• OT 2023 This will be Operación Triunfo on Prime Video: live galas, daily magazines, a classic cloister and Chenoa at the controls
  • Xuso Jones From going viral for singing in a McAuto to co-presenting OT and returning to live in Murcia

To the fourth has gone the vanquished. There is a lot of battle left until he enters the academy, yes, but this time at least they will let him fight it. About 10 minutes pass from 10 in the morning when the Satellite Pavilion of the Casa de Campo in Madrid bursts into applause. "First sticker!" The rows of aspirants are agitated, the thing is serious.

No one could see the end, heads were on the horizon. Police sources say that the queue reaches Madrid Río; For those outside the capital, that's more than four kilometers of artists looking for an opportunity. Yesterday Madrid surrendered to the last casting of OT 2023, which will land on Prime Video at the end of the year. And the first in line, Pablo Campillo, was also the first to receive the precious pass to the next round.

"That one who sings is my friend. They're going to catch him fixed," says Ada to the tall, thin boy dressed in a gray sweatshirt that displays a loud voice in the chorus of Nochentera. They met in Valencia this summer when they were both trying their luck without success. She repeats today negative, but when she hears the applause she knows that he, Pablo, has succeeded.

"I showed up in 2017 and in 2018, in 2020 I was caught outside Spain and I couldn't, and in Valencia they gave two stickers before me and they threw me away. I thought it couldn't happen again, so I came to the door at two in the morning." Paul speaks to the press as if he had done it a thousand times. Professional of the castings much to his regret, he has tried it with all the musical talents of television. Today he received his first yes. And Noemi Galera, no less.

OT is not just singing, you have to endure a 24 hours for three months and the audience has to fall in love with them, and that depends on a set of things

Noemí Galera, director of the academy

The casting director of Gestmusic Endemol, supreme head of the academy and founding partner of Operación Triunfo in that historic 2001 of Chenoa, who will close the circle presenting this new edition, who has followed the very long queue with the taxi that brought her from the hotel and has felt a little overwhelmed: "At least there are 2,000, 2,500 people," he sighs. He has made no plans, "here he comes to die." "We don't look for anything, we find," he sums up his task for the day.

What they will find, among the 10,000 auditions they have distributed over two and a half months and nine cities, will be the 16 new inhabitants of the academy. "The first thing that has to hook you is the voice, of course, but then you talk to them, you see how you react, there is a writing team that is recording them all day ...", he describes, "OT is not just singing, you have to endure a 24 hours for three months and the audience has to fall in love with them, and that depends on a set of things".

At the moment, he confesses that he has already seen a few candidates "brutal, who look like they are going to triumph in style", but gives the last word to the audience: "It is the one that has the last word and also the one that has to consume their music and go to their concerts".

In Valencia they gave two stickers before me and they threw me away. I thought it couldn't happen again, so I came to the door at two in the morning.

Pablo Campillo, first selected in the casting of OT 2023 in Madrid

Galera will not be the only historical face in the new edition of Operación Triunfo, the first format that Prime Video will offer live to more than 30 countries in Latin America. Manu Guix will resume his role as musical director, along with two of the names most loved by the followers of the program, the vocal technique teacher Mamen Márquez and the choreographer Vicky Gómez.

The weekly 90-minute galas focused on musical performances will be followed by a space for interviews with participants and teachers. Xuso Jones will premiere a daily magazine in which he will review, with the help of collaborators, the minute by minute of the academy and the key moments of the week, such as the distribution of topics, the rehearsals, the pass of microphones and, of course, the coexistence of the contestants. In addition, the format will have a 24-hour channel that can be followed through YouTube.

Noemí Galera acknowledges that she has never faced a situation in which everything is at stake in a minute, but she remembers that the casting is only the first test: "They will have to get on a stage full of cameras and submit to the pressure of being judged every week. That's tremendous." The director of the academy has not yet visited what will be her new home for the new year, that room that she calls, with affection, Guantánamo, and that welcomes her on gala days: "It's an Ikea metal bunk, nothing more. And the bathroom is outside, so every morning I have to pass in my pajamas in front of all the technicians," she says.

Outside, in the very long queue, Borja and Juan animate the party with a guitar. "I go, walking through life, without pause but without haste," chants everyone around him. Borja comes prepared and nervous, with his favorite Mecano theme worn out from so much rehearsal. Juan, on the other hand, comes from the troupe: "But since I am, I try my luck." He hasn't chosen a song yet. He has a few hours left to think about it.

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