Sixteen years have passed since the doors of Operación Triunfo’s academy first opened in October 2001. But after six years of absence, the ninth edition of one of the most-watched programs in Spain is ready to hit the country — again.

The awaited comeback of RTVE’s popular talent show Operación Triunfo 2017 is happening on October 23!

The announcement took place today in Barcelona where both TVE and series producer Gestmusic — the team behind Destino Eurovision 2004 and 2011 and Spain’s ESC 2015 staging — finally explained all the details about the new edition and introduced the 2017 hopefuls.

Producers said they would reveal everything but we’re still missing one vital piece of information: will Operacion Triunfo be the Spanish selection method for Lisbon 2018? It seems like RTVE still has not decided OT‘s role on Eurovision, if any.

The new edition

Operación Triunfo’s new edition is keeping the original format and following the same nostalgic dynamics — old times are good times.

As such, a total of 18 candidates will be performing at the very first gala. But only 16 will make the cut — and the lucky ones will finally open the most famous academy’s doors.

In every show and after all the performances, the audience will select their favourite of the night, who’ll automatically be saved from nominations. A professional jury will then nominate up to four candidates who’ll face leaving the academy. But from those four, two will breathe again.

The academy’s teachers will save one act while the already saved candidates will save another one. The remaining two will then face an audience vote.

In the end, one lucky and talented contestant will win €100,000 cash!

Operación triunfo’s updates and comebacks

RTVE welcomes Roberto Leal as the new host of the new OT. But also we’re seeing a new director of the academy, Noemí Galera. She’s taking the role previously held by Nina (ESC 1989 – Spain).

However, Noemí Galera is already a veteran of OT, previously working as as casting director, jury member and OT deputy director. But she acknowledges she has Nina on speed-dial —”I will need to call Nina on more than one occasion to ask her what to do”

Among the academy’s teachers, we find Guille Milkyway, the lead singer of Spanish electropop band La Casa Azul. They were close to representing Spain in 2008 with their song “La revolución sexual” (The sexual revolution) but placed third in the national selection.

For all y’all hardcore fans, RTVE will also provide a 24-hour channel using different platforms and daily recaps on TVE from 20:00 – 20:30 CET, so you can’t miss anything – no excuses!

OT and Eurovision

While the connection between OT and Eurovision 2018 is still undecided, it was not so in the past. Operación Triunfo was used as Spain’s national selection from 2002 to 2004, considered the golden age of Spain at modern Eurovision. OT acts gave Spain seventh, eighth and tenth finishes in those golden years.

And even if RTVE does pick its Eurovision contestant through OT, that person may not necessarily be the winner. Of the five OT acts that have represented Spain, only Rosa won her edition of the show.

But what do you think about the upcoming edition of Operación Triunfo? Are you already excited? Do you think will RTVE choose their representative through the show in the end? Let us know below!

READ MORE SPAIN NEWS HERE

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Kermit
Kermit
6 years ago

Please, not another OTT ballad diva!

beccaboo1212
6 years ago

Hopefully Spain gets a better result than last time. 🙂

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago

Try anything Spain. It can’t possibly be worse than 2017.

Kermit
Kermit
6 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

they were really underrated this year, just like Ukraine. Deserved a lot more. And the net bullying of Manel was appalling

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  Kermit

To clarify: this year’s song “Do it for your lover” was repetitive, uninspiring and predictively irritating. Manel is nice enough, but the song was tragic. (When Manel came to London in April, I was so glad he sang something else to us!)

The problem was the selection process this year. For 2018, steer clear of record labels and enter something different and original. Best of luck Spain.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

This concept has worked for them so why not? However, it’s been more than a decade.
I do believe it’s a good idea and I’m looking forward to watching new artists.

Vanuatu
Vanuatu
6 years ago

You cant build talent or prefabricate it. Therefor,this program per se, wont have any impact on the success of Spain in Eurovision. The participants will be pople with lack of experience. And thats a recipe for failure. Add to the mix the fact that they will need to receive a song (that probabbly is not made for them and that will be a rejection of another singer) and the recipe for failure will be stronger. Imo, the best that can happen to Spain is that this program fails in ratings, they dump it, and a singer with experience step up… Read more »

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Vanuatu

Ain’t the premise of the show to train these newcomers to become better prepared once they decided to enter the music industry? Even if this is just a TV show, we’ll still be seeing their progress over the next few months, especially with a live feed covering every step of the way.

In the end, what matters most is finding a perfect combination of both singer and song strong enough for Spain to end to Eurovision, especially if OT does ended up becoming TVE’s national selection for the upcoming contest.

David
David
6 years ago
Reply to  Vanuatu

Well, Chenoa, David Bisbal and David Bustamante, for example, were all participants in OT and now they are among the biggest Spanish singers.

Vanuatu
Vanuatu
6 years ago
Reply to  David

Lol. Chenoa is a host, she left her music career a long time ago, like Edurne after her eurovision debacle. And David Bustamante is broke, with 0 concerts and 0 sells, and on the personal lvl, her wife has dumped him. Probably he will suffer some kind of big personal downfall soon and enter on a reavilitation center or something, mark my words, he is just following all the trends of the “celebrity break outs”. David Bisbal, however, sells pretty well i must admit that. But his real success comes from Latin America and Miami. In Spain, even if he… Read more »

M.
M.
6 years ago

Maybe with this mechanism Spain will be successful again in Eurovision, who knows? It’s worth trying!