Yoav Tzafir Admits Audience Got It Right on The Next Star Reality Show
Yoav Tzafir, chief editor of The Next Star, admits the audience was right about a past contestant. Ahead of the new season, he reveals major format changes and judges.
Yoav Tzafir, the director and chief editor of "The Next Star", admits that at least once the home audience saw things better than he did. Ahead of the new season, which will select Israel's representative for the 2027 Eurovision in Bulgaria, Tzafir appeared on Friday as a guest on Galit Gutman and Ilanit Levi's talk show and revealed what happens behind the scenes of the hit reality show.
The Audience Knew Better
Tzafir is used to controlling every single frame, but during the live finals, the decision shifts to the judges and viewers. He says he completely trusts the Israeli audience's choice, even when it takes him by surprise.
"I won't say who, of course, but there was one particular case in all the years I've been doing 'The Next Star' including Eurovision, when I said 'I'm not sure this will be good enough', and I saw that the audience was right," he shared. "Sometimes you are trapped in various conceptions, but the moment a massive crowd chooses someone so charismatic and talented, well, they know what they are doing. I must have missed something."
Stars Who Failed Auditions
Tzafir searches for the next voices all year round, on Instagram and in small clubs. Nevertheless, he admits that some of today's biggest stars simply failed their auditions on the show. Among the names he mentioned were Sasson Shaulov and Itay Levi, who now sits on the show's judging panel himself.
"Of course, we make a lot of mistakes," he said. "We are only human, and sometimes this format doesn't suit everyone. Sometimes your path needs to be independent, through the song you write and through the radio."
Eurovision Scoring System
This season brings two major changes. First, Oshri Cohen is joining the judging panel. "He has this quiet wisdom and he is not afraid of anyone," Tzafir said. Second, the show is parting ways with the familiar blue and red voting mechanism and switching to the official Eurovision scoring system, ranging from 4 to 12 points.
According to Tzafir, the new system allows the judges to refine their critiques and generates brand new suspense among the contestants, who initially greeted the change with absolute shock.
