• TV Jordi González, away from television, clarifies rumours about his dismissal: "I've taken a sabbatical"
  • Projects Jordi González will present the debate on 'Survivors'

This June, RTVE announced new signings, including Jordi González (62 years old). Something surprising to say the least considering that his departure from Mediaset was not exactly at the peak of his career. As the presenter himself told this week in a statement to the Ïnformalia portal - he has declined to talk to this media - he was finishing a sabbatical yearand on his return, Paolo Vasile, with whom he had planned to meet, had already left Fuencarral, so he was open to other proposals. Then came the one from the public broadcaster.

Anaboleyn tongues say that Gonzalez did not have his contract renewed because he did not fit in with the new Mediaset, led by Borja Prado and Alessandro Salem. His face was too closely associated with the old Telecinco, especially with La Noria, one of the star and at the same time most controversial programs of La Fábrica de la Tele, a production company accused in Operation Deluxe.

In addition, the Catalan did not make very good audience figures in his latest works for the network, mostly reality shows and post-reality debates such as Big Brother, Survivors and Secret Story. Formats in which he has been replaced by the Basque journalist Ion Aramendi.

For these reasons, his arrival at the public entity, where he began his national television career, was greeted with skepticism. Sources consulted by La Otra Crónica suggest that Jordi González is a personal bet by José Pablo López, RTVE's content director since spring 2022. José Pablo has worked for Mediaset and Telemadrid, he has worked with La Fábrica de la Tele and it is no secret that he likes the programmes that Jordi has hosted, "an outstanding professional, a serious guy, a presenter who modulates his voice very well", says a person who has worked with him but prefers not to give his name.

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With José Pablo López on the staff, TVE broadcasts or is pending broadcast formats from private channels such as Bake off and Bailando con las estrellas, a sequel to Mira quien baila. Also with López, characters such as Terelu Campos, Rociíto or Lydia Lozano have reappeared in Prado del Rey. In fact, the former director of Telemadrid, who is very committed to the LGTBI+ cause, is responsible for milestones in the public broadcaster, such as the broadcast of the Gay Pride parade in the summer of last year. A special hosted by María del Monte and Boris Izaguirre.

Jordi González arrived precisely this summer to replace Boris at the helm of Lazos de sangre, a program with good audience results whose team was taken by surprise by the Venezuelan's replacement, since it was prior to his signing for AtresMedia. Jordi has improved those data of Lazos somewhat, but he has not had luck with the afternoon show La Plaza that he presented this September to compete against Y ahora Sonsoles and TardeAR, which was cancelled due to its bad data a few weeks later.

Anne Igartiburu's displeasure

According to Informalia, the Catalan will present an updated version of the Corazón show in January, although he says he does not yet know exactly what the programme is going to be about and that he has not yet signed any contract. It has transpired, however, and unofficially, that Anne Igartiburu - who will present Dancing with the Stars, TVE confirmed on Thursday - is not at all happy to share the screen with him, and that the proposal alone caused the channel not to count on her again this year for the chimes with Ramón García as planned. Last year, Anne – who also did not want to talk to this newspaper – did not lead them after 17 consecutive years because the directors of TVE considered it disloyal for the Basque to participate in Tu cara me suena, on Antena 3. After a few months, they wanted him to present them again this year, but his displeasure at notifying him of the project with Jordi, with whom he has not spoken since those 17 years according to him, has produced a new disagreement.

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In any case, Jordi González is of interest to TVE for whatever reason as the host of current affairs programmes and social chronicles. After the notorious withdrawal of advertisers from La Noria in 2011 after the interview with the mother of El Cuco, implicated in the death of Marta del Castillo [a matter on which Jordi himself spoke on Twitter and for which he was harshly criticized], Mediaset gave him a new opportunity by offering him the sequel to La Noria, which was called The Great Debate, and the aforementioned reality shows with modest audience results.

Today, Jordi González is known by 85% of the population. "His image is polarized because he has been on controversial Mediaset programs. He became an important asset for the network, but he gradually disappeared from the scene as Jorge Javier monopolized everything. Young consumers fail in image by 40%, while adults save them, something that the rest of their peers at that time did not," says Santiago Mollinedo, director of Personality Media.

On a personal level, hardly anything is known about Jordi. He has said that he is not pro-independence, but that his brother is. He travels a lot to Miami and Colombia, where he has had homes, and is single and childless. She recently lost her father and has four dogs that she goes out of her way for. He is an enigma in himself, as was his signing for TVE.