Svolochy Showdown (season 38) (History of Margovya)

The thirty-eighth season of long-running Margovyan singing competition  (also known as the 2016 season) began broadcast on MNBN on February 8, 2016. Presented by former House Speakers and members  and, and paneled by  guitarist , actor-producer and former President , and previous grand champion , the competition is on its 16th Final Countdown Week. The series is expected to end on August 13, 2016, expecting a new grand champion to be announced.

Personnel and Development
On October 1, 2015, less than a month after the 37th season of Svolochy Showdown ended, the show was greenlighted for a thirty-eighth season.

Presenters
The current presenters for the Svolochy Showdown 2016 were:



As soon as the production crew started setting up for the 2016 season of the competition, Not So Socialist members Tanya Kalinina and Maria Atolova were approached to host the competition for their fourth year as the show's presenters. On November 15, 2015, both Kalinina and Atolova confirmed to return to the show as the presenters during an interview in the Svetlana Lanuva Show.

Panel of Judges
The current panel of judges for the 2016 season were:



(*) - selected judge for One Judge Judgment

Of the panel of judges of the previous season, only guitarist  confirmed to return for the 2016 season as a judge. Former judges and then-Senator  declined to return, as both were busy with their political career, the latter preparing to campaign for Vice President. However, on November 22, 2015, in an interview with Svetlana Lanuva, actor-producer and former President confirmed that he will be replacing one of the judges for the 2016 season. A spot is left vacant, until previous grand champion Andrey Laduv agreed that he will be a part of the panel of judges, the first ever Svolochy Showdown grand champion who became part of the panel of judges immediately after winning the competition.

Auditions
From December 2015 to January 2016, a total of 1.5 million aspiring singers auditioned for Svolochy Showdown 2016, a good number of which were presented in TV during the first six weeks of the show's broadcast on MNBN--the rest were uploaded in the Svolochy Showdown website. Nevertheless, each one of those who advanced to One Judge Judgment was broadcasted on TV. Here is the summary of the six-week audition broadcast: