The arrival of the autonomous channels and, later, of the private channels broke the monopoly of the public television in Spain. Since that, the networks bet by the great spectacular contests as a formula to attract the audience and the advertising. The objective of this article is to analyze the presence of these games contests in the programming of the Spanish channels between 1990-2000 and to evaluate the tendencies of its offer, making a content analysis of the guide and textual analysis of these productions. In addition, the host, the audience and the kind of production are valued. It will be demonstrted that the spectacularization and eroticism of the shows were the two elements that defined the idiosyncrasy of these programs in the analyzed period.Entre los años ochenta y noventa se produce un auténtico cambio en el panorama televisivo español, apareciendo primero los canales autonómicos y posteriormente las cadenas privadas. Roto el monopolio de la televisión pública las cadenas se enfrentan a la lucha por la audiencia y por sus ingresos derivados de la publicidad; los operadores apostaron por los grandes concursos espectaculares como fórmula para atraer a la audiencia.