Christian Gálvez was paid without working, but he “complained” to Mediaset for not giving him a program: “I wanted to be useful”

Christian Gálvez has been with Mediaset for a lifetime. The presenter has hosted some of the most successful programs, such as Pasapalabraand has always been protected by a network contract that allowed him to have his back covered. However, Gálvez was not satisfied with that and asked the network to give him some program. He has been off screen for a year and now he returns with Boomone of the great television formats that is now beginning a new stage on Cuatro (Monday to Friday at 7:00 p.m.) after passing through Antena 3.

You’ve said that Boom is a very special project because it’s the first programme you’ve done since becoming a father. Is there a very important emotional charge?

You will see a Christian who is happy in all aspects of his life: happy in love, happy in the family, in the personal sphere and now, thanks to Boomalso in the workplace. I’m not going to hide the fact that I’ve presented programmes in bad times and you have to put on a kind of mask to pretend that everything is going well because on TV everything has to go well. But now you’re going to see a Christian with a lot more light.

You always seemed very happy on television… Did you hide it well?

I have always been happy at Mediaset. Fall who falls It was harder, but from the time I started doing competitions at Mediaset I was always very happy. But there are times when you are not, because happiness is not an eternal state in which you are always well. Sometimes you cannot be happy, but not only for yourself, because your mother is sick… But now I am fulfilled.

Boom arrives on Cuatro after passing through Antena 3. Do you feel pressure to premiere it at a particularly delicate moment in terms of ratings on Mediaset?

I always feel pressure. But I think we all feel it. Not the obsession, which some people do. I feel pressure when they tell me: ‘You’re going to do Boom! Do you want to?’. That’s when I feel pressure, because it’s about adapting to a new way of working, to a new team, to a new mechanic that you have to study, that you have to learn because from the first minute you can’t hesitate, you can’t capsize. The pressure is already there. The audiences are our daily bread. The pressure is preparing and going out there to defend it. Also, in my personal case, the pressure is to demonstrate or try to demonstrate that you’re not rusty.

You’ve been off-screen for a while. Although television has its ups and downs… How do you manage the ups and downs of such an unstable sector?

My break happened many years ago. We are talking about 2003 and then I was rescued, so to speak, with Come what may. Since then I have not stopped working in television. One thing is being a presenter and another is being famous. In the first case, that of a presenter, you put the will, and in the case of being famous, the will is put on you by others, it is the label that is hung on you. But having said that, it is complicated. It is true that, for some time now, I have become much more spiritual and I know how to handle things differently. For example, since September of last year, when I finished 25 wordsI made the Chimes and we recorded Celebrity Schoolwhich is currently in the fridge. This is nothing, in a year it is very little.

I was complaining… let’s see. I don’t know if I had any right to complain, but when you’re in this world you know that sooner or later you’re going to have to go through a fallow period. Everyone has had it, the greatest have had it, and it’s true that, fortunately, I’d never had it, I’d never stopped for so long. Even when it ended PasapalabraThey automatically invented a format that worked very regularly. And then I more or less settled in. It is true that during this whole period of time I demanded to do things, it is a personal need to feel useful. Also, I am hyperactive.

What did they tell you on the network?

‘Wait, wait, when we have something…’ But this is like when you’re a teenager and your partner tells you that we’re going to take a break. And you think: ‘A break is a week or 15 years? Is a break for you the same as for me?’ The process of uncertainty is very complicated. And when the network said ‘we’ve got it’ it was because they were waiting for the worst to give it to me. Anyway, I’m grateful and I feel lucky, because in this time I’ve been able to write, I’ve raised my baby and now I combine it very well with my wife, and I’m working in a format that I love.

Does having a network contract not give you peace of mind?

Yes, of course. I have had an exclusive contract with Mediaset for many years. But it is not about having an exclusive contract and having a guaranteed salary, you want to be useful. I mean, if you love the job… I am a big football fan, I don’t want to be Beckham when he was with Capello. I don’t want to be in the stands. On the bench, yes, because you can leave at any time.

