This is how the veterans of the Christmas Lottery prepare: "I review the previous year's draw and study a lot. Imagine that I get confused!"

• Curiosities How many numbers are in the El Gordo hype of the Christmas Lottery 2022?

Juan López, alias

, has

.

He left his bar in León in charge of his wife and came to Madrid with his tent and his outlandish outfit.

This year he has a new ring: "From Swarovski crystals", he jokes himself.

This year he is not the first in line.

He has slipped one "dressed as a Pope, you think... Take a calendar, go".

It has been nine years since

.

And yet, he is by no means the oldest of those who are already preparing for the big day.

There is a tremendous swing inside the Theater.

The drums already shine on the stage, protected by a tape.

.

The children of San Ildefonso will rehearse in the early afternoon.

The nerves are felt, nothing can go wrong.

All about the Christmas Lottery 2022

TV and online.

Hours and where to see the 2022 Christmas Lottery draw

• Writing: EL MUNDO Madrid

Hours and where to see the 2022 Christmas Lottery draw

Christmas raffle.

Christmas Lottery 2022: the dictionary you have to know to be prepared

• Writing: EL MUNDO Madrid

Christmas Lottery 2022: the dictionary you have to know to be prepared

"Attention! Here it is! Loud applause!"

This is how Gordo sounded last year.

She was screaming, ecstatic, above the childish chants that chanted

. "

sang her first Gordo in 2006, and since then she has been the voice and face of the Christmas Lottery draw.

Behind the cameras has been since the same date

, scriptwriter of the program with the highest audience of the year who, he points out, tries each time to innovate within tradition.

They are the deans in the program of the year for RTVE.

Throughout these 16 years, with a brief break to replace Patricia Gaztañaga in her famous

on Antena 3, Daviú has been the woman who kicks off the Christmas celebrations in all the halls of Spain.

"I spend the draw tense, the six hours fly by," she confesses, "at two in the afternoon I get a downturn...".

She came to the

by chance, she is not even a great player.

In 2005, she

for a new daily state betting and lottery program,

, and she passed it.

In fact, she continues to present it.

Guess who the scriptwriter is?

When she arrived the following

, someone suggested that

.

"I accepted with a small mouth, it gives a bit of an impression to go in there with a veteran journalist who I've been watching all my life on television," she recalls.

And the first big day came.

Juan López, the bishop of the Christmas Lottery. ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

"Horrible".

Sandra Daviú does not hide that the impression upon arrival was terrifying: "The dynamics of the process, that if the hoppers, the lyres, the bass drums, the children of San Ildefonso...

, she recalls, "it's a lot of responsibility, the most watched program of the year... You feel very small."

Although three decades later he has more than internalized the mechanics, the tension of "what if..." is inevitable.

"This is like the Chimes: always the same. And why are there people who continue to eat the grapes with the quarters? Imagine that I get confused!".

Let's imagine it.

Although Daviú does not remember any

memorable blunder in the broadcast of the

draw , she is an expert in getting out of

.

Recently, she distributed a million pesetas on her program, like that, like crazy.

"It was to test someone from the team who has only lived in euros...", she jokes.

The first day was horrible.

What if the hoppers, the lyres, the bass drums, the children... but then they take out a ball and sing a number, or how?

Sandra Daviú, presenter of the Christmas Lottery

His worst moment on television, however, apart from the penganillo falls that are like notches in the butt of a presenter, had to do with a freshly painted floor: "My shoe stuck halfway and I ended up tearing off a small piece to set me free."

The trick, always, naturalness and good humor, to which he hopes he will not have to resort this Thursday.

To avoid jinxing as much as possible, the days before the

draw he digs his elbows like never before.

"If I have time, I even go back to see the previous year's draw to review the tone, the things we counted...", he says, and above all, he dives into documentation and newspaper archives: "I am doing a Master's Degree in

" .

From 'One, two, three' to the Christmas Lottery: "Let the Fat Man leave as late as possible"

And if Sandra Daviú is the visible face and voice of the

draw, the one who really puts words to the broadcast is

.

Although the drums start spinning at 9:00 in the morning, the broadcast starts an hour earlier.

And that this engine warm-up satisfies the most demanding public is up to you.

Things have changed a lot since Muriana landed in the

for "caroms of life."

She had worked on the legendary

and

: "In the end, the keys to an entertainment program are the same: familiar language and structures and rhythms that can be repeated regularly."

In this case, the structure is clear, few things are more routine than the Christmas Lottery draw, the mother of the lamb is in the rhythms.

For us, the best thing is that the Gordo comes out the later, the better

Carlos Muriana, scriptwriter for the raffle for RTVE

"We all perceive that television is going faster and faster,

," he explains, so the bet is to redouble the connections, prioritize interviews, tell more things in the same time.

It's not turkey mucus.

On December 22, RTVE plays the audience of the year.

The claim is obvious, but then you have to make them stay.

"For us, the best thing is that the Gordo comes out as soon as possible," acknowledges Muriana, and recalls the record: in 2012 the first prize waited seven minutes before the end of the broadcast to come out to say hello.

"That keeps the expectation of the people, they stay to wait."

"Malandrinas, shut up!"

Both veterans look at this edition of the

with the illusion of the rookie.

Not surprisingly, the last two years have undoubtedly been the most difficult in his career.

"In preparation, the curves of the infected did not stop rising and we were not even clear about what the protocols were going to be, what we were going to be able to do," says the screenwriter, "but the most difficult thing was finding the tone."

The

is a moment of great collective joy, a family celebration.

"We were aware that many people had lost their loved ones and happiness was out of tune," he recalls, "you had to measure a lot and be very tactful. The message was that life went on, but it wasn't easy."

For Daviú, the most impressive thing was the empty room: "

. We had not been out of confinement for months, and returning to that emptiness was very impressive."

This year the full capacity returns.

The costumes are back, the devastated fan who can't help but fall asleep in his seat is back, the false alarms are back... or not.

"I seem to remember that it was in 2012, there was a boy in the audience who had entered a bit by chance, he was visiting from Tenerife, and he won second prize," says Muriana, "all the journalists jumped on him!"

In December, people start giving me their numbers, to see if I can do something...

Sandra Daviú, presenter of the Christmas Lottery draw

As broadcasting veterans, requests rain down on both of them as soon as December begins: "Take my number and see if you can do something...".

Wink, wink.

They find it funny, given the security measures:

.

Nothing has ever touched either of them, it must be that at the blacksmith's house, a wooden knife.

And yet, the message that is not lacking year after year is that of the true fans of the "miliiiiiiil euroooooos".

"Before the social networks sent letters asking the presenters to shut up, there are people who want to listen to the last number of the stone," says the scriptwriter, and defends his work with a simile: "It's as if in a game of football you do without the narrator, there is no one to see it".

Ah, but it's not just the viewers who demand childish singsong.

Also a historical filmmaker, already retired, left Sandra Daviú stupefied on her first day together with Marisa Abad with an order for the earpiece:

.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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