The fifth Operación Triunfo has been determined; one of the five finalists of Operación Triunfo will represent Spain at the forthcoming 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. Ana Guerra joins Amaia, Aitana, Alfred and Miriam and completes the line up of OT 2017 finalists.

Tonight saw the 12th Operación Triunfo gala, where the fifth 2018 Spanish national final candidate was determined. The show was hosted by Roberto Leal.

Tonight, Agoney and Ana Guerra battled in the hot seat and the audience decided to save Ana Guerra and evict Agoney. After tonight’s eviction, only 5 hopefuls remain in the academy: Amaia, Aitana, Ana Guerra, Alfred and Miriam.

Next week’s gala will determine the 2018 Eurovision representative and entry.

How was the 5th finalist selected?

• During tonight’s show  Ana Guerra and Agoney were in the hot seat and battled against each another in their quest to become the fifth OT 2017 finalist.  The decision lied solely in the hands of the audience who made their deliberation via televoting. The televoting lines were open for a week. The winner of the viewer’s televote Ana Guerra was awarded the golden ticket to the OT 2017 Grand Finale and Spanish national final.

About the national final

• The song titles and names of the composers competing in the Spanish national final will be revealed on Tuesday 23 January.
• A total of 9 songs will compete at the 2018 Spanish national final.
• The 2018 Spanish Eurovision national final will be held on Monday 29 January with a total of 5 acts battling for the right to defend Spain at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Spain.
• The Grand Finale of Operación Triunfo has been set on Monday 5 February.

The finalists

• Amaia
  
• Miriam
  
• Alfred
  
• Aitana
  
• Ana Guerra
  

OT 2017 timeline

• 23/01: Song allocation – song titles and composers announced
• 29/01: Spanish national final (100% public televoting deliberation)
• 05/02: OT 2017 Grand Finale

National final date set

The gala will be aired live on Monday 29 January at 22:35 CET on TVE 1, TVE International and streamed live on rtve.es. The 2018 Spanish Eurovision national final will be part of the OT 2017 shows.

The 2018 Spanish national final will be hosted by Roberto Leal, one of Spain’s most sought after tv presenters.

The show has slowly but swiftly gained back much fame and name in Spain and has set the social media platforms on fire.

The 2018 Spanish Eurovision entry and act will be determined solely via a 100% public televoting deliberation.

Spain in Eurovision

Spain debuted in Eurovision in 1961 and has won the competition twice (1968 and 1969). The country enjoyed much success in its early days, but now seems to have had a reverse in fortunes. We must not forget that Spain has not made it to the Top 5 since 1995.

The Iberian country has only made it twice to the Top 10 in the last decade, namely in 2012 and 2014 with Pastora Soler and Ruth Lorenzo respectively.

In 2017, Spain selected its Eurovision entry via a national final leading to Manel Navarro‘s victory and winning the golden ticket to Kyiv with Do it for your lover. Unfortunately Spain came last in the Grand Final, continuing the bad spell of poor results in the competition.