15 minutes before the presentation of the new Operación Triunfo began last Wednesday, the internet network failed. “These were the ghosts of the hospital,” the technicians said to each other with nervous laughter. Indeed, for a couple of years now the academy of musical talent par excellence has been erected in front of the abandoned Hospital del Tórax de Terrasa, which was first a sanatorium for respiratory diseases; later, an asylum especially plagued by suicides; and now, setting for horror movies. Definitely, the Wi-Fi drop had to be a ghost thing.
Everything smells new on the third floor, fresh paint and freshly unpacked furniture. What will be the home of the new triumphs for 14 weeks is still empty, very clean, brand new. It is the same space, but technological advances have made it gain 200 meters by replacing the corridors through which the camera operators who recorded behind the mirrors walked with 55 robotic devices, visible but discreet.
The reception announces the gigantic logo of the program and, on the red walls, faded messages are read that encourage the visitor to join the show. They order, rather than encourage: enjoy, sing, etc. Natural light pours in through the enormous windows, overlooking a lush pine forest: “They don’t see civilization, but at least they see countryside,” concedes Tinet Rubira, director of the production company Gestmusic (Banijay Iberia) and creator of the format, which exercises as a guide for the return of OT after three years of hiatus, this time as a sign of the new television: it will be the first entertainment program in the world that will be broadcast live through a platform, with a weekly gala on Mondays and a magazine show daily from Tuesday to Saturday. The way talent works is the same – “The format has a lot of Taliban,” Rubira acknowledges – but the times are significantly shortened, at the pace of our attention.
A glass window directly leads into the “living area”, an open space organized around the living room, which features the very long sofa in front of the screen from which the 16 chosen at this Monday’s Gala 0 will connect live. To the left, a terrace full of plants that, he confesses, gave Chenoa a hard time the first time he saw it: “It’s pure gold,” she says, “we didn’t have air. We were more precarious. “22 years goes a long way.”
The fourth finalist of the first OT, back in 2001, now returns as host of the format. «Having been a contestant before gives you an advantage: you feel twice as much, and it shows in your face. If I’m happy I make you happy, you know? »She explains. She comes back more tempered, less sweary and gets into a bit of trouble with the cameras. It is not surprising either, given the dimensions of a set prepared to accommodate 900 people as an audience, between the stands and the pit, with a spidercam like the one on soccer fields and a 16-meter tracking shot from side to side of the main stage. . “Everything is designed so that the experience is quite immersive,” emphasizes the producer.
Back at the academy, we sneak into the most intimate wing. The contestants will not cook, but they will have to take care of washing the dishes and doing the daily laundry. At the back of the bathroom, between a row of built-in wardrobes and two washer-dryers is the feared Covid room, little more than a closet absolutely to be avoided. The room, the only space without cameras or microphones, will remain open only during sleeping hours.
The “work zone” is built in the form of a showcase: everyone can see everything everyone does all the time. Noemí Galera, director of the academy, sleeps downstairs, in a small room she calls “Guantánamo.” 22 years later, what does OT mean to her? “I sleep little, suffer a lot and eat a lot of brownies, but it makes me deeply happy.”