Operación Triunfo
Created by	Toni Cruz Josep Maria Mainat Joan Ramon Mainat
Presented by	Carlos Lozano (2001–2004) Jesús Vázquez (2005–2009) Pilar Rubio (2011) Roberto Leal (2017–2020) Chenoa (2023–)
Country of origin	Spain
No. of series	12
Production
Running time	160–180 minutes
Production company	Gestmusic Endemol
Original release
Network	La 1
Release	22 October 2001 (2001-10-22) – 28 January 2004 (2004-01-28)
Network	Telecinco
Release	30 June 2005 (2005-06-30) – 20 February 2011 (2011-02-20)
Network	La 1
Release	23 October 2017 (2017-10-23) – 10 June 2020 (2020-06-10)
Network	Amazon Prime Video
Release	20 November 2023 (2023-11-20) – present

Operación Triunfo (English: Operation Triumph) is a reality television talent show which first aired on Spain's TVE network in 2001. A music talent contest with viewer voting and reality show elements that originated Endemol's Star Academy franchise, the show aims to find the country's next solo singing sensation.

Operación Triunfo (also known as OT) first aired in 2001. On its first run between 2001 and 2004, three series were aired on TVE, which also served as the national final to select the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The first series of OT was particularly successful in ratings, becoming one of the most popular shows in the history of Spanish television and featuring singers that went on to enjoy long-term recognition from the public: notably Rosa López, David Bisbal, David Bustamante or Chenoa. After the third series, TVE decided not to renew the show and its rights were acquired by Telecinco, which aired series 5–8 of the series. Series 8 in 2011 was cancelled due to poor ratings and its finale was rushed as a result.

On 26 April 2017, RTVE approved a new series of the talent show produced by Gestmusic Endemol, returning to TVE after 13 years. The total cost of the series was €10.2 million.^[1] Due to its ratings success, it was renewed for a further series.^[2] This was the second most successful edition of the program to date,^[3][4] artists like Aitana, Ana Guerra, Amaia, Alfred García, Luis Cepeda, Agoney, Miriam Rodríguez or Lola Índigo have emerged from this edition.^[5]

In 2023, Amazon Prime Video acquired the rights to air the twelfth series.^[6] Shortly after the conclusion of this series, it was announced that Amazon had picked up the show for a thirteenth season, but no specific timeline for its production was given at the time.^[7]

Format

A selection of hopefuls is boarded in "The Academy", managed by a headmaster, where they are coached by various professionals in several artistic disciplines and are filmed with cameras (an idea borrowed from another of Endemol's major reality shows Big Brother). Once a week, the contestants have to face a prime time show, where they sing a cover version of a popular song they have prepared during the week before, as well as recapping their trials and tribulations at The Academy from the past week. The live show will often feature special guest stars, with whom some of the contestants have the opportunity to sing. Based on the judges' verdicts and viewer voting, the weakest contestant is dropped. The eventual winner is awarded a record deal and/or some amount of money.

Series overview

All contestants appearing above (1st to 6th) were born in Spain, except for Chenoa who is Argentinian-born (from series 1), Moritz Weisskopf who is German (series 5), Chipper Cooke who is from the United States (series 6), Brenda Mau who is from Peru (series 7), Alexandra Masangkay who is from the Philippines (series 8), winner of series 8 Nahuel Sachak who is from Paraguay, winner of series 10 Famous Oberogo who is Dutch-born, Lucas Curotto who is from Uruguay (series 12) and Ruslana Panchyshyna who is from Ukraine (series 12) .

Series 1 (2001–02)

All three finalists of the inaugural series released debut albums, but while Rosa (accompanied by some fellow contenders as backing singers) scored seventh place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 with the song "Europe's Living a Celebration", and had notable success with her albums, it was Bisbal who went on to international success, even winning a Latin Grammy Award for Best Newcomer for his album Corazón Latino.

Other participants of this first edition (Chenoa, Nuria Fergó and Manu Tenorio) also launched successful solo careers. In addition, Gisela was hired by Disney Spain and started a career in musical theater; and represented Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.

Series 2 (2002–03)

The second series of Operación Triunfo became an anomaly in the category of popular reality TV music shows. First of all, the winner had very little success after the show. Second of all, many contestants who did not do well had massive success across Europe and Latin America, not just in Spain:

Beth was chosen to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003. She scored 8th place with the song "Dime".

The first person out of the show, Mai Meneses, rose to prominence in 2006 when herself and a childhood friend formed the band Nena Daconte. They released an album, He Perdido Los Zapatos, which was highly praised by critics. The album sold over 200,000 copies in Spain alone, an amazing feat as an average album to get to number 1 in Spain needs around 20,000 sales.

Vega, who came 9th, managed to release the best selling single of 2003 in Spain with her own composition, "iGrita!", with over one million copies sold.