Singing reality show Popstars will return to air in Argentina in 2026

Bandana, the girl band that emerged from the first edition of Popstars in Argentina.

Argentine free-to-air TV channel Telefe, owned by Paramount, has confirmed that the pioneering music reality show Popstars will return to its screens in 2026, reviving the original partnership between Telefe and Gustavo Yankelevich’s production company RGB.

Originating in New Zealand in 1999 and adapted in Argentina in 2001, Popstars left its mark on an entire generation of Argentine audiences in the early 2000s.

“Twenty-five years ago, a format changed the history of television and ignited the dreams of an entire generation. It was the country’s first major musical docu-reality show, which discovered talent, created idols and proved that dreams, with effort and passion, can come true,” Telefe said in its announcement.

Details of the 2026 edition of the format, which belongs to Banijay Entertainment, have not yet been revealed, but according to local reports, the new edition of the reality show is expected to feature exclusively female participants.

The first version of the programme was broadcast in 2001 on the local Channel 9 and presented an innovative narrative for the time: to find the five ideal members to form an all-female pop band.

The first competition gave rise to the Argentine female band Bandana, which released several albums, and the success of that edition led to a new season dedicated to forming a boy band, which ended up being Mambrú.

The original Popstars format was created in New Zealand by Jonathan Dowling and Bill Toepfer and broadcast on the local channel TVNZ, which gave rise to the girl band True Bliss in 1999. It later became a franchise with versions in more than 50 countries and inspired Simon Fuller’s big format Pop Idol.