From Escanas's sobriety to Pedroche's excess: this is how television stations have received them in 2026

BarcelonaThe New Year's Eve ratings don't come in until January 2nd, but social media has already delivered its first verdict. And in the case of Cristina Pedroche, who for some years now has managed to generate buzz around her dress—or perhaps we should say, her lack thereof—it's hard to find anyone who approves of the double option chosen by the presenter this year. She began the gala wearing a kind of coat that paid homage to the dozen or so outfits she's worn in every year she's hosted the New Year's Eve broadcast. The result was an impossible layering of disconnected and heterogeneous cutouts that looked more like a flea market stall than an outfit. Within minutes, social media was flooded with ironic comments and memes.

When she took off her coat, she revealed yet another version of the outfit, adorned with just the bare minimum of beading necessary to avoid a Sabrina Salerno-esque look. In any case, the trick worked in 2022, 2023, and 2024, when Antena 3 managed to become the ratings leader in Spain and dethrone La1, but it faltered last year, as David Broncano and Lalachús—by a narrow margin—managed to reclaim the top spot. This year, the Atresmedia group decided against broadcasting its own New Year's Eve special on La Sexta, suggesting that it will combine the ratings of Pedroche and Alberto Chicote on both channels to claim that its broadcast was the most watched.

To bolster their chances of leading, the couple was accompanied by Santiago Segura, who had been building anticipation by promising a bombshell announcement. As expected, the announcement was a promotion: his new film in the Torrente saga. "It's amazing, my best film," he declared. The film in question is titled Torrente, president and will premiere on March 13.

In Catalonia, meanwhile, there's no reason to believe that TV3 won't retain its lead for another year, having opted to repeat its formula for the third New Year's Eve in a row: Laura Escanes and Miki Núñez. The pair sang together again, this time the song The last kiss and the first...in a pre-recorded version and the airbag effect of autotune. She wore a very cinematic red taffeta dress that contrasted sharply with her rival's tacky outfit on the private channel. The drone show was also elegant, with music by Marc Parrot using traditional Catalan instruments and symbolism rooted in the classical elements of fire, earth, air, and water. And the fountains were finally flowing in Montjuïc.

The presenter's outfit The journey It was a design by the firm Yolancris, which she has trusted on previous occasions. "We had in mind the silhouettes of Jacques de Fath and the draping of Madame Gres, a style that we find eternally elegant and timeless," noted Yolanda Pérez, co-creator of the design along with Cristina Pérez, in the magazine. Hello!

La1 had to improvise a New Year's Eve broadcast after Andreu Buenafuente's stress-related absence, choosing Estopa and Chenoa as hosts. The duo from Cornellà showed that, despite their ease, they still had a way to go as presenters. In contrast, Chenoa performed very well and reaffirmed what she had already demonstrated on Operación Triunfo: that she is a versatile professional with a natural talent for presenting. The state broadcaster gambled on featuring a performance of La Oreja de Van Gogh's new song, a track that, perhaps with the aim of fitting into the... hype Rosalistic, it has a refrain that repeats "I believe in God."

The broadcast was pleasant, although it was noticeable that the Muñoz brothers and Chenoa hadn't quite had time to work on their on-screen chemistry. She wore a white dress with sequins, a very low neckline, and voluminous tulle clouds on the sleeves, an idea by Alejandro de Miguel and made in a record time of eight days.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the network, and the celebrations began tonight with the premiere of the anthem. Unstoppable, a choral song sung by in-house professionals such as the team of The revoltMarco Giró, Paula Vázquez, Anne Igartiburu, Jesús Cintora, Jordi Hurtado, Gemma Nierga, or the jury of MasterChef, among many others.

Finally, on Telecinco (and Cuatro), Sandra Barneda and Xuso Jones delivered a functional New Year's Eve broadcast, with the reassurance that comes from knowing the only viewers are those who've lost the remote and don't know how to change the channel. The network has long since thrown in the towel and given up on seriously competing against Antena 3 and La1. Furthermore, the broadcast originated from the Formigal-Panticosa ski resort: considering that just two days earlier a deadly avalanche had struck the same area, claiming three lives, the decision to proceed with the celebration was, at the very least, questionable.

Although it was a last-minute change in the case of La1, this has been a night where the stars have clearly been women: Escanas, Pedroche, Chenoa, Barneda... Ramón García's cape is now ancient history. Now we just have to decide if this is a sign of empowerment or yet another example of the objectification of women on television.