Ximo Rovira He is going through an “uncomfortable and sad situation” as he himself said. In anticipation of the new season, In Punt, the Valencian regional channel, rethinks several changes of presenters between its formats and one of them was (in the past, because not anymore), Rovira at the head of ‘Atrapa’m si pots’.
These days there has been a lot of talk about the veto of Rovira in Punt, after the Board of Governors rejected that he was the new presenter daily contest, after the production company and the network gave the go-ahead. Now, the Valencian has spoken in an interview in ‘Today Crazy for Valencia’ on Cadena Ser, where he didn’t mince words when talking about how he went through this whole process.
Ximo Rovira
They called him to tell him that they wanted to change presenter and that they had thought of him. Everyone was saying yes to signing Rovira, both the program management and the general management, but suddenly they called him to say no in the end. “The Board of Governors takes a legitimate and democratic vote, but discredits the professional criteria of a handful of professionals, include me. (…) These are prejudices, there is no professional argument”, he comments hurt, although he tries to play down: “Imagine the number of refusals I had in 18 years of business. Nothing happens”.
The reason? He presented ‘Tombola’
When this happens, he comes into contact with Mar Iglesias, the acting president of the Rector of the Consell. “He says I’m a great professional and a better person,” Rovira now says, continuing to recount: “What are the reasons? That this man presented ‘Tómbola’.” And therein lies the crux of the problem. “I’m not a junk tv icon, I presented an entertainment program that did very well and made the network a lot of money“, he says proudly.
“I take it on with sadness, but with Olympism. It’s been my home for a long time and I was excited,” he admits after his plan to return to the channel was cut short. What surprises him the most in all this is that Mar Iglesias has long been his companion and that they have always shown immense respect for each other. “It sets a precedent, and I’m not saying it for myself, but if this cross has been put on me, why can’t they put it on others without professional criteria? I feel bad, because I understand that an unprofessional form has been applied and it hurts me“.
Self-criticism of ‘Tómbola’ in public
“If you ask me if I think it’s good that a program of these characteristics is on public television, I’m clear no, it shouldn’t be on public TV, it should be on private TV“, says Ximo Rovira, very convinced and repeatedly, who adds that “the big mistake of ‘Tómbola’ is that they did not accept when Jesús Hermida wanted to take him to Antena 3”.
What surprises him the most is that the format ended 18 years ago and more than twenty years have passed since the golden age of ‘Tómbola’, so now he reflects on it: “Neither television had anything to do with it, nor the directives of public television, nor Valencian society had anything to do with it.. I’m still judged for it despite having been in the profession for 38 years and I have to accept this stigma that is imposed on me.”