• Television Jorge Javier Vázquez leaves television: chronology of a "see you forever" in five chapters

Saturday, June 3, 2023, a quiet Saturday, weekend, no major TV news until... until Jorge Javier Vázquezdropped the bomb: "See you forever (...) Until it arises (...) It was worth it." Jorge Javier Vázquez had been silent for two weeks. Only Mediaset, through a brief statement, tried to extinguish the rumors about what was happening with the presenter. "Temporary medical leave," said that brief press release. And silence, of everyone and everything. Until Saturday. Jorge Javier Vázquez chose social networks to announce his retirement. The bad omens were fulfilled.

The star presenter of Mediaset and, yes, of Spanish television, said 'this is how far we have come'. The end of Sálvame, the tsunami of information and rumors about him and his future, the new direction taken by Mediaset, the abrupt changes, the background, the form they could with a Jorge Javier who since Mila Ximénez died has always been clear about his priorities: him and his health, in particular his mental health. "I need to stop to take care of myself." Point. They were taking time.

Television

Mediaset.

Jorge Javier Vázquez leaves television: chronology of a "see you forever" in five chapters

  • Writing: SARA POLO Madrid
  • Writing: ESTHER MUCIENTES Madrid

Jorge Javier Vázquez leaves television: chronology of a "see you forever" in five chapters

In his publication, Jorge Javier Vázquez left an open door to a possible return, but now of course not, two weeks after the last program of Sálvame, no. How is Sálvame going to end and Jorge Javier Vázquez is not going to be there? It's like a Mass without a cure. However, during these days in the program nobody has wanted to say anything about the goodbye of Jorge Javier Vázquez. As if it hadn't happened, as if everything remained the same. But no, it's not the same. Jorge Javier Vázquez has to be there on June 23. Save Me would not have been Save Me without him, television would not be what television is today without him. It hurts the one who hurts.

This Wednesday afternoon, when nobody expected it, when it seemed that one more afternoon Save me was going to ignore the subject of Jorge Javier Vázquez, probably because he himself has asked not to be given any hype (to see why the presenter chose a Saturday and Twitter to announce his retirement), Belén Esteban came out. Since the definitive cancellation of Sálvame was announced, every afternoon the program has become a generator of headlines. As my grandmother (and Belén Esteban) would say, for what I have left in the convent I shit inside.

Veiled criticism of Mediaset, the new leadership, messages to the audience, speeches appealing to the most brutal emotion... Sálvame is going to go through the front door and for that he needs, the public needs, that the afternoon of June 23 Jorge Javier Vázquez is there. That when the lights of the set are turned off and the cameras are lowered, the last face and the last word will be that of Jorge Javier Vázquez. Surely, to him, personally and privately, all his companions have already told him; surely the silence established these days in Save me on his march, has even been a request of the presenter himself. But if something has characterized Sálvame during these 14 years is that silences last little. It had to be Belén Esteban, it could not be someone else, the one who broke that clamorous silence. And he broke it, boy did he break it.

In the middle of the program, without anyone expecting it, the collaborator stood in the middle of the set and asked for the cameras to record her. He was going to give a heartbreaking prayer, the plea of Belén Esteban, which the audience has been demanding since last Saturday: "Jorge Javier, we need you".

"I come without makeup like Rosalia because we are both artists," began the princess of the people. "I want to send a message to a very special person for me. With a person who in these 14 years I have had about 1,200 hooked. That person's name is Jorge Javier Vazquez." Behind María Patiño looked surprised at Belén Esteban. On the sides, the collaborators took out their mobiles and began to record. Sálvame was going to do what it has been doing for 14 years and, in particular, these last weeks: spectacle, entertainment, show and emotion. The essence of Save Me is this, it is to tear yourself live without measuring the consequences. Belén Esteban you have rarely measured it, less I was going to do it yesterday. Because his prayer to Jorge Javier Vázquez was also going to be accompanied by anger and reproaches. As much as they try to stop the pain of an ending, it is impossible for them.

"Jorge this goes for you. I want to tell you that on the 23rd Sálvame ends, the program of which you and I and all our colleagues have to be very proud. We've had a lot of criticism. When we did 20% or 30% there were no cojones to mess with me, with us. Now everyone criticizes us." Zas! Let us be clear.

"Jorge, on the 23rd you have to make an effort. I know you are on leave because you are not well, but on the 23rd you have to be here because I and all my colleagues and all the people of Spain need you. I don't cry with grief, I cry with joy. And I do not cry with sorrow because Save Me is over because it is true that we have to rest and new things have to come. I just want to tell you that on the 23rd I would like you to be by our side because we miss you and for me the best presenter there has been in Mediaset and in Spain is called Jorge Javier Vázquez. This is for you..." And thunderous applause resounded on the set of Save Me. It is difficult, almost impossible, to put a but to the words of Belén Esteban because on the 23rd Jorge Javier Vázquez has to be there.

It is not known how the last program of Save Me will be, but you can guess that everyone will be there, those who follow and those who were. How will Sálvame end up without Jorge Javier Vázquez? They say you realize what something is worth when you've lost it, and that's what's happening with Jorge Javier. There is a great void in Sálvame that nothing can fill. There is a huge void in Survivors that nothing can fill.

Likewise, Jorge Javier Vázquez did not hear the words of Belén Esteban this Wednesday, but he has to know. Criticized to say enough, hated by many, but loved by many others, Jorge Javier Vázquez is television in its purest form. Perhaps it is not the television that a good majority likes, but it is also the television that many others want and need, the television that Jorge Javier Vázquez makes, with his outbursts of tone, with his arrogance, with his politically incorrect. And, yes, perhaps, as Belén Esteban said yesterday, it is time to rest, to give way to others, to renew or die, but to turn the page there has to be someone to write the end and the biography of Save Me has to be written and closed by Jorge Javier Vázquez.

Will he accept, but above all, will Jorge Javier Vázquez be in the last program of Sálvame? It has to be very complicated for the presenter. On the one hand, there is what Bethlehem said yesterday, the "we need you". Surely, Jorge Javier Vázquez does not think that they need him, but he does know that he would have to be there. And, on the other, there is taking care of yourself, protecting yourself. Jorge Javier Vázquez has been overcome by an avalanche of information, rumors and pressure. And if Sálvame needs Jorge Javier Vázquez, Jorge Javier Vázquez needs to recover. Going to Sálvame on the 23rd is not going to be easy for anyone, not even for the spectators. It's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions that's hard for anyone to bear. But if you add a situation like that of Jorge Javier Vázquez, the difficulty becomes hell.

I do not doubt that it will be, but not as Belén Esteban asks. Perhaps, a call, those created by Save me from the mobile attached to the microphone, would be the simplest for the presenter, but it will not be the same. As Belén Esteban said this Wednesday in a message, another one, to Ana Rosa Quintana and Sandra Barneda, "hopefully, I wish with all my heart that the programs that come live what we have lived here those who have been 14 years and that they make the audiences that we have done (...) Sandra, Ana Rosa, I wish you all the success in the world and I send you a kiss to Mediaset". If the prayer of Belén Esteban is that Jorge Javier is there, that of Mediaset is this, without a doubt.

It recalls that scene in The Godfather, in which Al Pacino (Michael Corleone) grabs his brother Fredo's face and kisses him on the mouth after his betrayal: "I knew it, Fredo, it was you. You have broken my heart. You've broken my heart!" Save me needs his godfather, he needs his Al Pacino...

  • Bethlehem Stephen
  • Jorge Javier Vazquez
  • Save me
  • Telecinco

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