Several pillars support the success of Pasapalabra; a dynamic and exciting contest format; a presenter with tables like Roberto Leal; a dog-eat-dog duel between the contestants for the succulent jackpot in the final test of El Rosco and, as a condiment, a celebrity carousel. This week, the familiar faces that appear on the Antena 3 set are Pepa Rus, Luis Piedrahita, Itziar Castro and Gonzo. Let’s get to know this latest guest a little better.
His name is Fernando González González, although everyone knows him as Gonzo. Born in Vigo in 1976, he is one of the best-known journalists on television.
He says that he did not study Journalism by vocation, but because his father asked him to opt for a career with more job opportunities than Galician philology, which was what he most wanted. However, he soon found that this profession was the one that best suited his concerns.
Gonzo began his career in sports information with Radio Nacional de España in Santiago de Compostela, although he later moved on to news and presenting several programs in the Galicia delegations of Radio 1 and Radio 5.
However, the springboard with which he achieved fame was Caiga who Caiga. In 2005, the legendary Telecinco program was looking for a reporter to carry out political content and Gonzo tried his luck, finally being chosen to wear a black suit with sunglasses.
It was the time when Arturo Valls, Manel Fuentes and Juanra Bonet were on set; and with Toni Garrido, Christian Gálvez and Fernando himself as street reporters. In CQC, the Galician journalist presented the sections Protest now!, which dealt with citizen complaints, and Chains of favors, a solidarity project that even equipped a hospital in a camp in the Sahara or a soup kitchen in the Guatemalan jungle.
In 2008, he moved to Antena 3 to present the social denunciation program The Gonzo Method and to make investigative documentaries about the Palomares incident or the victims of Franco’s regime buried in the Valley of the Fallen.
Already in 2010, Gonzo debuted as a street reporter at El Intermedio, a role he defended for 11 years. In La Sexta, he continued with parallel projects of social documentaries, highlighting Behind the Wall, where he dealt with the issue of the United States border with Mexico.
In 2019, Gonzo took over from Jordi Évole as head of Salvados, from La Sexta. For the Atresmedia group they considered it a “natural replacement”, given the profile between journalism and humor that both have in common. To this day, the Vigo native continues to lead the consolidated program.
Fernando González has continued doing radio, collaborating on two of the most important programs: in 2018, he appeared on Hoy por Hoy, on Cadena Ser to analyze current events and, between 2019 and 2020, he had his own section (A lo Gonzo) on Julia in the wave on Onda Cero.
Gonzo has also had time to write two books: Everything for my country!: Life and adventures of our heroes and processes (2015) and My borders (2019), a journey to the heart of the immigration drama.