Akademi Fantasia (commonly abbreviated as AF) is Malaysia's first reality television show in which a number of contestants called students compete for the winning title and a chance to start their career in the entertainment industry.
The first season premiered in June 2003 and was one of Astro Ria's highest rated show. The theme song entitled "Menuju Puncak" was performed by Juwita Suwito, who is the sister of the composer, Aubrey Suwito.
The format of the show is taken from "La Academia", which originated in Mexico. Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia to have its own version of this show. Subsequently, it has also been followed by Indonesia and Thailand, which garners positive response in comparison to the Idol series.
On May 25, 2008, Mr. Zainir Aminullah, the Executive Director of Astro Entertainment Sdn. Bhd confirmed that Season 7 of Akademi Fantasia would run.[1]
Show Format
Each season of Akademi Fantasia has 10 concerts including the finale, and starts with 12-16 contestants called students. However, in Season 3 and Season 4, a prelude concert was held in order to determine the ultimate students. Once the ultimate students are chosen, they will stay in a house called Akademi, practicing songs, acting and dancing lesson, and other activities that are related with performing arts for a period of 10 weeks. The classes are held by professional trainers, called teachers, who have an established career in the entertainment industry. Diari Akademi Fantasia, which is aired on weekdays, showcases the students' activities in the academy. The academy is led by a principal, which varies every year. However, in Season 6, the academy is led by Ramli M.S, who is the academy principal of Season 2.
The judgement system totally depends on audiences SMS votes and Astro decoder votes (Astro users may need to connect their decoders to the phone line to vote). The student with the lowest vote will be eliminated at the end of the weekly concert, though in rare cases a double elimination, a triple elimination or no elimination was given by consensus of the production panel. As of Season 6, the current panel includes a singer, actress and host Fauziah Ahmad Daud and the notable singer Ning Baizura. Previous judges and personnels include Kudsia Kahar, personnel of Malaysia's number one radio station Era FM, actor Adlin Aman Ramlie, rock-ballad singer Hattan, and also Fauziah Latiff, a renowned model and singer. Aznil Hj Nawawi, who has been hosting the show for the past 5 seasons, retired as a TV host for AF at the end of Season 5 due to scheduling conflicts. He is being replaced by AC Mizal, a popular actor and host.
The show made its own history in Season 5 when Norsyarmilla Jirin is crowned as the first female winner, breaking the streak of male winners for the past four seasons, which is continued by Stracie Angie Anam who was crowned as the winner for Season 6.
Controversy
The main controversy during Akademi Fantasia season is about the judging system which is solely based on the audience through SMS and Astro decoder without professional jury. This judging system is heavily criticized because of allegations that most of the audience only vote for contestants based on their looks rather than their talents.
When the production team announced that Season 6 of Akademi Fantasia would be eligible for those aged from 18 to 45 years old, the show continued to be criticized for choosing contestants whom were rejected from other reality TV shows. Furthermore, the selection of Hairina Abdul Halim, a grandmother of two grandchildren, as well as Siti Norsaida Tarudin, the eldest sister of Siti Nurhaliza were said to be the main element to create controversy for Season 6.[2]
There was also a controversy brought up by Indonesian indie band which claimed that Astro did not pay royalty to their management for using one of their songs to be sang by AF student. During the finale concert of Season 6, Toi was supposedly assigned with a song Ku Mahu Kau Tahu by Kumpulan Hujan. However, when the group released the offensive statement, Astro management cancelled the song and assigned Toi with a song by Mawi, Cinta Zulaikha. The controversy was put off because an approval from original artist is only needed if a song is about to be re-recorded and royalty does not needed to be paid to its original artist if one is singing a song that has been recorded.[3]
Seasons
| Season |
Winner |
Runner-up |
Third |
Finalist(s) |
Other Contestants (In Order Of Elimination) |
Number Of Contestants |
| AF 1 |
Vincent Chong Ying-Cern |
Mohammad Khairul Nizam Mohammad Wahi |
Ahmad Azizi Mohamed |
Siti Harnizah Tahar & Nurlizawaty Mohd Ismail |
Azariah Suaymi, Adi Fashla Jurami, Suriati Abu Bakar, Rueben Thevandran a/l Ramanath, Rosmayati Sidik, Nurul Hana Che Mahazan, Sahri Mohd Sarip |
12 |
| AF 2 |
Ahmad Zahid Baharuddin |
Norlinda Nanuwil |
Mohd Aizam Mat Saman |
Farah Diana Anuar, Yusrizan Usop & Wan Mohammad Khair Wan Azami |
Edlin Abdul Rahim, Mohd Fitri Zainal Abidin, Anding Indrawani Zaini, Zarina Zainoordin, Nurullah Abd Hamid, Asma Ghani |
12 |
| AF 3 |
Asmawi Ani |
Felix Agus |
Amylea Azizan |
Marsha Milan Londoh |
