Project Fame was a pan-African version of the international talent/reality show Star Academy

Star Academy

Star Academy is a highly successful television show format based on the Spanish format "Operación Triunfo" produced by Endemol, that has been broadcast in over 50 countries...

. Held in Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 from June to August 2004, the show had 16 African contestants - 9 of which were South African - groomed for stardom, with the weakest being eliminated on a weekly basis; the top three received record deals and the winner got a lot more prizes.

The contestants were eliminated in the following way: the Board (judges) place four contestants on probation, the teachers save one, the other contestants save another and viewers save a third, thereby eliminating the last contestant. As the show progressed, the number of contestants placed on probation rose to five resulting in two contestants being eliminated. The last five remaining contestants' fates were determined by viewers' votes.

An East African version; Tusker Project Fame (season 1) began on October 1st to December 17
2006. It continues to run each year and the latest is Tusker Project Fame season 4 which ended on December 6, 2010, and won by Ugandan Davis Hillary Ntare.

The show can be described as Idols

Idols (South Africa)

Idols is a television show on the South African television network M-Net, based on the popular British show Pop Idol. The show is a contest to determine the best young singer in South Africa....

meets Big Brother Africa

Big Brother Africa

Big Brother Africa is a television program produced by Endemol. The show initially involved 12 countries within Africa with two countries being added in season 4...

as the contestants' daily activities were recorded 24 hours a day.

Final results

Rank	Contestant		Date of elimination
1	Lindiwe Alam		winner
2	Jonathan Ross		August 29
3	Daré Art Alade		August 29
4	Tebogo Moloto		August 29
5	Tracey-Lee Oliver		August 29
6	Johan du Plooy*		August 22
6	Monica Burger		August 22
8	Kudzai Sevenzo*		August 15
8	Karen Lucas		August 15
10	Claudia Mohr*		August 8
10	Steve Peralta		August 8
12	Didge Nyatome		August 1
13	Robyn Hendricks		July 25
14	Tumi Ramailane		July 18
15	Carl "Bodea" Eckle		July 11
16	Jid'dah Ado-Ibrahim		July 4

*These contestants performed better than their equally

ranked contestants as they were on probation less often.