Idol (Sweden)

Idol (Sweden)

Idol is a Swedish reality-competition talent show airing on TV4. It debuted in August 2004, and it has since become one of the most popular shows on Swedish television. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, which was first aired in 2001 in the United Kingdom.

The program seeks to discover the best singer in Sweden through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the later stages of the competition are determined by public phone voting. The format features three judges who give critiques of the contestants' performances: Sony BMG manager Laila Bagge; record producer Anders Bagge; and songwriter Andreas Carlsson. From 2004 to 2007, each season had two hosts who stayed for just one season. However, since 2008, each season only has one host. Peter Jihde is the only one to have served as the host for multiple seasons. The present host is Pär Lernström. The eighth and current season of Idol is the last one, ending on December 9, 2011.

Through the seven series, the winners have been Daniel Lindström, Agnes Carlsson, Markus Fagervall, Marie Picasso, Kevin Borg, Erik Grönwall and Jay Smith. Smith was the oldest winner at 29 whilst Carlsson was the youngest at only 17. To date, Idol contestants have collectively sold over 1,100,000 albums in Sweden alone.

Following the completion of its eighth season, Idol was placed on indefinite hiatus and replaced in 2012 by the X Factor, a new reality singing competition that also originates from the United Kingdom's version, created by music executive Simon Cowell.