Elliza Abdul Razak, Fuad Razlan Abd Azri, Nor Farah Idayu Yaakob, Syaiful Reza Mohamed, Amylia Mohd Azlan, Nik Mohd Aidil Nik Zamri, Norashikin Abdul Rahman, Asiah Tunakma Abdullah, Mohd Yazer Yusof, Mohamed Zulkefli Mohd Idir |
14 |
| AF 4 |
Mohammad Faizal Ramly |
Lotter P.Edwin Edin |
Nur Farhan Azizan |
Hazwan Haziq Rosebi & Velvet Lawrence Aduk |
Nordawati Daud, Karen Tan Lee Suan, Richael L. Gimbang, Nur Azilah Seeron, Nor Salima Habibi, Syamsul Hirdy Muhid, Amirul Azwan Mohd. Ghazali |
12 |
| AF 5 |
Norsyarmilla Jirin |
Ebi Kornelis |
Muhammad Nur Aswad Jafar |
Nur Heliza Helmi & Candra Clement |
Wan Nurul Zhana Wan Mohd Hanizan (quit), Adyana Khalid, Mohd Shafiq Mohd Ramadzan, Nurul Fatin Yahya, Mohd. Farha Jasmen, Nonny Nadirah Zainuddin, Aryanna Najwa Ahmad, Hasfarizal Ayub, Muhammad Aizat Amdan, Gadaffi Ismail Sabri, Mohd Shawal Ruslan |
16 |
| AF 6 |
Stracie Angie Anam |
Mohd Idris Mohd Zaizizi |
Ahmad Nubhan Ahamad |
Khairul Nizam Baharom & Nadia Haswani Hasnan |
Marliyana Omar Walid, Ika Nabila Abdul Rahim, Lutfyah Sheikh Omar, Muhammad Shauqi Naaim Salmi, Muhammad Faisal Abdullah, Siti Norsaida Tarudin, Hairina Abdul Halim, Mohamad Alif Mohd Razali, Stanley Maringai David Impi |
14 |
Contestants
Winners: Statistics
- Oldest winners: Vincent Chong Ying-Cern (Season 1), Ahmad Zahid Baharuddin (Season 2), & Asmawi Ani (Season 3) , all 23 years old
- Youngest winner: Stracie Angie Anam (Season 6), 18 years old
- Tallest winner: Vincent Chong Ying-Cern (Season 1), 5'8" (178 cm)
- Shortest winner: Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5), 4'8.6" (148 cm)
- Heaviest winner: Vincent Chong Ying-Cern (Season 1), 172 lb (78 kg)
- Lightest winner: Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5), 88 lb (40 kg)
- Most consecutive highest votes: Asmawi Ani (Season 3)
- Most collective highest votes: Asmawi Ani (Season 3)
- Fewest collective highest votes: Norsyarmilla Jirin, 1 time
- Most consecutive bottom two appearances: Norsyarmilla Jirin, 2 times
- Most collective bottom two appearances: Norsyarmilla Jirin, 2 times
- No bottom two appearance: Ahmad Zahid Baharuddin (Season 2), Asmawi Ani (Season 3), Mohammad Faizal Ramly (Season 4) & Stracie Angie Anam (Season 6)
- Best vote mean: Stracie Angie Anam (Season 6), 1.67
- Worst vote mean: Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5), 7.0
- Best vote median: Asmawi Ani (Cycle 3), 1
- Worst vote median: Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5), 6
All Contestants: Statistics
- Total number of contestants: 80
- Oldest contestant: Hairina Abdul Halim (Season 6), 44 years old at the time of taping
- Youngest contestants: Most Contestants
- Most-represented state: Kuala Lumpur, 21 contestants
- Tallest contestant: Mohd Farha Jasmen (Season 5), 6'0.4" (184 cm)[4]
- Shortest contestant: Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5), 4'8.6" (148 cm)
- Heaviest contestant: Sahri Mohd Sarip (Season 1)
- Lightest contestant: Nurullah Abdul Hamid (Season 2), 82 lb (37 kg)
- Most collective bottom two appearances: Mohd Shawal Ruslan (Season 5), 4 times
- Most consecutive bottom two appearances: Mohd Shawal Ruslan (Season 5), 4 times
- Most consecutive highest votes: Asmawi Ani (Season 3)
- Most collective highest votes: Asmawi Ani (Season 3)
- No bottom two appearance: Ahmad Azizi Mohamed (Season 1), Mohammad Khairul Nizam Mohammad Wahi (Season 1), Ahmad Zahid Baharuddin (Season 2), Asmawi Ani (Season 3), Felix Agus (Season 3), Mohammad Faizal Ramly (Season 4), Nur Farhan Azizan (Season 4), Muhammad Nur Aswad Jafar (Season 5), Stracie Angie Anam (Season 6), Mohd Idris Zaizizi (Season 6), & Ahmad Nubhan Ahmad (Season 6)
- Contestants part of a double elimination: Syaiful Reza Mohamed, Amylia Mohd Azlan, Mohamed Zulkefli Mohd Idir, Mohd Yazer Yusof, (Season 3) & Muhammad Shauqi Naaim Salmi & Lutfyah Sheikh Omar, (Season 6)
- Contestants part of a triple elimination: Nurul Fatin Yahya, Mohd. Farha Jasmen & Nonny Nadirah Zainuddin, all (Season 5)
- Contestant part of a non-elimination: Nurlizawaty Ismail (Season 1), Norsyarmilla Jirin (Season 5) & Nadia Haswani Hasnan (Season 6)
- Contestants who were recruited into the competition again: Norlinda Nanuwil (Season 2), Asmawi Ani (Season 3), Marsha Milan Londoh (Season 3) & Lotter P.Edwin Edin (Season 4)
- Contestant who quit: Wan Nurul Zhana Wan Mohd Hanizan (Season 5)
- Contestants who did not participate in concerts: Nurul Fatin Yahya & Muhammad Nur Aswad Jafar, both (Season 5)
- Best vote mean: Stracie Angie Anam (Season 6), 1.67
- Best vote median: Nur Farhan Azizan (Season 4) & Ebi Kornelis (Season 5), both 1
International versions
- Indonesia: Akademi Fantasi Indosiar - has finished 6 season and casting for AFI Junior 2008 is under way. Season 1 was aired in December 2003, on Indosiar. [5]
- Mexico: La Academia - hosted by Monica Garza. The show has finished its fifth seasons in 2006.
References
External links
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Akademi Fantasia |
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| Current Judges & Personnel |
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| Cycles: Former Judges & Personnel |
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| Cycles: Winners |
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Akademi Fantasia franchise |
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