• OT 2023 These are the 18 contestants
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15 minutes before the start of the presentation of the new Operación Triunfo, last Wednesday, the internet network failed. "These have been the ghosts of the hospital," the technicians said to each other with nervous laughter. Indeed, it has been a couple of editions since the music talent academy par excellence has been erected in front of the abandoned Thorax Hospital of Tarrasa, which was first a sanatorium for respiratory diseases; then, an insane asylum especially afflicted with suicides; And now, the setting for horror movies. Definitely, the Wi-Fi crash had to be a ghost thing.

Everything smells new on the third floor, fresh paint and freshly unpacked furniture. What will be the home of the new triumphs for 14 weeks is still empty, very clean, brand new. It is the same space, but technological advances have made it gain 200 meters by replacing the corridors through which the camera operators who recorded behind the mirrors traveled with 55 robotic devices, in view but discreet.

A large hall welcomes the OT 2023 academy.PRIME VIDEO

The reception announces the gigantic logo of the program and, on the red walls, blurred messages are read encouraging the visitor to join the show. They order, rather than encourage: enjoy, sing, and so on. Natural light pours in through the huge windows, overlooking a lush pine forest: "They don't see civilization, but at least they see the countryside," concedes Tinet Rubira, director of the production company Gestmusic (Banijay Iberia) and creator of the format, which acts as a guide for the return of OT after a three-year hiatus, this time as a sign of the new television: It will be the world's first entertainment program to be broadcast live through one platform, with a weekly gala on Mondays and a daily magazine from Tuesday to Saturday. The way talent works is the same – "The format has a lot of Taliban," Rubira acknowledges – but the times are significantly shortened, at the pace of our attention.

A glass window gives way directly to the "living area", an open-plan space organized around the living room, which stars in the very long sofa in front of the screen from which the 16 chosen in Gala 0 this Monday will connect live. On the left, a terrace full of plants that, she confesses, gave Chenoa long teeth the first time she saw it: "It's pure gold," she says, "we didn't have air. We were more precarious. 22 years is a long time."

Contestants will enjoy an open terrace for the first time. PRIME VIDEO

The fourth finalist of the first OT, back in 2001, now returns as presenter of the format. "Having been a contestant before gives you an advantage: you feel twice as much, and you can see that in your face. If I'm happy, I make you happy, you know?" he explains. She comes back more temperate, less swear word and makes a bit of a mess with the cameras. Nor is it surprising, given the dimensions of a set prepared to accommodate 900 people as an audience, between the stands and the pit, with a spidercam like that of football fields and a 16-meter traveling shot from side to side of the main stage. "Everything is designed to make the experience quite immersive," the producer stresses.

Back at the academy, we sneaked into the most intimate wing. The contestants will not cook, but they will have to take care of the dishes and the daily laundry. At the back of the bathroom, between a row of built-in wardrobes and two washer-dryers is the dreaded Covid room, little more than a wardrobe absolutely to be avoided. The room, the only space without cameras or microphones, will remain open only during sleeping hours.

The hall serves as the nerve center of the academy. PRIME VIDEO

The "work zone" is built in the form of a shop window: everyone can see everything everyone else does all the time. Noemi Galera, the academy's director, sleeps downstairs in a small room she calls "Guantánamo." 22 years later, what does OT mean to her? "I sleep little, suffer a lot, and eat a lot of browns, but it makes me profoundly happy."

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