Spain to choose their Eurovision act through Operación Triunfo
After a few controversial years of Spanish national selections, Spanish broadcaster RTVE have now announced that the revived format of Operación Triunfo will be used to select the Spanish act for Eurovision 2018.
The reality talent show has been on television screens in Spain since 2001, and has been broadcasted for 9 seasons, with the current season the first since 2011, but this season has also proven than the program remains popular. As such, it made sense to the Spanish broadcaster to utilise the popularity in order to choose a Eurovision act that the public want.
The program has been used as a selection method before in the past, precisely back in 2002 until 2004, where it produced three years of top 10 finishes. The broadcaster is hoping that putting their complete faith into the public will produce an act that will give Spain some much needed success in the contest.
The Eurovision selection within the show will take place on a separate night to the actual final of the show, but the date has not yet been set. The 5 finalists will perform a songs written by a prestigious songwriter, and the academy’s teachers will choose which song will go to which artist. The winner will be decided 100% by public vote as to avoid the controversies of years previous.
The show has already created a lot of buzz on social media, and that’s before the actual Eurovision selection or final have taken place, so perhaps this is the positive push that Spain need to return to form. Have you been following the competition? Who do you think should continue through the final?
