logical proportions." Other liberals were exasperated by the conservatives’ excessive reaction to Star Academy. Another female journalist writing for Arab news asked "how vulnerable must we be if a TV program can ‘destroy our moral standards and teach our children bad things." A major liberal voice hailed from within the royal family when Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal, a major stakeholder in LBC, supported Star Academy by sending his private plane to Beirut to bring the winner back to Saudi Arabia. A "Patriot Night" On 14 February 2005, Rula Sa'd, the Director of Marketing and Promotions at the LBC acted in her role as "Director of the Academy" to announce to the contestants that Rafiq al-Hariri had been assassinated and that Lebanon was in mourning. This was one of the only instances in the show's history that a real-life event had intruded upon The Academy. Like other Lebanese channels, LBC suspended its regular programing to focus all attention on the aftermath of the assassination, including a ten-day hiatus of Star Academy. The show resumed on Friday, 25 February with an episode that critics deemed "The Patriotic Night" during which the contestants, along with Arab celebrities and contestants from past seasons came together and sung a number of patriotic songs in solidarity with the mourning nation. Not once throughout the program was al-Hariri's name said; instead, the show was made to be a demonstration of renewed patriotism. Major controversy began when it came time to vote off that week's losing contestant. That week, the three nominees for expulsion included a Bahraini man Ahmad Salaheddin, a Syrian woman Joey Bassous, and a Lebanese man, Samer Doumit. Per contest rules, the public votes to save one contestant, and the remaining two are voted for by the other non nominated contestants. The Bahraini man was rescued by the public, but the Syrian women, despite getting higher ratings than Doumit by the public, was ultimately voted off the show. The ousting was said to echo the tension that already existed between Syria and Lebanon post-assassination, as there was widespread suspicion that the Syrians were implicated in the crime. Winners The winners for the various series were: Star Academy 1 (2003–2004): Mohamed Attieh Star Academy 2 (2004–2005): Hisham Abdulrahman Star Academy 3 (2005–2006): Joseph Attieh Star Academy 4 (2006–2007): Shatha Hassoun Star Academy 5 (2008): Nader Guirat Star Academy 6 (2009): Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Star Academy 7 (2010):