RTVE turns to its Eurovision pre-selection, with Mónica Naranjo among the presenters, and it starts without a clear favorite winner
Everything has yet to be decided in the second edition of ‘Benidorm Fest’. The program that selects Spain’s representative for the next Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Liverpool in May, kicks off tonight at 10pm on TVE’s La 1 with the first semifinal, where nine of the 18 candidates will compete between yes (the rest does it Thursday) to win one of four seats in the Grand Final, which will be offered at the same time and channel on Saturday. A new season of a television program that has already become one of the biggest events of the year on the small screen, which last year served to catapult Chanel and take third place in the European competition with “SloMo”, the best position since the year 1995.
The new ‘Benidorm Fest’ comes with the lessons learned from the previous edition, although the voting system to choose the winner remains practically unchanged: the professional jury gets 50% of the result and the public the other 50%, but divided equally between televote and opinion poll jury (consisting of 350 people). In the event of a tie, the TVE program will make it clear that the candidacy that receives the best score from the professional jury wins. The first semi-final features Agoney, Alice Wonder, Aritz Aren, Fusa Nocta, Megara, Meler, Sharonne, Sofía Martín and Twin Melody; while in the second it will be Alfred García, Blanca Paloma, E’Femme, Famous, José Otero, Karmento, Rakky Ripper, Siderland and Vicco.
But there will be substantial changes in the members of the competition’s expert jury, which this time will be three members more (eight people in total) than last year. According to RTVE, the aim was to “strengthen the international presence and give a voice to journalists and fans” who are somehow connected “to music and the European festival from different spheres”.
For example, the foreign part of the evaluations consists of Christer Björkman, a member of the Eurovision production team; Nicola Caligiore, head of Italy’s Eurovisual delegation for eight years; Tali Eshkoli, Israeli television producer; Katrina Leskanich, singer and leader of the group Katrina & the Waves; and William Lee Adams, presenter for BBC Radio and ‘wiwibloggs’, the leading European outlet specializing in Eurovision. The national evaluation will in turn be carried out by Irene Valiente, from Radio 3 (RNE); Jose Juan Santana, from OGAE; and the singer Nina, who in turn will be the voice spokesperson. Finally, despite what was initially announced, Nacho Cano will not be on the judging panel due to incompatibilities with ‘Malinche’, the musical he is directing.
All in all, the ‘Benidorm Fest’ repeats itself at the Palau d’Esports L’Illa in the city of Alicante to host a great television show that will focus the attention of millions of viewers in their homes. The provisional studio will have a set of more than 3,200 m2 divided over two stages, which will be accessible to about 2,200 people from the audience. This program, produced by the public broadcaster in collaboration with Boomerang TV Producciones, employs more than 200 professionals, including TVE employees and suppliers.
For the galas, the company signed singer Mónica Naranjo as master of ceremonies, who will be accompanied by Rodrigo Vázquez (‘El Cazador’) and Inés Hernand (‘Gen Playz’), the only face returning from the first edition after the layer Alaska and Máximo Huerta. In addition, there is a before and after program, live from Benidorm, presented by Aitor Albizua (‘The Joker of La 1’) and the Spanish representative at Eurovision 2018, Miki Núñez.
Unlike the first season, where the week of the ‘Benidorm Fest’ was reached with several candidates among the favorites, although Chanel later gave the surprise live, in this second edition all possibilities are open, so the emotion is served. Among the options most listened to by the public through digital platforms are ‘Nochentera’ by Vicco; ‘I wish’, by Alice Wonder; ‘My Family’, by Fusa Nocta; ‘I want to burn’, by Agoney; and ‘Traction’ by Rakky Ripper. For example, with their song ‘Sayonara’, The Twin Melody received explicit support from former Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas, who dared to dance with the stars of ‘TikTok’ with a video posted on social networks.
However, the ‘Benidorm Fest’ will not only be shown on TVE screens. The program has become a tourist attraction for the city of Alicante and this festival will be present every day of the week. The Sunday officially started with an inauguration with a lot of music, including the main authorities, including the president of the Valencian Generalitat, Ximo Puig, and an orange carpet that the guests were supposed to pass, but which was forced to lie out by the rain.
Source: La Verdad
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