Esther Mucientes Madrid
Madrid
Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-21:34
RTVE This is how a 'reign' of the mornings is created: five hours behind the cameras of La Hora de La 1
Silvia Intxaurrondo
says
that since she has real-time access to the votes for the new RTVE program that premieres tonight,
El mejor de la historia
, she has realized the debate that it has provoked and will provoke because she sees the reactions of her children about the chosen characters. What makes you prefer Fernando Alonso over Luis Aragonés? Or why is Isabel La Católica better than Alfonso X? And that's what the program is about. The "has already provoked" is said by her, the producer of the program -The Pool-, and RTVE itself. The day that the public network published the 150 names that would have to be voted on to choose the 50 who are going to face each other in
The Best in History
, she was literally in a mess.
The criticism and "the debate", as
Intxaurrondo
calls it, arose just by reading the names, without knowing the mechanics of the program, or where those 150 characters had come from, or who had chosen them, or how it had been done. RTVE has not given explanations until it has been presented and, even when presenting it, they recognize that
it is a list that is not equal
and a list in which characters are missing, but that this has not depended on them.
The reality is that the 150 names were chosen by
a committee of experts
, of which RTVE and The Pool do not reveal anything, but among which there was a professor from the University of Alcalá, among four other names. From them came the 150 that remained at 50 after
a survey carried out by Sigma Dos
of which RTVE does not explain much either - neither sampling, nor dates, nor questions... -. After this, a voting system was opened for the public, which closed on January 30, and from which the 10 finalists from each of the five groups that make up the program emerged:
History and Politics
,
Communication and Society
,
Arts
,
Sports and Bullfighting
and
Literature, Humanities and Sciences
.
Among the 50 characters for whom you can vote during the program are scientists, artists, communicators, athletes, politicians or writers, from
Christopher Columbus
to
Rosalía de Castro
, including
Isabel II
,
Pablo Picasso
,
Ramón y Cajal
,
Amancio Ortega
,
Mercedes Milá
or
Fernando Alonso
. Of all of them only one can remain.
The list of the 50 characters that generated so much controversy.RTVE
But above all there are very, very few women and from here the first controversy was born, which is surely not going to be the only one, and they know it. "That's the important thing," says
Silvia Intxaurrondo
, the impartial referee who in each program will have to moderate the debate of several collaborators who will defend her character "with absolute vehemence." "I sincerely believe that those who have voted for that list have first had the feeling of 'hey, the list you present to me is not equal'. And that is great news because
we have made a reflection that a few years ago we probably would not have thought about
. We would have Given the list, it would not have seemed strange to us that there were fewer women than men and we would have simply voted. Now it calls our attention, we ask for it and we give those women the place that history did not give them," she says.
The "debate" doesn't matter to them. In fact, they insist they are glad it was created. It was surprising, according to
Silvia Intxaurrondo
, that the day the list came out no journalist called to ask what
The Best in History
was about and that everyone went for the jugular for the names on that list. However, despite this, Intxaurrondo draws the positive from this: "The good thing is that it has reached the person, it has reached much further,
we have reached much further than we thought we were going to reach
. What I want to say is that the format, without knowing it, had a direct impact on the viewer and that is the best thing that could happen to us.
"This program is going to show a snapshot of the opinion of what the country thinks"
Silvia Intxaurrondo, presenter
Intxaurrondo
, who leaves current events to immerse himself fully in entertainment, is not afraid of debate or controversy
.
In fact, he insists during the interview that this is the best of, pardon the redundancy,
The best in history
, but
he warns: "Seeing the meaning of the votes, I think that
the results are surprising or, at least, they are not within what expected
". He begs us not to ask him anything else because he doesn't want to give anything away. She is one of the few who knows in real time how the votes are going.
Nor does it say anything about the collaborators who will have to defend the characters in question. It only reveals that they are not specialists and that they are not for a reason that
Miriam García Corrales
, director of Entertainment at RTVE, makes clear from the beginning: "
The best in history
is an entertainment bet with precise data from historical rigor and statistical and open to debate". "From
El Ministerio del Tiempo
we don't see
Lorca
,
Cervantes
or
Velázquez
in
prime time
. It's good for new generations to get to know them.
Success would be to awaken curiosity
," she says.
"It is a project that will be under construction until the last minute," adds
Intxaurrondo
. "You are going to see
the photograph of the opinion of what the country thinks
," he insists. He also assures that the intention is to "amuse viewers and debate." "It will be a debate that will transcend the screen:
it will reach our families, couples, bars, the media, schools...
It is already happening and we are not even on the air."
"Franco is not there because he did not make the cut for the 10 most voted historical figures, but he was on the list"
Throughout
six episodes
, the program will propose a weekly online vote to choose between the two protagonists with the most votes from each group, who will face each other in a duel. From each program a finalist will emerge, the audience's favorite. The five most voted characters from the previous programs will compete in the final. Only one of them will stand out as
the best in history
. It will be the spectators who will have the last word.
This RTVE production in collaboration with The Pool is the Spanish adaptation of the successful format created by the BBC,
100 Greatest Britons
, in which
Winston Churchill
won and Diana of Wales came in third place. Intxaurrondo doubts that a politician can win in Spain, "although anything can happen." What he does insist on stating is that while
in other countries there were exclusions
, as in the case of Germany "where the Nazis were prevented from participating", in Spain no type of exclusion has been put in place: "Franco is not there because he did not get to make the cut of the 10 most voted historical figures, but he was on the list.