Televisa: Experts from Hollywood helped us reinvent El Retador

The debut of the second season of the reality show El Retador was the most watched this Sunday the 14th at 8:30 pm on Las Estrellas, reaching more than 4.9 million viewers and exceeding more than 15% of its competition. The reality was relaunched with new dynamics and more strenuous creative work, to end up with a product closer to the people, highlighted Rubén Galindo, one of its producers.

“We organized an extensive creative workshop with the in-house team; we even invited a couple of consultants from Hollywood to review with us all the mechanics and little modules. It was hard work, it included about 80 ways until we finally got it right on screen” he said.

After adding and removing elements of the former season, a new product was reinvented without changing the essence of the format, “We ended up with two very different seasons. It was the result of a lot of learning. It is a new format, Mexican, and very successful, but we wanted to improve it so that it could travel around the world. We reinvent it. Three disciplines are preserved, there is a jury, a prize, but now both the contestant and the judges have to make more decisions”.

Among the changes, he said, they discovered ten areas of opportunity, among them, making it more youthful, more popular, more exposure of the participants, selecting trendy music; including more comedy with Consuelo Duval, and adding the India Yuridia. “We also wanted more games for both the public and the champion and that is how we included El Retador Misterioso (The Mysterious Challenger). Also, we gave the judges more decisions to make, among other things”.

For the first time, the reality is aired simultaneously with Univision, which made the last part of the production more complex. “However, we are very close to them to assist all our friends from the American Union, with face-to-face conversations, so we included judges from very northern regions of Mexico and we invited the singer Fonseca and in the music section we are going to amuse all of Mexico and Hispanics in the US and, additionally, we will embrace those viewers in Central and South America.”

For Galindo we’re in times where the public is hungry for entertainment and surprising content on TV. “it is a big challenge, because the more screens there are, the viewer’s share is smaller for each one. Attracting these dispersed viewers is becoming more and more difficult for those of us who produce content. But by understanding how the mechanisms of drama work, you can make reality shows, game shows, and fiction that are endearing and that can leave them with something”.

El Retador is a reality show featuring exciting challenges from international artists, in which singers, dancers, and impersonators compete. All this is immersed in a dynamic that provides the suspense and emotion of a game show.

The jury group includes Alicia Villarreal, Lupillo Rivera, Fonseca and India Yuridia. Hosted by Consuelo Duval.