The most successful program on Basque television of the last two decades will soon arrive on La 1 (the forecast is in the summer) by presenters Julian Iantzi and Raquel Sánchez Silva. The conquistador is presented as an "adventure and extreme risk" competition in which 33 people selected from among 1,500 candidates participate. Accompanied by Joana Pastrana, Patxi Salinas and Cesc Escolà as captains, the contestants will fight in the Caribbean to become the first winner in Spain of an extremely demanding reality show in terms of physical and mental aspects.
The adaptation of El Conquistador arrives as an RTVE production in collaboration with Hostoil (The Mediapro Studio), the production company in charge of the program in the Basque Country. Behind the success of the original format, programmed since 2005 on ETB, the Basque public television, there are several ingredients. One of the most important is the casting itself, the contestants who compete on the show. In the Basque version of El Conquistador there was everything; from professional sportsmen, nurses or firefighters in excellent physical condition, to people with little sporting experience who have made use of other qualities to face the adventure.
The La 1 program will have 18 men and 15 women who will test their physical and mental capacity, with a prize of 100,000 euros on the horizon. "The format has been modernized, it is inclusive and equal. It's not an ironman. There are elite athletes and people who want to get out of their comfort zone. Spectators will feel identified with it", explains Patxi Alonso, general director of Hostoil and creator and executive producer of the format.
Ex-boxer and businesswoman Joana Pastrana, ex-footballer Patxi Salinas and fitness professional Cesc Escolà will accompany the contestants as captains, divided into three teams: the green one for the girls (Atabey), the red one for the boys (Tocahu) and blue the color that distinguishes the mixed (Cocorote). "It's a program in which you can see the limits of people, both physical and mental, and I think the wild Cesc will come out that I've never shown", says Escolà.
The place where the adventure is being recorded is another relevant ingredient, a paradisiacal environment where, nevertheless, they will know hell for moments. The first edition on a Spanish scale, the program is being recorded in the Haitises National Park, in the Dominican Republic, with a technical team of 250 people.
The new program aspires to approach the exceptional success that has accompanied the format in the Basque Country since its first broadcast, almost two decades ago. During the 19 editions, it has become an audience phenomenon, with averages that exceed 20% of the screen share, enjoys particular success among young people and has followers even in Latin America.
"It's a format of adventure and extreme risk that was missing from RTVE, and it has proven to be a great success on Basque public television. It promotes values such as camaraderie, loyalty, teamwork, truth, improvement and the conservation of the environment," explains RTVE's Director of Originals, . From The Mediapro Studio, the director of non-fiction, Amparo Castellano, emphasizes that the key to the format is that "it is true" and "very different from any survival program".
