El Gran Wyoming retires and Gonzo will present 'El intermedio'

BarcelonaEl Gran Wyoming, the stage name of José Miguel Monzón, is retiring and passing the baton to Gonzo. As reported by El País, the 71-year-old communicator will stop hosting El intermedio in January, and that is when the Galician journalist will become the face of the satirical news program on La Sexta. Currently, Gonzo is at the helm of Salvados, a program on the same channel. The newspaper details that the transition will be gradual and that, starting in January and for an indefinite period, both will co-host El intermedio until Gonzo fully assumes the reins of the show.

Fernando González, better known as Gonzo, had already been linked to El intermedio previously. He was part of the team between 2010 and 2019, when he worked as a reporter and mainly covered political news. In 2019, he left the program to take over another of the private television's flagship shows, Salvados, after Jordi Évole announced his departure. He first became known in 2005 as a reporter for Caiga quien caiga, and in 2008 he signed with Antena 3 to host his first solo program there, El método Gonzo. During his time at that channel, he also made several documentaries on matters such as the Palomares bombs or the victims of the Civil War buried against their will at the Valle de los Caídos.

As for El Gran Wyoming, his television career began at TVE in the 80s. On public television, he hosted shows like Silencio, se juega (1984), Esto es lo que hay (1985), En la cuerda floja (1985), or Rokambole (1989). One of his most remembered television projects is Caiga quien caiga, which he hosted on Telecinco between 1996 and 2002. His time as a host coincided with the years of the format's greatest success.

Beyond the reporting space, the other program that has marked his television career is, without a doubt, El intermedio, to which he has been linked for two decades. Exactly a year ago, he won the Ondas award for best communicator. During the reception prior to the awards ceremony, he joked that if they had given him the award so he would start thinking about retirement, they had made a mistake. Now, however, he seems to have changed his mind and is following through on statements he made to El País in which he hinted that his professional end was near. "In another reincarnation I was a doctor, and I will retire before I have a stroke. I won't wait for a person, as Ayuso says, from another country to carry me in a wheelchair. Now I have money, I have health and I will go for a walk [...]. Now that I have my life sorted out, I want to dedicate myself to entertaining myself. Playing the guitar, reading: I am a compulsive reader. What people with a bit of common sense would do if they had the chance," he explained.