It’s the Eurovision down season, and don’t you for a second think we’re going to stop speculating, arguing, and pushing our heated opinions. Our latest series will look at the national finals of Eurovision, and discussing how we would reform the national finals of Eurovision. Today we’re having a look at Benidorm Fest.
In part 19 of this series Daniel, Euan, and Angus discuss what changes they’d make to Spain’s NF.
What is Benidorm Fest?
Following a decade and a half interval, Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE revived the Benidorm International Song Festival, and transformed into Spain’s selection show for Eurovision. This is not the first time RTVE has experimented with pre-existing formats to select it’s Eurovision entrants; having previously intermittently used Operación Triunfo. Though this time was to much greater success, as inaugural winner Chanel ultimately finished third at the 2022 contest in Turin. Originally held between 1959 and 2006, the winner of the contest would go on to receive the prestigious award the Sirenita de Oro (trans. The Golden Mermaid). Though the winners of the current iteration of the contest receive a bronze microphone instead.
As the contest is at its heart a celebration of Spanish music, the lyrical contest of each song must be at least 60% from on of the official languages of Spain. Voting in Benidorm Fest consists of a hybrid system, with three voting methods: jury, demiscopic, and televote. the jury consists of music professions ranking the competitors, and makes up 50% of the vote. The demiscopic vote is a weighted system meant to balance the vote based on the demographic make up of Spain, and makes up 25% of the vote. The final 25% of the vote consists of simple televote.
Do we like what the NF does so far, and do we think there’s a chance of it producing a winner?
Daniel
There are some pretty good songs to have come out of the contest, there have been a lot in Benidorm that could pull in a solid result, but I think that winning the whole shebang is slightly beyond Spain’s abilities at least for now.
Angus
While I personally have gotten less enjoyment out of the Benidorm entries every year now, I do like the national final a fair bit. The songs have been by and large fine, the show is fine, the presenters do a fine job, it’s all fine. I definitely see it having the potential to be amazing though, and 2022 was already almost all the way there. If Benidorm becomes amazing, Spain will be a consistent force in Eurovision. If it remains fine, expect some yoyo-ing in the results that is unlikely to produce a winner.
Euan
This very quickly became one of my favourite NFs of the season. Even in the comparatively bad years such as 2024 it still produced some absolutely amazing songs. I think there’s so much potential for it to produce a stream of winners – providing they avoid the mistakes of 2022 and 2023 in selecting some of the worst songs of the year.
What changes would we make to the National Final?
Daniel
Euan is on this one so expect this but ten times longer and more vulgar, but get rid of the demoscopic jury. It’s just stupid and unnecessary. The flat point amounts for each position are awful as well – get rid of those in favour of an actually proportional system. Whilst there have already been some brilliant entries in Spain’s co-official languages such as Terra and Que Esclati Tot, I’d like a more formal way to get songs from these languages into the show rather than hoping for the luck of the draw.
Angus
Demoscopic bad, language diversity good, proportional system good. Basically everything that Daniel said, right? Well, I would also like some more diversity in the music. 2022 was amazing, but songs similar to entries as varied as “Terra”, “Raffaella”, or “Calle de la llorería” have seemingly disappeared. Spain has a strong and varied music scene, but you wouldn’t know that from this year’s Benidorm. It also is time for Benidorm Fest to truly work on its identity. It seems stuck between wanting to pay homage to its old, Sanremo-esque roots on the one side and its current function as a splashy NF on the other. Something about the show just feels a little off to me at the moment, and picking one direction or the other might help. Oh, and whatever they do: make voting cheaper or something, because the amount of televotes are just pathetic.
Euan
Let’s start off with the big one; the voting. Now we’ve complained a lot about voting in this series, but I would have to say that Benidorm has the worst voting system of any NF currently going. It is absolutely unconscionable that any voting system would allow an act to get 70.75% of the televote, yet only come third. Proportionality is the only justifiable response to this. A quarter weighting for the televote is not justifiable in any way whatsoever. The demiscopic jury is not a televote. It’s not like a televote. The two should not be combined. If a demiscopic vote is there it should either be equally weighted with the jury and the televote individually or the jury and it should each make up a quarter of the vote. Yes I’m still bitter about Tanxu and I will take any opportunity to complain about the most egregious attempt at a voting system.
But moving on. One thing that Benidorm does that makes it stand out in the national final season is the consistency for great staging across virtually all acts. There’s so much of a flair and polish on the performances, however that doesn’t really extend outwith the performances. I’d love some more of that flair for the intervals or the hosting itself to match the great performances.
The last thing I would want to see change relates to the ‘Spanishness’ of the show. Benidorm is intended as such a great showcase of Spanish culture, but I feel that ethos is being diluted by such a focus on Castilian. I know even having any of the regional languages in an NF is groundbreaking compared to Spain’s aversion to them in Eurovision in the past, but is one a year really justifiable? Of the three largest minority languages we’re still yet to have a Basque entry, and given we’re heading to year four of the contest I don’t really see that as justifiable. I think a way to resolve this would be to firstly increase the size of the contest and have more entrants. There’s an established quality there that makes me feel like the good songs wouldn’t be diluted with more competitors, but also could dramatically help the diversity within the show. I also think there should be a minimum level of entrants from each community to further this diversity.
Do we think any reforms are likely to happen to this NF?
Daniel
The dismal televote numbers should signal that there’s definitely a need for changes to happen, but I think RTVE either don’t know what to do or simply don’t want to.
Angus
I doubt it. Benidorm Fest seems to have built a solid audience quickly, “Zorra” was commercially successful, and while there are warning signs, I don’t think RTVE is particularly focused on those right now.
Euan
I don’t expect to see many changes to Benidorm any time soon. TVE seems really happy with the format, so don’t think sweeping changes are likely to come in the foreseeable future.
Spain’s Eurovision Journey
Spain debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 with Conchita Bautista’s “Estando Contigo”. The country earned its first win in 1968 with Massiel’s “La La La”, and won again in 1969 with Salome’s “Vivo Cantando” in an infamous four-way tie. Although they have yet to win again, Spain earned several 2nd place finishes, most famously with Mocedades’ “Eres tu” in 1973 and Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” in 1996.
In 2024, Spain selected Nebulossa. As part of the Big 5, Nebulossa did not need to qualify to the Grand Final from the semi-finals. At the close of voting, their song “ZORRA” finished 22nd, with a total of 30 points. Of these, 19 points came from the jury, whilst 11 came from the televote.
What do you think about our reforms? As always, let us know what you think by commenting down below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky for all the latest Eurovision news!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: RTVE
Tim J