In a market in Lanzarote a few days ago the cameras captured Pedro Sanchez, dressed in a striking summer look, along with his friend Jesus Calleja (Fresno de la Vega, León, April 11, 1965), about which some media presumed that he was beginning to record a new installment of Planet Calleja with the President of the Government.
But it was difficult for the adventurer from León to record a delivery of his most traveled program when it has not even been renewed by Mediaset, which in negotiations tries to lower the bill for Cuatro’s space.
Despite this, sources from the Fuencarral-based company predict that Planet Calleja will have new installments in Cuatro. Of course, before the other space of the Leonese adventurer will be seen on the air, Flying I go, which will presumably air this fall.
The adventurer who refused to sit on the Council of Ministers
The harmony between Calleja and Sánchez was born almost a decade ago. It was in 2014 when Sánchez had just been elected general secretary of the PSOE and he had not had enough minutes on television, when he was interviewed before a large audience on Cuatro.
Sánchez, together with his future friend, he rappelled a 70 meter high wind turbine and scaled the Peñón de Ifach, on the coast of Alicante. The socialist leader accepted the bid, something that Calleja did not do with him: he rejected an offer from the Prime Minister in 2018 to assume the Culture and Sports portfolio that finally went to Maximum Orchard.
Despite this, Calleja blessed the Government via Twitter: “By the way, what do you think of the new Government? Regardless of who we vote for, there is no doubt that it is revolutionary, innovative, young European and even exciting. And what about Pedro Duke… The icing on the cake. Europe applauds him and seems like a breath of fresh air and, in addition, women in power. I like it,” he wrote.
In the PP they bothered his words since a few days later the Provincial Council of León, controlled by the conservatives, was going to give him the gold medal. It was not surprising since Calleja was made of gold reselling their Mediaset programs to the regional television of Castilla y León. This circumstance did not prevent Calleja from continuing at the side of Pedro Sánchez, who claimed him along with Mercedes Dear to present his famous book in 2019 Resilience Handbook.
The PP strikes back
Calleja was placed in the PSOE until in the campaign of the past 28M campaigned for the PP. The presenter starred in a video of the candidate for mayor of Valladolid, Julio Carnero, who finally managed to unhorse the socialist, and sanchista, Óscar Puente.
This support angered Ciudadanos, since its regional leader, Francisco Igeaaired that the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock held by Carnero until his appointment as municipal candidate had awarded more than 200,000 to Calleja.
“It may be legal” but it is “doubtfully decent,” said the former vice president of Castilla y León. Igea also wondered if it is “moderately reasonable to go out in an electoral campaign in support of a candidate, a man who has received more than 200,000 euros of public money from that candidate”.
And he added: “This is the transparent community and the ethics of the PP of Feijóo in which I give you public money and you come out to help me in the electoral campaigns. I think that this matter is serious enough to be answered in public and the citizens of this Community are informed if these behaviors are ethically decent”.
This controversy motivated it to come to light that an institution dependent on the Ministry of Culture of the Junta de Castilla y León, Fundación Sigloawarded more than 600,000 euros to Calleja for the controversial procedure of negotiating without advertising for exclusivity for the sponsorship of three spaces of his factory, Planeta Calleja, Volando Voy and Río Salvaje (the latter presented by his brother Kike).
polemics
Calleja has also made gold with advertising for brands such as Heineken, Central Lechera Asturiana or Generali. The latter, dedicated to the world of insurance, were about to regret it because a veto was originated in the networks against them for having Calleja as an image, who had just protest against the hunters.
“Uncomfortable to see plastic cartridges from a hunter who does not understand that they are decomposing, dirty, polluting and ugly. Pick them up, leave the field as it was and change the shotgun for a camera so that the animals are still there instead of the plastic that led to their disappearance,” said the man from Leon.
Calleja also added an open letter “to each and every one of the hunters” in which he assured that hunting should be abandoned. This fact motivated an anger of the Andalusian Hunting Federation, who called for a boycott.
And his campaign worked. Calleja removed the letter and explained: “I have decided to remove the post about my opinion about hunting that I wrote with the utmost respect, because I think that giving an opinion is healthy, but in view of the comments that are sometimes subjected to sanity and dialogue, and since I am a man of peace, I think it is the best option”.
Single, millionaire and father of three children
Jesús Calleja is a convinced bachelor, has three children and has fulfilled his professional dreams after leaving León: “I have been a hairdresser, antenna operator, mechanic, I sold second-hand cars. I have worked in many places, but I have not had any problem disappearing when things were going well for me. When I worked at the hairdresser’s we became, without being petulant, the most famous hairdresser in León. We gave time for 15 or 20 days to cut hair.”
“When we were at the top, which is having fame in a small city and we were doing very well financially, I decided to leave. I no longer liked that life. I was looking to travel and learn, which is the leitmotif of my life,” he added.
It is true that life also hit him hard due to the death of his brother Julián. This is how the adventurer narrated it: “He was only a year older than me and the three brothers have always been very close. But a bad cancer took him away and we had to move forward. I did not go to his wake or his funeral, nor did I want to nobody should give me their condolences. I went with my mother to her town, Freso de la Vega, and we spent the afternoon in the orchard talking about the most beautiful experiences we had shared with my brother”.
Possibly he would have also shared business adventures, since Jesus is proficient in this art. The Mediaset star manages several companies, among which stands out Zanskar Productions.
The factory of Volando Voy, Planeta Calleja and the Mercedes Milá programs on Movistar Plus+ had a turnover of 4.5 million euros in 2021 and achieved a profit of 495,864 euros, according to data from the Mercantile Registry.