Operación Triunfo (series 11)
Operación Triunfo is a Spanish reality television music competition to find new singing talent. The eleventh series, also known as Operación Triunfo 2020, began airing on La 1 on 12 January 2020, presented by Roberto Leal. In addition to the Galas or weekly live shows on La 1, the side show El Chat airs on La 1 after each weekly Gala, hosted by Noemí Galera and Ricky Merino. The activities of the contestants at "The Academy" or La Academia are streamed live via YouTube. Unlike the seasons previously aired by TVE, the series did not serve as the platform to select the Spanish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020; singer Blas Cantó was internally selected by the broadcaster instead. Further changes were revealed during the presentation press conference on January 9, including different privileges to the favorite of the audience, who will no longer be automatically exempt from nomination, and the suppression of the usual limit to the number of contestants up for elimination. Following the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, the show was paused for two months, and then returned on May 20, with no live audience in the studio for the remaining episodes. Headmaster, judges and presenter Roberto Leal continues as host and Noemí Galera continues as the headmaster of the Academy. Ana Torroja, Joe Pérez-Orive, and Manuel Martos left the judging panel. On 12 December 2019, it was announced that the panel would consist of four permanent judges, without the presence of rotatory guest judges like in the previous two seasons. It was announced that the panel would consist of music radio director Javier Llano – who was previously a permanent judge on series 4, 5 and 6 –, musician and talent scout Javier Portugués, singer and songwriter Natalia Jiménez, and singer and actress Nina – who was previously the headmaster of the Academy on series 1, 2, 3 and 8 – are the judges. Auditions Open casting auditions began on 7 October 2019 in Barcelona and concluded on 6 November 2019 in Madrid. The minimum age to audition was 18. A total of 10,601 candidates participated in the open auditions. After the open auditions, 86 candidates were called for the final auditions that took place from 25 November to 26 November 2019 in Barcelona. For the first time, all phases of the casting auditions were streamed live via YouTube up until the announcement of the last thirty candidates. Eighteen of these candidates advanced to the introduction live show or "Gala 0". Contestants 18 contestants were presented on the introduction live show or Gala 0. Galas The Galas or live shows began on 12 January 2020. In the introduction live show or Gala 0, 18 candidates were presented to enter the "Academy." Each contestant performed a cover version of a popular song of their choice, and two of the candidates were eliminated. For the regular galas, the contestants are assigned a popular song to perform in a duet or solo. The audience votes for their