presenting at
El Hormiguero The show first received international attention in 2006 for having people walk across a swimming pool filled with a
non-Newtonian fluid, a
suspension of
cornstarch and
water called
oobleck, that was mixed in a cement truck. This experiment was performed in an October 2006 episode of the show and was repeated with a new batch of oobleck on the
Christmas Eve special episode due to its popularity. In 2007,
Cuatro signed an agreement with
YouTube that allows clips from Cuatro programs, including
El Hormiguero, to be showcased on the site. In 2009, El Hormiguero was awarded as the best entertainment program in the international
Rose d'Or awards. The win was the fourth time a Spanish program has received the award, the first since 1994. Since 2008, the show has received a large number of appearances from international celebrities. In addition, sometimes, Pablo Motos has travelled to other countries to interview notable people there. This was the case in Motos' interviews with
Hugh Laurie (in
Los Angeles), to
Rey Misterio (in the United States) or Will and
Jaden Smith (in their fourth and second interviews with Motos, respectively; in
London). The programme has also interviewed Will Smith with
Margot Robbie. After
Jesse Eisenberg spoke negatively about his experience as guest on
El Hormiguero, in an interview with
Conan O'Brien on
TBS's Conan, Pablo Motos gave a humorous retort to the actor and the American talk-show host from the Spanish program. In 2011,
El Hormiguero was nominated to an
International Emmy Award in the Non-scripted entertainment category, but didn't win. As told in the 16 January broadcast, Pablo Motos was offered
Santiago Segura's Spanish character on
Jack & Jill by
Adam Sandler himself, who has been a guest on El Hormiguero on several occasions. Motos couldn't speak English, so the offer flustered him, but when he was ready to decline it, some of the show producers spoke with Sandler about the idea, reaching an agreement: They would send a screen test with Pablo performing his lines, learned by phonetic sounds.
Jorge Ventosa, one of the producers, performed Sandler's female role. Motos and Segura (who is a frequent collaborator) decided to broadcast the audition during an interview on the programme, promoting the release of the movie. In 2009, Siete y Acción licensed the show's format to Grundy Italy, an Italian production company, to produce a local version of the show, but its pilot in the original format was never picked up. Also in 2009, Chilean and Portuguese versions were produced: in Chile the show flopped and was axed within a month; the Portuguese version ran successfully until 2013 in various timeslots on
SIC. In June 2010 the Mexican version of the show premiered: it was produced for two series but was unexpectedly cancelled during its second series as a cost-cutting measure by
TV Azteca. The Brazilian version premiered ten days afterwards, but was axed within a year. In 2013 there was an attempt by
Will Smith to move the format to the United States, showing interest in the
NBC or
CBS networks, but it did not materialise. The programme has also been adapted successfully in China by
Hunan Television (though it has been suggested by producers that the local network haven't paid for the rights). According to producers 7yAcción, the programme has been piloted additionally in Argentina, Colombia, Germany and Romania. The show is broadcast in the US by Spanish-language channel
Estrella TV. In 2024, it was announced that
Italia 1 would remake the show in Italy as
Il Formicaio. ==Cast==