Latin American Idol was the Hispanic American edition of the popular British franchise of Idols, well known for its American version American Idol. The show aimed to discover the pop idol of the Hispanic American region. The show was filmed in Buenos Aires and was transmitted to over 23 nations in the region via the Sony Entertainment Television network.
Premise
Latin American Idol was filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina and aired throughout Latin America with the exception of Brazil, which has its own version called Ídolos Brazil, premiered in 2006. Portuguese-language contestants can participate if they are able to sing in Spanish. The show's hosts are the Venezuelan Erika de La Vega and Argentine Monchi Balestra. In the first season the judges panel was made up by Jon Secada from the United States (born in Cuba), Gustavo Sánchez from Puerto Rico and Elizabeth Meza from México, the last of this being replaced since the second season by Mimi, a former member of musical group Flans, and Oscar Mediavilla from Argentina, replacing Gustavo Sánchez for the fourth season.
This show is divided into four phases: auditions, theater/secondary audition stage, workshops and performances.
Auditions
The first season's auditions took place in order in the cities of Caracas, Venezuela; Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City, México; and finally in Buenos Aires. Auditions took place between April–May, 2006. In the show's third season, Panama City, Panamá was chosen as the fifth audition city, while in the fourth season San José, Costa Rica was chosen as an audition venue.
The stage of auditions was divided into two rounds:
The pre-audition: Actually there are two pre-auditions. Before performing in front of the cameras and in front of the real panel of judges of the show, another panel of judges evaluate the auditioners to decide if they deserve to perform in front of the real panel of judges and in front of the television cameras. The panel of judges that make these pre-auditions choose auditioners that sing well and that have some chances to convince the real panel of judges, or, who sing bad and make a funny moment for the show. The audition: After the pre-audition, the panel of judges of the correspondent season (from time to time there is a guest judge to be part of the panel of judges) listen to the auditioners and say their opinions. Then each judge say "Yes" or "No" to the auditioners. The auditioners needs two out of three "Yes" in order to go to the Theater stage. If the auditioner is in front of four judges, three out of four "Yes" will be needed in order to go to the Theater stage. If there are four judges and the auditioner only gets two "Yes", they ask the auditioner to leave the place so that soon after the panel of judges decide if the auditioner should go or not to go to the Theater stage. To pass to this stage, the auditioners are invited to the next stage in Buenos Aires with the phrase "Welcome to Latin American Idol". Over 100 persons are the ones who are told this phrase and are invited to the Theater.
Theater/second stage of auditions
After performing for the panel of judges, successful contestants are invited to the next round of competition in Argentina.
Season 1
The first season was different from the subsequent ones because this was divided just into two rounds.
The theater stage was divided into two rounds:
Round 1: A performance in groups of three. The 100 contestants are split into groups of three's, according to gender. Sixty contestants are then selected to move on to the second round. Round 2: Solo performances. Each contestant is given four songs to perform, and the contestant selects one to perform. During stage of the competition, the panel of judges choose the top thirty contestants.
Seasons 2 and 3
The theater stage is divided into three rounds, that will be explained in-depth each one.