Arab Idol season 4

Arab Idol season 4
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Simon Fuller
Presented by	Ahmad Fahmi
Judges	Wael Kfoury Nancy Ajram Ahlam Hassan El Shafei
Original language	Arabic
Production
Running time	Varies
Original release
Network	MBC 1
Release	4 November 2016

After more than a year-long hiatus, the fourth series of Arab Idol was relaunched on MBC, with its premiere on November 4, 2016. Once again, just like in the previous season, the jury was composed of singers Wael Kfoury, Nancy Ajram, and Ahlam, as well as music producer Hassan El Shafei, and Ahmad Fahmi returned as host of the show. The first four episodes covered the first round of the show, the auditions process, which took place in nine different Arab countries and, for the first time ever, in Turkey. Although thousands of hopefuls put forth their candidacy, only 64 went through to the second round of auditions in Beirut, Lebanon by the end of which, the 25 semi-finalists were picked to go through to the third round, the live show.

Second Round

This round began with the 64 candidates' arrival to Beirut, Lebanon. Before settling down, the beginning of the group challenge was announced to the candidates by host Ahmad Fahmi. In pre-determined groups of four to six people, these small groups had to each perform a pre-determined song in front of the jury, immediately after which, performers deemed not good enough to continue were cut from the competition. The songs chosen for this round and the results are as follows.

For the female contestants:

• "Galaw habibak Missafer" (All 5 made it through)
• "El Areeb minnak Baeed" (3 out of 4 made it through)
• "Samahtak" (3 out of 5 made it through)
• "Aala Bali" (None of the 4 made it through)
• "Ahou Dalli Sar" (All 5 made it through)

For the male contestants:

• "Walla Ya Teir" (5 out of 6 made it through)
• "Sallamtak Bi Id Allah" (2 out of 6 made it through)
• "Zeina Lebset Khelkhalha" (3 out of 6 made it through)
• "Ya Mounyiti" (All 5 made it through)
• "Aannabi" (2 out of 6 made it through)
• "Khallas Tarak" (1 out of 6 made it through)
• "Ya Salat El Zein" (All 6 made it through)

By the end of the group challenge, 40 contestants remained : 16 female contestants out of the original 23, and 24 male contestants out of 41. These 40 remaining competitors then had to pick one last song, from a list of 14, for their final individual challenge before the Top 24 is picked. This year, however, a maximum of six people could pick the same song, adding to the pressure competitors had to endure, as it was done on a first-come-first-served basis. By the end of the individual challenge, and after the 24 competitors to advance was announced, the jury felt as though the previously eliminated candidate Rawan Aalyan deserved a second chance, and so, she was asked to come back, bringing the total number of semi-finalists to 25 (7 female and 18 male). These semi-finalists arise from 12 different Arab countries : 6 from Egypt, 6 from Palestine, 2 from Lebanon, 2 from Tunisia, 2 from Yemen, and 1 of each from Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Each semi-finalist has their own voting number, varying from 1 to 25.

Semi-Finals

Voting No.	From	Contestant	Song Choice	Result
1		Israa Jamal	Ana Fi Intezarak - Umm Kulthum	Wild Card
2		Amir Dandan	Allah Ma'ak Ya Beit Samed Beljanoub - Wadih Alsaffi	Advanced
3		Badr Al Hassan	Ya Beadhum Kelohum - Abdelmajeed Abdulla	Eliminated
4		Bandar Mougri	Bent Alnour - Mohammed Abdu	Advanced
5		Tamer Daher	Ya Seif Aala Alaada Tayel - Marwan Mahfoudh	Wild Card
6		Houssam Al Shoueikhi	Targhali Ya Targhali - George Wassouf	Advanced
7		Hussein Mohammad	Ebaatly Gawab - Sabah Fakhri	Eliminated
8		Dalia Said	Lola Al Malama - Warda Al-Jazairia	Advanced
9		Rabii Zayyoud	Alloulou Almandood - Sabah Fakhri	Eliminated
10		Rawan Aalyan	Aadeit Nejmat Alsama - Mueen Sharif	Eliminated
11		Samar Al Husseini	Yama Alqamar Aal Bab - Fayza Ahmed	Eliminated
12		Shadi Dakwar	Aala Shat Bahr Alhawa - Karem Mahmoud	Wild Card
13		Abdallah Alkhelifi	Kelma Walaw Jabr Khater - Abadi AlJawhar	Eliminated
14		Ammar Mohammad	Waqif Aala Babakum - Naeema Sameeh	Advanced
15		Camelia Ward	Waayouni Sahara - Cheb Jilani	Wild Card
16		Kawthar Berrani	Ma Feeni Shi - Thekra	Advanced
17		Mohammad Ben Saleh	Ta'a Nensa - Melhem Barakat	Wild Card
18		Mohammad Said	Hawa Ya Hawa - Fadl Shaker	Eliminated
19		Mohammad Moustafa	Wala Ya Wala - Abdelghani AlSayed	Eliminated
20		Muhannad Hussein	Sarlak Youmein Ma Aajebni - Mohammad AbdelJaber	Wild Card
21		Nader Hammouda	Badi Shoufak Kol Youm - Wael Jassar	Eliminated
22		Nadine Khatib	Alaeei Zayek Fen Ya Ali - Sabah	Wild Card
23		Houmam Ibrahim	Hayra - Adel Akla	Advanced
24		Walid Bechara	Baktob Ismak Ya Baladi - Joseph Azar	Wild Card
25		Yacoub Shahin	Lahjar Qasrak - Sarya AlSawwas	Advanced

The 8 contestants who received the most votes automatically advanced to the next round. The judges were able to each select two of the remaining contestants as wild cards. Each pair would sing and then the judge would decide who to save, advancing them to the next round.

Wild Card:

From	Contestant	Song Choice	Selected by	Result
	Israa Jamal	Mali Wana Mali - Warda Al-Jazairia	Nancy Ajram	Advanced
	Nadine Khatib	Ya Sa'a Belwaqt Igri - Nour AlHoudda	Nancy Ajram	Advanced*
	Mohammad Ben Saleh	Qaletli Kelma - Ali Al Riahi	Hassan El Shafei	Advanced
	Shadi Dakwar	Toba Toba - Abdel Halim Hafez	Hassan El Shafei	Eliminated
	Camelia Ward	Kan Ya Makan - Mayada El Hennawy	Ahlam	Eliminated
	Muhannad Hussein	Ana Ya Tair - Fouad Salem	Ahlam	Advanced
	Tamer Daher	Sawt Alheda - Assi El Helani	Wael Kfoury	Eliminated
	Walid Bechara	Alazaab - Melhem Barakat	Wael Kfoury	Advanced

*After being initially eliminated, the judges unanimously decided to save Nadine Khatib and she became the 13th Finalist.

Contestant Progress

Week		2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Date		6-7 Jan	13-14 Jan	20-21 Jan	27-28 Jan	3-4 Feb	10-11 Feb	17-18 Feb	24-25 Feb
Contestant
	Amir Dandan Eliminated
	Ammar Mohammad	Eliminated
	Ilyes Garaya
	Muhannad Hussein			Bottom 3	Bottom 4
	Yacoub Shahin
6	Dalia Said			Bottom 3	Bottom 4		Eliminated
7	Houmam Ibrahim		Bottom 4			Eliminated
8	Walid Bechara		Bottom 4		Eliminated
9	Kawthar Berrani				Eliminated
10	Nadine Khatib			Eliminated
11	Israa Jamal		Eliminated
12	Bandar Mougri	Bottom 3	Eliminated
13	Houssam Al Shoueikhi	Eliminated