Bárbara Rey will set foot on a Telecinco set this Monday (10:00 p.m.) for the first time since the conflict with her son and the scandal over her relationship with King Juan Carlos I broke out. “We are going to see a Bárbara who is very active and willing to answer everything.” the world,” says Santi Acosta, presenter of Friday and the specials in which the star is telling “her truth.” “She’s going all out,” warns the communicator, who has already spoken with Bárbara Rey in the two recorded interviews that have been broadcast so far as part of a package that the artist agreed to with the network in exchange for withdrawing the lawsuit she had filed. against Mediaset and several associated production companies. “Neither Bárbara nor the network have set red lines,” he assures Informalia.
Which Barbara are we going to see on Monday on the Telecinco set?
I think we are going to see Barbara very active and willing to respond to everyone. He doesn’t feel like a victim. She may cry, but she is a strong woman and she is going to go to the set to do her best and resolve any doubts about the two main stories that underpin her life: the blackmail of the King and her relationship with her son Ángel.
What impression have you got of her after interviewing her twice? Does it tell truths or half-truths?
In the more than 20 hours that we have recorded, she tells her version and her truth of what she has experienced. Any episode, seen by two people, has two different perspectives. These two versions can agree on many things, but they can also have different interpretations. She is sincere, she means what she says and when she cries it is a real emotion. It is one of the most interesting interviews I have done because of the historical value of having been with the King Emeritus and because of that blackmail to the State. And her relationship with her son also explains many things about a woman who has been mistreated in a broken family.
Has Barbara expressed any fear to you? Did you find her nervous about anything in particular?
She was worried about her son’s conflict. The subject of the King worried him less. She was worried about her son, not only because of what people might think, but because of what Ángel might think and her daughter’s reaction, who is also part of this story, although she has not expressed herself.
She will be worried about the conflict with her son, but she was very hard on him. It didn’t cut…
Yes, she said everything she thought about her son and we are there to listen and make the public think and draw conclusions about this very complicated story.
Are we going to end up seeing mother and son face to face on a set?
It seems very complicated to me today. I would like it, but not because our program has therapeutic value, but because they have to do work if they want to have a relationship from a more peaceful place. As a witness to this drama they are having, the only wish you have is that one day they can resolve it.
Why hasn’t Ángel returned to De Viernes? Is there an agreement so that he does not appear while Barbara is telling “her truth”?
I have no idea, because I don’t go into that part, but soon we will see him on the program for sure. I don’t know what day, but he’s coming back.
There are those who think that Barbara and her son are in cahoots in this story and have an agreement. What do you think?
It seems impossible to me that they talk like that and that it is false. Not even money can get you that far.
Will the reunion between them be a matter of money? With a good check…
I don’t think… I don’t know, because in life there are things that surprise you, but I don’t believe it.
We have seen more difficult things on television…
Yes, and in fact if they told me a year ago that Bárbara was going to be on our set, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Bárbara Rey’s presence on Telecinco is the product of an agreement with the network after reaching an agreement to withdraw a lawsuit. Have you had freedom in the interviews or have you imposed any veto in that contract?
There is no red line to ask Barbara and no topic that cannot be talked about, and look, in other times it was impossible to ask about the King. Neither Barbara nor the network have set red lines. Regarding the contract you have with Mediaset, I don’t know anything because I am only the presenter.
Has Barbara gained or lost financially from her relationship with King Juan Carlos?
If you ask her, she will tell you that she has lost out by getting into a mess that has made her entire family suffer and confront the State. She would have been happier with her career in theater and film than being subjected to everything she faced. Certainly, she has made money from that blackmail, as she has acknowledged, but I don’t know if that has compensated her.
Do you see her as a victim or executioner?
We all have a bit of victim and victimizer in life. She did what she did, and she recognizes it, and she has suffered what she has suffered… It is the consequence of life and the decisions we make. She doesn’t feel like a victim and neither am I going to.
Is the audience for Bárbara Rey’s specials up to what you expected?
Good audiences are given to you by good characters, because television is content. And yes, it has met my expectations.
Joaquín Prat was very critical after the broadcast of the last interview with Bárbara. He said he was “embarrassed” and had to change the channel. Do you understand these words?
Of course I understand them. What Joaquín does is value the things that Bárbara says that he doesn’t like, but it is not an attack on the program or the interview. She is ashamed of what she said about her son. Joaquín is a great presenter and a great friend.
Aren’t we facing a new production war, in this case between Mandarina and Unicorn?
[Risas] No, no, no. What’s up? Fortunately, no. We get along very well with all of them and we provide feedback, which is one of the keys to Telecinco’s success.
On Friday, Ángel Cristo Jr’s conflict with Bárbara Rey and José María Almoguera’s conflict with Carmen Borrego exploded. Are children who criticize their mothers a boon for the program? Are you going to continue in that line?
It is not a line that the program follows. What happens is that many of the famous people who have been in magazines since the 90s now have children who have become adults and some have serious conflicts because they have lived difficult childhoods. Now those conflicts have emerged that from a psychological and social point of view are very interesting, because they talk about the way we treat our children. It hits the press because they are family sagas, not because it is a line from the program.
De Viernes is the only new program that has established itself in the prime time of this ‘new Mediaset’. Has it been difficult to replace the Deluxe? Were you confident from the beginning that it was possible?
If we jumped into the pool it is because we believed there was room to make a heart in which we would listen to the character more. The above was very successful for many years, it was a very well made program, and we tried to make a program that was also very well made, but with a different style. I trusted from the beginning and believed that if they gave us a little time, it was possible that the protagonists of the heart would return to Telecinco again.
Is the heart the only content that can succeed on Telecinco? Why don’t other programs work?
I would like to know enough about television to be able to answer this question. It is clear that the heart works, and not always, but I am still learning about television and I can’t tell you anything about other formats. But there are other Telecinco programs that are working very well.
The last collaborator to join the De Viernes team was Terelu Campos. What assessment do you make of his work? Can you give more of yourself in the program?
Terelu is a fantastic television professional and the relationship we have is great. The atmosphere at De Viernes is wonderful and it shows. Terelu has a great relationship with everyone and contributes a lot to the program. Furthermore, he always has two visions of the same thing, he can prove you right and at the same time take it away from you.
On Friday it has great rivals, such as La Voz, but it does not experience the fierce competition that Salsa Rosa and DEC once had. Does this work for or against?
Back then there were only four channels and you could get a 30% share, although it is true that there was more competition and you had to compete with DEC for having a good guest. But now there is so much offer that if you don’t have good content, people go to another channel or platform. That forces you to constantly maintain tension.
Regarding that rivalry for having the best guest, I am interested in your opinion on the conflict that recently faced Broncano and Pablo Motos. Do you understand the war that broke out?
I don’t know exactly the clauses in the contracts, but the competition between shows to get a guest in the first place has existed forever. We have lived it with DEC and with other programs. It’s part of television. We all want the scoop, and if it’s exclusive, the better.
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