Tonight, RTVE the Spanish national broadcaster, held the second Semi-Final of Benidorm Fest. The winner of yesterday’s Semi-Final was Chanel. During the evening, seven participants presented their songs competing for a place in Saturday’s Grand Final. Afterwards the winner will represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy. A total of four acts qualified, including the winner of the night, Rigoberta Bandini.
Benidorm Fest
Last July, RTVE announced the revamped return of the former Benidorm Song Festival. Not only to select their Eurovision 2022 representative, but also to celebrate local Spanish music and artists. The festival is organised in collaboration with RTVE, the Generalitat Valenciana and the Benidorm City Council. As well as this, the broadcaster has signed a four-year agreement with the Generalitat Valenciana for Benidorm Fest to run until 2026. After 886 submissions, RTVE presented a press conference to reveal the 14 competing entries and launch the festival. Recently the broadcaster also announced the back-up scenarios and safety precautions for the acts in the event of positive Covid-19 tests.
Semi-Final 2 Results:
Our hosts for the evening, Alaska, Inés Hernand and Màxim Huerta, announced the following results:
| Placement | Artist | Song | Jury (50%) | Demoscopic Jury (25%) | Televote (25%) | Total |
| 1 | Rigoberta Bandini | Ay mamá | 56 | 25 | 30 | 111 |
| 2 | Rayden | Calle de la llorería | 45 | 20 | 25 | 90 |
| 3 | XEINN | Eco | 46 | 15 | 20 | 81 |
| 4 | Gonzalo Hermida | Quién lo diría | 28 | 30 | 18 | 76 |
| 5 | Marta Sango | Sigues en mi mente | 36 | 12 | 15 | 63 |
| 6 | Javiera Mena | Culpa | 28 | 10 | 12 | 50 |
| 7 | Sara Deop | Make You Say | 21 | 18 | 10 | 49 |
The results were decided in three parts – a professional jury (50%), a 350 member demoscopic jury of Spanish citizens (25%) and of course, public televoting (25%). On the jury included – Natalia Calderón, Miryam Benedited, Estefanía García, Marvin Dietmann and Felix Bergsson. The Grand Final will air on Saturday night, with eight acts taking part. All shows can be watched on La1 or RTVE Play here.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
Since their debut in 1961, with Conchita Bautista and ‘Estando contigo‘, the Iberian nation has participated in 60 consecutive contests. Only the United Kingdom has a longer unbroken streak. So far Spain has won the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions. Firstly in 1968 with Massiel and ‘La la la‘ and the following year in the dramatic four-way tie, with Salomé and ‘Vivo cantando‘.
Last year Blas Cantó’s ‘Voy A Quedarme’ was selected to represent Spain for Eurovision 2021. This followed a song selection process between two songs performed on Destino Eurovision on RTVE. The choice was between ‘Memoria’ and ‘Voy A Quedarme‘, with the Spanish public ultimately choosing the latter. He was originally due to sing ‘Universo’ at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, before it was cancelled. However Blas was later invited back by RTVE to perform at the 2021 contest.
As Spain are part of the “Big 5” that contribute the most to the EBU, Blas Cantó automatically performed in the Grand Final in Rotterdam. He ultimately finished in 24th, ahead of only the United Kingdom and Germany, with 6 points. Notably, Spain was one of four participating countries (along with the UK, Germany and the Netherlands) to receive zero points from the televote.
Did your favourite act make it through to the Benidorm Fest Grand Final? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts. As well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 contest in Turin!
