Telefe surrendered under the magnetic aura and rating power that Wanda Nara generates. In less than six months he went from being on the brink of media cancellation to becoming the absolute figure of Argentine prime time. In the offices of the baseball channel they understood that the public follows her, the brands choose her and that the press, including her haters and the faction, China Suárez-Mauro Icardithey don’t ignore it. And in an industry where digital impact drives business, Wanda ensures continuous conversation.
“MasterChef Celebrity”a format that does not include conduction at an international level, ended up bending to the logic of its star. She imposes an implicit script that is nourished by popular humor, coquetry, irony, complicity with the camera and calculated spontaneity. Although the program is strictly scheduled, its punchlines cut through the format and capture the scene. And the participants dispute and negotiate for prominence. A visit by Wanda to the station where they cook implies a moment that will become viral, a trend on networks and space in the archive programs the next day.
Irreplaceable. “At the beginning of the year there were many doubts,” admits a producer of the franchise. And he adds: “The fight with Mauro Icardi had crossed the limits of comedy. The episode with the elevator in the Chateau Libertador building scared everyone on the channel. But we did not have a replacement at his level, and withdrawing his contract was just as expensive. Maybe Wanda ended up reversing everything. In this season we have a PNT record with his face, because when we proposed one of the three juries, the answer was always: “No, we want Wanda.”.
The great narrative bet of the program and the discovery was to convert Maxi Lopez in stable character of the show. The former most media couple in the country, who faced each other for years in trials, accusations and public battles over the upbringing of their children, now plays the romantic comedy under the lights of “MasterChef”. Telefe found television gold in a duo that was unthinkable a decade ago. Wanda and Maxi sharing jokes, complicity, insinuations and chicanery. “This dish is to conquer her”he launched during a gala of romantic dinners, to top it off, winking: “To the medal! Who is it going to be?” The cameras delighted in her mischievous look, knowing that each gesture fuels an infinite novel.
A production assistant, who mediates between Telefe and Boxfish TV, acknowledges: “We didn’t want to turn it into a Wanda reality show. But it works. She goes through the entire story and the participants understood it in her favor. The game happens there.” The gala dedicated to the host’s personal tastes, dishes for her breakfast, work lunch, glamorous event and a romantic date, was the most explicit evidence of the change.
The satellites of the media ecosystem do the rest. Panelists like Luis Ventura (He was eliminated this week but returns in the playoffs) and Susana Roccasalvo They provide tension, speculate with approaches and resurrect old ghosts. The production tried to install as an antagonist Valentina Cervanteswife of the world champion Enzo Fernandezbut the plan deflated when, from London, the footballer’s entourage asked to avoid any controversy so as not to disturb the calm of the National Team in the run-up to the World Cup. “I didn’t want to be in the middle of conflicts that I wasn’t looking for,” Valentina clarified after her resignation. Telefe understood the message and lowered the curtain on that story.
Assembly. Maxi López, who years ago criticized Wanda mercilessly on her social networksnow he plays the sidekick for the audience. Now their son is born in Italy and the image of a mega family assembled for the holidays tempts everyone. In a recent television interview, she herself confessed: “I cried every night asking him to have a girlfriend.” A phrase that, in another era, would have been a tragedy. Here it functions as fuel for a collective fantasy.
The card that the channel promises to play later is Evangelina Andersonfeuding with Wanda for many years and protagonist of a historical rivalry between two vedettes who knew how to conquer the Buenos Aires theater magazines in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, the kitchen is relegated to the permanent soap opera that the host stars in. The relationship with the jurors was also resignified. If before the authority fell on the chefs, now they share the stage with Wanda, knowing that her intervention can turn a failed dish into a brilliant scene for social networks.
The goal now is to sustain Wanda’s show and not make it boring over time.
