El bus

Over thirty cameras and even more microphones were the witnesses to life aboard ‘El bus’ where ten contestants competed for the sumptuous cash prize of no less than 50 million pesetas. Every week the audience chose which passengers should abandon the bus and it was their own fellow travellers who had to vote to decide which one to expel.

As well as organising life on the bus in terms of administration, cooking and cleaning, the passengers had to pass different tests both inside and outside the bus. Some of them were able to enjoy supper and a few drinks in the city of destination for being the contestant less voted for by the audience, in other words, the most popular.

The structure of the bus, the biggest ever built in Spain, was a double-decker. It had a dining room-kitchen, an external communications room, a cabin isolated from the rest for confidential communications, a relax room, a fully equipped bathroom and a 7-metre long bed. It also had a “fold-up” garden with Jacuzzi: in short, all the necessary comforts.

Every day, for one hundred days, three summaries of life on the bus were broadcast in the morning, afternoon and evening, making sure every detail of what happened during the 24 hours was not missed. There was also the option of being able to observe day and night on Vía Digital and Quiero, who provided uninterrupted coverage.

All this was complemented by the live specials that were organised every Monday from the city in which ‘El bus’ had stopped and where each week’s expulsions were decided.

Inés Ballester and Liborio García were the masters of ceremonies who, as well as keeping viewers up to date about life on the bus, chatted with friends and relatives of the passengers about the most important events of the week. As can be imagined, situations of all kinds arose, the majority of them funny and always focused on with a sense of humour.

As well as the weekly specials, which numbered fourteen in all, two daily summaries and weekend specials were shown.

‘El bus’ began its route in September 2000 in Barcelona and travelled to several points of Spain, calling at Tarragona, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Oviedo, Vigo, Salamanca, Toledo, Jaén, Granada, Jerez, Torremolinos, Huelva, Puertollano and Madrid, where the grand final gala was held on the 23rd of December and in which Sonia, the longest lasting passenger of the group, was proclaimed the winner. The average audience percentage for the programme was 26.5%, with a top audience figure of six million viewers.