TVE, the Spanish national broadcaster has confirmed today that it will be holding a special Eurovision national final with the 5 finalists of Operación Triunfo 2017.

The 5 finalists of Operación Triunfo will battle in the 2018 Spanish Eurovision national final for the golden ticket to Lisbon. The 2018 Spanish Eurovision entry and act will be deliberated solely by the Spanish public.

The national final will be held prior to the Grand Finale of OT 2017. The competing songs will be allocated to the singers by the academy’s teacher committee.

The 5 songs have been composed by famous and celebrated composers. The gala will be aired live 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, whilst the date is yet to be confirmed. The show is aired on TVE 1 every Monday at 22:35 CET.

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

A total of 16 hopefuls  kicked off the talent show last October, after last Monday’s eviction only 9 participants remain in the academy: Agoney, Cepeda, Ana Guerra, Aitana, Alfred, Amaia, Nerea, Miriam and Roi.

Operación Triunfo and Eurovision

Operación Triunfo kicked off in Spain in 2001 and TVE used it as the mechanism to select the 2002 Spanish Eurovision entry and act.

The first edition of the talent show was a massive hit in Spain, thus getting much exposure and mediatic coverage. Rosa Lopez was crowned the winner of OT 1 and won the golden ticket to Tallinn with her song Europe’s living a celebration.

TVE used the same format for the following 2 years in order to select the Spanish Eurovision entry and act: Beth (2003) and Ramon (2004).

TVE axed the show after its third edition. In 2005, Spanish private television channel Tele Cinco revived the talent show and aired a total of 5 seasons and had no link to Eurovision.

We must not forget that 2 of the participants of the 4th edition of Operación Triunfo went on to represent years after their participation: Soraya Arnelas (2009) and Edurne (2015).

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.