World Idol (Germany: SuperStar Weltweit, Middle East: SuperStar El Alaam) was the title of a one-off international version of the television show Pop Idol, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.
The performance show was broadcast on Christmas Day 2003, with the results show aired on New Year's Day 2004. It was produced in the United Kingdom at Fountain Studios in London, using the set from the recently completed second series of Pop Idol. After presenting the competitors, viewers from the 11 participating countries were allowed to vote by telephone, but not for the participant from their home country. The points were awarded in a similar fashion as the Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. each country awarded a number of points from 1 to 10 to each other country, using each number once.
British presenters Ant and Dec hosted the show on most English speaking countries, while local presenters hosted for their own country in the local language. Additionally, Canada’s CTV Network used Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney (with the show on Fox, which used Ant and Dec as hosts, was not simulcast with the CTV feed, to prevent Canadians from calling the American toll-free number to vote for their idol, Ryan Malcolm). Victoria Beckham performed her UK No. 3 hit "Let Your Head Go" during the results interval.
Representatives[]
Country in gold is the winning entry.
| Ranking | Country | Idol franchise | Artist | Song | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Norway | Idol | Kurt Nilsen | "Beautiful Day" (U2) | 106 |
| 2 | United States | American Idol | Kelly Clarkson | "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin) | 97 |
| 3 | Belgium | Idool | Peter Evrard | "Lithium" (Nirvana) | 83 |
| 4 | South Africa | Idols | Heinz Winckler | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (Aerosmith) | 80 |
| 5 | United Kingdom | Pop Idol | Will Young | "Light My Fire" (The Doors) | 72 |
| 6 | Canada | Canadian Idol | Ryan Malcolm | "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (The Hollies) | 62 |
| 7 | Australia | Australian Idol | Guy Sebastian | "What a Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong) | 56 |
| 8 | Poland | Idol | Alicja "Alex" Janosz | "I Don't Know How to Love Him" (from Jesus Christ Superstar) | 55 |
| 9 | Germany | Deutschland sucht den Superstar | Alexander Klaws | "Maniac" (Michael Sembello) | 45 |
| Arab States | Super Star | Diana Karazon | "Ensani Ma Binsak" | 45 | |
| 11 | Netherlands | Idols | Jamai Loman | "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (Elton John) | 36 |
Broadcast[]
| Country | Broadcaster(s) | Representative judge |
|---|---|---|
| Arab States | Future Television | Elias Rahbani |
| Australia | Network Ten | Ian "Dicko" Dickson |
| Belgium | VTM | Nina De Man |
| Canada | CTV | Zack Werner |
| Germany | RTL Television | Shona Fraser |
| Netherlands | RTL 4 | Henkjan Smits |
| Norway | TV 2 | Jan Fredrik Karlsen |
| Poland | Polsat | Kuba Wojewódzki |
| South Africa | M-Net | Randall Abrahams |
| United Kingdom | ITV | Pete Waterman |
| United States | Fox | Simon Cowell |