When María Lamela (O Santo, Lugo, 34 years old) received the call to propose presenting Supervivientes from Honduras, she hesitated whether to accept. She had been working at La Sexta for eight years, and saying yes meant changing channels to Telecinco, leaving current affairs for entertainment, and traveling to another continent. But she decided to take on the challenge. “Life is short and it’s for the brave,” she says. Now, her routine has changed. She has started exercising every day to withstand the demands of the climate and the show. And when she doesn’t have to host three or four hours of live broadcast from the Cayos Cochinos, she takes the opportunity to go on nature excursions or paint, one of her hobbies. About to complete two months on the show, she connects to the video call with EL PAÍS from her hotel room with a bare face, showing that closeness and naturalness she displays on the Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday galas. It is 5:00 p.m. in Spain, 9:00 a.m. in Honduras.
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Question. What is your assessment of your first weeks as the presenter of Supervivientes?
Answer. In this place, you feel that time goes very fast and, at the same time, very slow. I have experienced so many things. In Spain, you go on autopilot; I had been working at La Sexta for eight years and had my routine in Madrid. Here everything is new to me, I am discovering a lot of things, meeting a lot of people… Time passes differently. I feel like a child in an amusement park. Such a big show, which means so many things, so many challenges together, that requires having all five senses constantly activated… the level of intensity is incredible. I give everything I have in me to the show and, of course, when it ends, I lie down on the bed and I can’t handle my life anymore.
Q. You were on another channel doing something totally different. How did you receive the proposal to go to Supervivientes?
A. I didn’t expect it at all. I was very happy with my job. Friends and family had told me I would end up presenting Supervivientes because it suits me, and I always said no way, I do current affairs. I didn’t see myself. I had to think about it a lot, a lot. It wasn’t a yes or no. I spent several days thinking.
Q. Why those doubts?
A. I was happy at La Sexta, it was my family, I did a show, Más vale tarde, where I felt very happy and fulfilled with my daily current affairs section, I presented in summer with Marina Valdés substituting Iñaki [López] and Cristina [Pardo]. La Sexta gave me all the opportunities in the world, and leaving something like that is not easy. I went happily to work every day. But life is about stages. And now I am doing Supervivientes, but I love current affairs and I know I will do current affairs again at some point.
Q. You presented another survival reality on TVG, but it must not be comparable to the scale of Supervivientes. What has caught your attention the most about the show from the inside?
A. I presented Salvaxe on Televisión de Galicia, which helped me lay a very good foundation for what I am doing now. I have always seen a brutal level of involvement in all the shows I have worked on, but with the people who work with me in Honduras, the level of pursuit of excellence is incredible, it’s contagious. You are with 200 people who are on the same boat, fighting to find the best, the best shot, the best sequence, the best argument… And it’s contagious. I told them the first week, I think I have never worked with such a demanding team that makes you want to be better.
Q. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of the show?
A. Honestly, no. I already did a show with a similar dynamic, explaining the challenges, dealing with a large team of contestants… But it’s true that on the first day I was very calm, I am a calm person and La Sexta has toughened me up a lot for nerves. I thought I would be calm, and when they connected me…, look, I get goosebumps remembering it. When they connect me and I hear the Supervivientes music and the audience applause through the return, that was indescribable. That’s when I got nervous, but as the show progressed I calmed down again.
Q. What does it take to keep up with and play along with Jorge Javier Vázquez?
A. You have to connect with his humor. I love it. Sometimes I’m not interacting with him and I’m listening to him when he talks to the contestants in the palapa and I lose it, because he has a humor very similar to mine, it connects with the Galician sarcasm of northern Galicians. I would keep answering everything. If they let us, we would be going back and forth for four hours.
Q. Have you read what has been said about you after joining the show?
A. I read the digital media, the articles journalists have dedicated to me, because I am my own harshest critic. And I am so grateful for everything they have said about me… I can’t believe the beautiful things they have said. And on Twitter, every viewer has their opinion, you can’t please everyone. We live with that, and we will continue being professionals and doing our job.
Q. You say you are your main critic. Do you watch yourself on screen to evaluate yourself?
A. For me, the most important thing is to recognize myself. If I see myself and recognize myself, that’s it, the rest doesn’t matter. If I stumble on a word, if I wasn’t quick on something… I don’t care. If I see the woman I am 24 hours a day, for me that is a success. Maintaining my values, my principles, my way of speaking and telling things. They have always allowed me to be myself and that is the most important thing, it has an incalculable value. Because I have my little quirks, I’m not a perfect, proper girl… I am who I am and they bought me like that.
Q. Professionally, what does Supervivientes mean to you, or what do you think it will mean?
A. It is the professional challenge of my life, also a vital adventure. I don’t know if there will be anything that matches what we are doing here and now. It is an experience on all levels, it takes over everything and you pour your life into it absolutely. I learn things every day, and there is nothing more rewarding than being able to learn something new every day. That alone is a success.
Q. Laura Madrueño was there for three years. Lara Álvarez, eight. Have you thought about how many years you might be on the show?
A. I think about it a lot and talk about it with my friends, how long will I be? I will go with the flow. For now, I love what I am doing and I don’t think about tomorrow, I think about enjoying what I am doing at this moment. But it looks good.