Getting paid without working must be traumatic… (Laughs)

(Laughs). The problem is that if you get paid for not working and you have to renew your contract in a year, you are no longer worth the same. That’s where the drama comes in. I think in the medium and long term.

This time off-screen has coincided with the change in management at Mediaset. Were you afraid that they would stop counting on you?

No, no, not especially, no. Besides, I had a very good relationship with Paolo. [Vasile]. You could talk to him face to face. It’s true that in 14 years I called him three times and all three times we talked and everything was resolved. There was never a problem except to say: “Hey, look, I’m worried about this” or “Hey, I’d like to do this.” Also, during the pandemic, we even had meetings with the production company via video calls and the truth is that it was very good. Then they told me who the new CEO was, who was going to take over, and the first time I saw Alessandro [Salem] It was at a breakfast meeting at Mediaset. He came up to me and told me that he loved my studies on Leonardo da Vinci. I thought: ‘Wow, he’s a guy who likes culture, a guy who cares about the people around him, about the people who are going to defend his editorial line or what he believes in the way of making television.’

And no, I wasn’t scared at all. It had nothing to do with the change. [de directiva]because, as far as I know, I have nothing to fear as a presenter. I mean, I’m not a presenter well versed in politics, or a social activist in a particular cause that is problematic for the channel. I participate with FEDER, with the Spanish Federation of Rare Diseases, with Paco Lobatón in the European Foundation for Missing Persons, which are not the subject of conflict with anything I do. So no, not especially. In fact, I renewed with Alessandro. My last contract was signed with Alessandro already in charge. So, at the moment when they already bet on continuity with certain people, I was calm. What happens is that then the format has to come, there are many of us and a competent programming is being sought.

Why don’t you do Boom with your production company, Fenix ​​Media?

Because my producer never had Boom. The rights were held by Mediacrest. Also, it is one thing for me to have a stake and be in charge of research and development at Fénix Media, but I do not work exclusively, nor do I want to work exclusively, for Fénix Media. I am a presenter for Mediaset and my ultimate goal is to be a presenter for Mediaset for all those production companies that have interesting products and for all those executives, in this case, who decide that Christian Gálvez has to present this program with this production company. If we had to depend on me for Fénix Media, it would be a responsibility that I would not want. So, right now at Fénix Media we are involved in other things, beyond contests we are with documentaries, and Mediacrest has a long experience in doing contests and it does it very well.

Fénix Media is now behind Socialité. How was this transfer with La Fábrica de la Tele?

I don’t know how to tell you, because I’m not in charge of that part. It’s been a change of direction and that’s it. We continue working and respecting the same teams. It’s still being done, it’s a nice assignment, because it allows us to produce and maintain the company, as well as other productions. I don’t work or consume my heart, but there’s a wonderful team that continues doing things very well. We have two presenters who defend the format like God. It was difficult to defend a format that came from being an… author format, so to speak, and it’s well defended. It’s also true that, in the heart, it’s being carried out in another way. Neither better nor worse. Another way. But I’m not very versed in the Socialité world.

You mentioned Caiga quien caído earlier, which is returning to Mediaset. Have you been asked to present it?

If I told you, I would have to kill you. [risas]It’s true that I talk to the production company and all that, but I’ve never asked about the format. I’ve always said that I think it’s been a very necessary programme over the last few years and now I don’t know if it’s a necessary and dangerous programme at the same time, because the situation is complicated politically and I don’t know if it’s more necessary than ever or not. I don’t know.

Would you like to be part of it again if it is offered to you?

I would like to be part of Mediaset. If they call me for Caiga quien caído, I’ll stay with ¡Boom!. If they ask me to combine it, well, I’ll have to consider it, but I’ll stay with ¡Boom! because I love it and secondly because I love my personal life too. I want to dedicate many hours and well to my work, but also to my personal life. I would like, beyond diversifying or duplicating work, for them to renew ¡Boom! for a long time.