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Insiders is a Spanish reality television series hosted by Najwa Nimri. It premiered on Netflix on October 21, 2021.

Premise

Thirteen contestants are gathered in a 1,600 square-meter studio under the guise of the final stage of the casting process for a reality show. What they do not know is that, in fact, they are already in the show: cameras are secretly filming them during all their stay in the area. The objective of this is to catch contestants off guard and make them confront the differences in their behavior between the times they know they are being filmed and the times they think they are not. The winner will earn a €100,000 prize.

Season 1 (2021)

Contestants

Results and elimination

Season 2 (2022)

During a press conference for Netflix's Spanish originals at the 2021 Vitoria FesTVal, Álvaro Díaz, Netflix Spain's director of non-fiction content, confirmed that a second season had already been filmed. Season 2 premiered on May 19, 2022. Laura and Peter from Season 1 returned as 'mole' contestants, trained by the show's crew for a special assignment.

Contestants

Results and elimination

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022)

Critical reception

Insiders was met with positive to mixed reviews in Spain, being hailed as a return to the essence of reality television. FormulaTV's Sergio Navarro compared the show to American television series Unreal, noting that it showed the crew plotting where the show was heading. "And it is thrilling to witness those private meetings, unbeknownst to the contestants, where you can see how they weave the twists and turns and how they come together to create an exciting program."

Bluper's Juan M. Fernández also picked up on the comparison to Unreal, while praising the decision to keep the runtime at an hour or less per episode: "It was about time that shows with episodes of no more than 50 minutes were done in this country. The show wins with it. More so with such outstanding music. Insiders cuts to the chase, gets right down to business."

Espinof's Mikel Zorrilla was less impressed, noting that the format becomes overcomplicated in its attempt to keep contestants and viewers alike on their toes: "Insiders wants to outsmart everyone, at once trying to retrieve something unique and to constantly surprise. The mixture is striking at first, but there is a point where everything turns out kind of random, leaving the show at a strange middle ground between the search for something real and the completely manufactured."

For similar reasons, Decider's Joel Keller advised readers to skip the show, concluding: "There’s a good reality competition somewhere within the convoluted format of Insiders. But the pains the producers take to keep their secret from the contestants makes it all about the conceit and not the contestants themselves."

References

1. Paredes, Mónica (16 September 2021). "'Insiders', el 'reality' presentado por Najwa Nimri, ya tiene fecha de estreno en Netflix". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 October 2021.
2. Rodera, Alejandro (16 September 2021). "Netflix estrena 'Insiders', su primer reality español, el 21 de octubre". FormulaTV (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 October 2021.
3. "Netflix presenta a los concursantes de 'Insiders', su primer reality en España". Bluper (in Spanish). 5 October 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
4. Fernández, Juan M. (3 September 2021). "Netflix impacta e ilusiona con los primeros avances de 'Insiders', 'Amor con fianza' y 'Yo soy Georgina'". Bluper (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 October 2021.
5. ^ Cabanillas Tapia, Andrea (20 April 2022). "'Insiders 2' se estrena el 19 de mayo en Netflix y presenta a sus diez nuevos concursantes". FormulaTV (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2022.
6. "Shows A-Z – Insiders on Netflix". The Futon Critic. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
7. Navarro, Sergio (18 October 2021). "Crítica de 'Insiders': Una fantasía de metarreality para los amantes de la televisión". FormulaTV (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 October 2021.
8. Fernández, Juan M. (20 October 2021). "'Insiders', el adictivo e inquietante reality de Netflix que necesitaba el amante del género en España". Bluper (in Spanish). El Español. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
9. Zorrilla, Mikel (21 October 2021). "'Insiders' quiere ser una revolución, pero el primer reality español de Netflix se complica demasiado buscando la sorpresa". Espinof (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 October 2021.
10. Keller, Joel (21 October 2021). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Insiders' On Netflix, A Convoluted Spanish 'Big Brother' Copycat Where The Housemates Don't Think They're Being Filmed". Decider. Retrieved 23 October 2021.

Notes

1. Iván and Olaya's eliminations in the finale were announced at the same time without disclosing the full results; therefore, they are considered to be tied for third.
2. Tatiana was later revealed to be an actress who was there to fool the contestants.

• 2021 Spanish television series debuts
• Spanish reality television series
• Netflix original programming
• Spanish-language television shows