Music Idol was the Bulgarian version of the British television hit show Pop Idol. It was a talent contest to determine the superior pop performer. Its first season was aired on bTV from February 26 until June 7, 2007. During its third season, the show went international and auditions took place in neighboring Macedonia. Other major changes in the third season: minimum age for participants 13, more talk show than music, great accent on the hosts, hidden vote results, which makes it impossible to validate the result of each elimination.
Rules
Season 1
Qualifications
Auditioners must be between the ages of 13 and 28. They must be Bulgarian citizens.
Auditions
Castings are held in the five biggest cities in Bulgaria - Rousse, Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv and Sofia. After a pre-selection the contenders audition in front of the panel of judges seen on TV who will decide if they are going to make it to the next round.
Theatre Round
In three days the judges chose among the top 100, from all cities, the semifinalists who would perform live during the show and face the public's vote.
Semifinals
From now on it is up to the Bulgarian public to vote their favorite contestants into the final 12.
Finals
Each week the final 12 contestants perform, in front of a live audience, songs from a given theme. Once again the public votes for its favorite with the fewest votes getter being eliminated after one show until only one contestant remains: The winner of Music Idol.
Season 2
Qualifications
There is no age limit for the auditioners. They must be Bulgarian citizens.
Auditions
Castings are held in the five biggest cities in Bulgaria - Rousse, Varna, Bourgas, Plovdiv and Sofia. After a pre-selection the contenders audition in front of the panel of judges, seen on TV, who will decide if they are going to make it to the next round.
Theatre Round
The competitors are split in groups and they sing solo. After that the jury decides who will continue. After that the remaining contestants sing in quartets and the jury picks the best of them. Then they sing solo and the jury picks 18 people for the semi-finals.
Semifinals
The competitors are split in two groups − male and female. After their first concert the public votes for them and two boys and two girls are eliminated. After that they have another concert and two boys and two girls are again eliminated. After that the eliminated eight contestants sing again and three of them are let back in the show.
Finals
Each week the final 13 contestants perform in front of a live audience songs from a given theme. Once again the public votes for its favorite, the two people with the fewest votes sing and the public votes again. The contestant with the fewest votes is eliminated. This goes on until only one contestant remains: The winner of Music Idol.
Season 1
Judges
Yordanka Hristova − singer
Slavi Trifonov − singer, actor, host
Gloria Ivanova − pop-folk singer
Donnie − singer and composer
Auditions
Rousse
Varna
Burgas
Plovdiv
Sofia
There was one exception to the age-rule − Kremena from Dobrich was allowed to participate, despite her age of 15. She eventually became a finalist later on.
Semifinals
For one week the top 40 performed each night in five groups including eight singers with the two top vote getters advancing to the finals. On Friday night the judges announced eight singers who received another chance to perform with the top vote getter and the final pick of the judges joining the other finalists to the top 12.
This year saw a change in the semifinal format: After the judges picked their top 18 contestants the contestants were split in one girls/guys group and had to perform in the week of March 10 − March 15 with constant reduction of the number of singers in both groups to six: after the first performance show the two fewest votes getters got eliminated, leaving the top 7 of girls/guys perform again of which the top 5 vote-getters from each group will advance to the finals. Later on the judges eventually decided to make a top 13 out of the supposed 12, giving three contestants a wildcard for the finals. Two out of the top 18, Denislav Novev and Plamena Petrova, had already competed in a former year's top 50 but failed to qualify for the finals.
NOTE: The bottom group contestants face off in a sudden death elimination round where the voting lines are re-opened and the public have one more chance to save their favorite from elimination. Stoyan Tsonev, Ana Topalova and Chanel Erkin fell victim to this unique rule despite not receiving the fewest votes on the performance night.
Finals elimination chart
Season 3
Judges
Doni − Bulgarian pop singer
Maria − pop-folk singer
Dimitar Kovachev − "Funky" − Bulgarian rocker and producer
Unlike the previous seasons, there is no chairman of the jury in honor to the late chairman Vili Kazasyan, who died shortly after the 2008 season. Nevertheless, there is a guest star in the jury in every city, where auditions take place. He/She does not have a right to vote, but can advise jury members in reaching the right decision. The guest stars for the 2009 season are:
