in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia on October 15, 1992, but currently resides in Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia with her family. Sarah has been taking vocal lessons for 4 years and has participated in street festivals on many occasions. She was also on DSDS in season 6 where she was eliminated in the recall after a duet with Eugen Flittner. She was eliminated in the Top 10. However, on March the 10th Nina Richel had to leave DSDS as a result of bad health conditions, this resulted in Sarah Engels taking her place at DSDS.

Ardian Bujupi

Ardian Bujupi (Born in Pristina, Yugoslavia) lives in Heidelberg (Baden-Württemberg) today.

Marco Angelini

Marco Angelini (Born in Voitsberg, Austria) Marco's present home is Graz. He completed his medical study shortly after the casting and is going to write his thesis after his departure from DSDS. Furthermore, he plans to write a book about his time at the Casting Show and his impressions of it. He is lead singer of the Austrian-based RockBand Black Balloon (www.blackballoon.at)

Sebastian Wurth

Sebastian Wurth was born in Wipperfürth, North Rhine-Westphalia on July 24, 1994. Sebastian Wurth is the youngest participant in this year's Season. Dieter Bohlen sees great potential in Sebastian Wurth. Sebastian Wurth is often compared with Justin Bieber because of their similar hair style. He is a fan of Bayern Munich. Sebastian Wurth has already tried as a songwriter.

Zazou Mall

Zazou Mall (Born in Zurich, Switzerland)

Norman Langen

Norman Langen was born in Badenberg on March 7, 1985. But he currently lives in Übach-Palenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia. He likes to sing in German He likes Schlager, pop music and dance music. He is a trained welder, but he is retraining as a hospice nurse. He has previously sung in a boy band (BXess, later Manhattan). He has three sisters. He was slightly overweight when he was a kid.

Anna-Carina Woitschack

Anna-Carina Woitschack (Born in Kamern, Saxony-Anhalt)

Nina Richel

Nina Richel (Born in Hildesheim, Lower Saxony). The 17 years old contestant has been eliminated by RTL chief Tom Sänger after the second Mottoshow, allegedly for health reasons. Some days later she has told the whole story. After Sänger's decision Sarah Engels, not Marvin Cybulski, was invited for a comeback.

Marvin Cybulski

Marvin Cybulski (Born in Hanover, Lower Saxony)