The fourth season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar was aired on German channel RTL from February to May 2007. Mark Medlock, the season's winner, was awarded a contract with Sony BMG. The judges in this season were Dieter Bohlen, Heinz Henn, Anja Lukaseder. It was hosted by Marco Schreyl and Tooske Ragas. The viewers chose the contestant's fates as they were able to call for their favorite contestant. The voting results were published on 7 May. The winner got a 10-year contract and €100,000. Twenty percent went to the winner's manager who was chosen by the creators.
Finalists
(Ages stated at time of contest)
Controversies
Contestant Lisa Bund caused a controversy on 10 March when the headline of the German tabloid newspaper Bild read that she fought with bullying, and harassment by some of the other contestants. On 14 March, Bild Online reported about a loud argument between Bund and former contestant Tristan Iser, which happened to have also been filmed by a mobile phone camera. Bund stated in an online diary entry that she felt the video was "like a bad horror movie".
On 22 April, Bild announced that contestant Max Buskohl quit the competition due to RTL's rejection of his request to let his school band Empty Trash get a recording contract alongside him. Viewers had wondered about judge Dieter Bohlen's uncharacteristic behavior when he gave an extremely critical review of Buskohl's performance on 21 April. Buskohl is alleged to have said that Bohlen was antisocial, which explains Bohlen's negative reaction.
Contestant Martin Stosch, who was eliminated on 21 April, remained as a contestant despite being voted off the week prior, replacing Buskohl. However, Buskohl's father Carl Carlton told Spiegel Online that his son already made his decision to leave on 19 April but waited until Sunday to make his announcement at request of RTL.
Judges Dieter Bohlen and Heinz Henn had started a quarrel with each other during the show. On 14 April's show, Henn made it clear that he did not agree with contestant Mark Medlock's song choices. Bohlen, a staunch supporter of Medlock, began imitating Henn during his review of Lisa Bund's performance. Henn later stated that he thought it was "in bad taste, in bad style and disrespectful towards the contestants".
On 24 April, German entertainer Stefan Raab announced a performance by Buskohl set for 25 April at his show TV total which at that time aired on RTL's rival television channel ProSieben. RTL pronounced against a performance by Buskohl and his band Empty Trash on TV total the next day. So during his show on 25 and 26 April, Raab publicly instigated a protest demonstration set for Saturday's Deutschland sucht den Superstar show and was said to have obtained about 120 tickets. However the show eventually went off without any disturbance.
Top 20
1st Top 20 Show (Boys) Original airdate: 7 February 2007
Bottom four: Jonathan Enns, Aleksan Cetinkaya, Arcangelo Vigneri, Lindsay Stebe
Eliminated: Aleksan Cetinkaya and Lindsay Stebe
Judges' forecasts: Aleksan Cetinkaya and Lindsay Stebe (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)
2nd Top 20 Show (Girls) Original airdate: 10 February 2007
Bottom five: Julia Falke, Dominika Mrugala, Madeleine Boly, Sarah Jahncke, Nebiha Celenler Eliminated: Nebiha Celenler, Madeleine Boly, Dominika Mrugala Judges' forecasts: Nebiha Celenler, Madeleine Boly, Dominika Mrugala (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)
3rd Top 20 Show (Boys) Original airdate: 15 February 2007
Tristan Iser is there for Roman Lob, who withdrew due to illness. Eventually, Lob was asked back for the season 5 theme shows, but declined due to his studies.
Bottom five: Jonathan Enns, Arcangelo Vigneri, Tristan Iser, Martin Stosch, Dennis Haberlach Eliminated: Dennis Haberlash, Arcangelo Vigneri, Tristan Iser Judges' forecasts: Jonathan Enns, Martin Stosch, Tristan Iser (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)
4th Top 20 Show (Girls) Original airdate: 17 February 2007
Bottom four: Sarah Jahncke, Laura Martin, Priscilla Harris, Julia Falke
Eliminated: Sarah Jahncke and Priscilla Harris
Judges' forecasts: Sarah Jahncke and Priscilla Harris (Bohlen, Lukaseder, Henn)
Finals
1st Theme Show: "Die größten Hits aller Zeiten" (Greatest Hits of All Time) Original airdate: 24 February 2007
Bottom four: Laura Martin, Julia Falke, Jonathan Enns, Martin Stosch
Eliminated: Laura Martin
Judges' forecasts: Laura Martin (Bohlen), Jonathan Enns (Henn, Lukaseder)
2nd Theme Show: "Die größten Hits der 80er und 90er" (Greatest Hits of the 80s and 90s) Original airdate: 10 March 2007