After one week at the Academia, the 16 contestants of Operación Triunfo walked the stage once again on wednesday, for the Gala 1. Nobody was eliminated, but two contestants are nominated for elimination next week.
Last week, 18 contestants were battling for 16 places in the Academia. Rodrigo and Luis were eliminated, and didn’t get inside. The rest remained at the Academia during the week, and prepared their performances for wednesday night.
The performances of the Gala 1
The day after Gala 0, the staff of the Academia assigned songs to the candidates, and organised them into duets. All contestants were also given a group performance to prepare: “This is me”, from The Greatest Showman, to open the show.
Then the duets started. There were ballads from Spain and beyond, there were uptempo songs, and there was this surprising new hairstyle from Dave, who truly changed him…. Here is the list of the songs, in the running order of the night:
- Miki and Carlos Right – “El Ataque de las Chicas Cocodrilo”
- Damion and África – “Perfect”
- Alfonso and Sabela – “Échame la Culpa”
- Dave and Marilia – “Alfonsina y el mar”
- Alba Reche and Noelia – “Respect”
- Marta and María – “Ella”
- Joan Garrido and Julia – “Vuelvo a Verte”
- Natalia and Famous – “Feel it Still”
Then came the guests. First, it was Malú, who sang her song “Todos los Secretos”. Then came Aitana, from Operación Triunfo 2017, who came second and third in the Gala Eurovisión last year: second with her song “Arde”, and third with Ana Guerra, singing “Lo Malo”. Despite the great popularity of “Lo Malo” with this year’s contestant, she sung her most recent single, “Téléfono” (the footage of this performance has unfortunately not been posted by RTVE).
The results
The televote
Spanish viewers voted for their favorite contestant (not the favorite duet). At the end of the show, only the three best-scoring candidates were revealed: Miki, Natalia, and Noemia.
Soon afterwards, OT’s host Roberto Leal announced who was the fan-favorite: Noemia. It qualified her immediately and safely to the Gala 2. However, we don’t know who was the runner-up out of Miki and Natalia.
The Jury
After this sequence, the jury talked with each contestant, and gave their verdict. They nominated 4 candidates for elimination: África, Alfonso, Joan Garrido and Sabela.
Narrowing it done to two
Out of these four acts, only two would eventually stay nominated.
First, like last week, the staff of the Academia had to save one of the nominated contestants. During Gala 0, they saved Sabela, but this time they gave a new chance to África. They recognized her potential and made clear that she should work and practice her vocak skills and her emotionnal expressions.
Then it was the time for all the safe contestants, including África, to save one last act. Three votes went to Sabela, four votes to Alfonso, and the six remaining votes saved Joan Garrido.
What will happen next week?
Next week, the Gala 2 will be broadcast on Wednesday, 10:30pm, as usual. Alfonso and Sabela being nominated for elimination, they will each sing one song, and the public will vote to save one of them, thus eliminating the other. Alfonso will sing “All of Me” from John Legend, and Sabela will sing “Benditas feridas” from Rosa Cedrón.
The rest will once again sing in duets, although they were re-organized for the occasion.
- María and África will sing “Friends” from Marshmello and Anne-Marie
- Damion and Famous will sing “Déjala que baile” from Alejandro Sanz, Melendi and Arkano
- Dave and Noelia will sing “Volando Voy” from Kiko Veneno
- Carlos Right and Julia will sing “Mi historia entre tus dedos” from Gianluca Grignani
- Joan Garrido and Marilia will sing “Another Day of Sun”, from the movie La La Land
- Alba Reche and Miki will sing “Alba mía” from Natalia Lafourcade
- Marta and Natalia will sing “Tainted Love” from Imelda May
The duel between nominated candidates will take place at the beginning, and once one of them is eliminated, the nomination process will start again, with one candidate automatically saved by the televote, and all but four by the juries. Among the four remaining, one will be saved by the Academia staff, and one will be saved by the other contestants. The two nominated candidates will then compete in a duel at the beginning of Gala 3.
Viewership: OT falling a little bit
Last week, the Gala 0 brought 2.321 million viewers, accounting for a share of 20.5% of the night’s audience, and a first place in the market.
However, the Gala 1 was less popular, with an audience of 2.102 million viewers, and a share of 16,6%, ranking second for the night. This fall is obviously a great classic in any show of this kind, and is actually less strong than it was last year (when the show lost half a million viewers the first week).
However, Operación Triunfo 2017 achieved something rare in the world of television: gaining viewers over time. Last year, the majority of the last galas did better than the opening Gala 0, with the final gala leading the night with an impressive 30.8% market share, representing almost four million viewers.
What did you think of the performances? Who would you save: Alfonso or Sabela? Who is your favorite in Operación Triunfo 2018? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra !
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