Núria Marín: "Trump, Milei, and Ayuso are far better than the wildest 'Sálvame'"

BarcelonaNúria Marín (Viella, 1981) read as a young womanHello and the Frames because she wanted to be a Hollywood actress. This hasn't happened (yet), but her journalism career has been anything but boring. She worked for four years in Superpop, a magazine that influenced several generations of teenagers. Then came fifteen years at Mediaset, presenting and collaborating on many programs such as Butterfly net and Save me. And two years ago 3Cat rediscovered it and started working in Catalan (It is passing, Love cost and Do you have a minute?). Now she's looking for an apartment in Barcelona and time to feed her TikTok.

How many followers did you have on TikTok the last time you checked?

— Two million four hundred thousand.

And what does this, which is said quickly, mean to you?

— It's a huge responsibility. I can't just say anything stupid because, besides, there are a lot of people who, I don't know why, take what I say very seriously. I have to try to verify the things I say and filter the opinions a bit. The more people follow you, the more likely they are to be offended or upset by what I say. I have to make sure that this doesn't make me lose my essence, which, in the end, is always walking on the edge of the cliff.

You have one foot in traditional media—especially TV3, with programs and collaborations—and the other in social media. Where's the business standing these days?

— On social media, definitely. If I had a daily show, I'd probably make a lot of money on TV. But right now, you make more money on social media because you work with advertising. My TikTok is a TV network. It's CNN, Ca Na Núria, where I break news with videos that I don't get paid to make. These are TV shows, and occasionally, there's advertising, like on TV. I have to create videos that get a lot of views so brands want to hire me.

Don't you do anything in Catalan on TikTok?

— If we create content in Catalan on 3Cat, I always share it, or if I create it with my niece, it might be in Catalan. But the majority of my audience is Spanish-speaking, especially Latin American. Many people from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia...

After twenty years of dedicating yourself to it, do you now know what the ultimate meaning of providing information from the heart is for you?

— I started journalism because I dreamed of glamour. I wanted to be the one covering the Oscars, the one interviewing Hollywood actors or Isabel Preysler. People with cachet. And then I did heartfelt journalism for many years, focusing on people who didn't have as much pedigree, and it was also a lot of fun. But there came a time when it became very diluted, and anyone was already famous. One thing I was grateful for when they fired me from Telecinco was that I wouldn't have to talk about the Campos sisters anymore. I couldn't do it anymore.

But does this mean that maybe one day you will stop doing heart information?

— I'd like to do other things, and I think I can, but this gossip thing is a lot of fun. It's all fantasy. People read celebrity gossip to entertain themselves and escape their problems. That's why I like royal houses so much. That doesn't mean I like the monarchy; they're different things.

What was the last poster you had in your teenage room?

— From Take That, I was a big fan of Take That. I had my room covered with posters of Mark Owen and Robbie Williams, who I later met when I worked at SuperpopI worked there for four years, an incredible experience. I was 22 years old and took the shuttle bus to Madrid every week, wearing a fuchsia pink coat. I had to wait in two queues and noticed I looked out of place with all the executives on the journey.

What's the last crazy thing you did while chasing a celebrity?

— Once, to catch Amador Mohedano, Rocío Jurado's brother, I stood guard all night with a photographer. The next day I was able to film him when he came out onto the balcony, wearing a pair of red underwear, and those images opened the door. Save me from that day. I'm very proud, I deserve a Pulitzer...

We call it information from the heart, but we could call it information from the liver or the gut, from some organ less beautiful than the heart.

— When I worked at Telecinco, the people we were talking about were in the game. They've sold everything and know exactly what cards we're playing. They make a lot of money. It's a different matter if I was looking for something really strong from someone who doesn't play this game. But since they're people who are in the game, I'm going all out.

Lately I have the feeling that the political tension we are experiencing is similar to the tension that could have occurred on the set of Save me.

— And it doesn't worry you? Because it worries me a lot. Donald Trump should be doing television. Or Isabel Díaz Ayuso. As Óscar Cornejo said in an article in the Tarragona NewspaperThey'd be fantastic on TV. But I'm not a fan of these people being involved in politics in such a thuggish way...

But couldn't it be that that television brought us this exaltation of the thugs?

— Man, I'd love to think that the gossip press is to blame for populists like Donald Trump, Javier Milei, or Isabel Díaz Ayuso being in the current governments. I'd like to say we're doing a great job, but I don't think we're that influential or that we've penetrated society that deeply. They're way ahead of us. Save me The wildest thing we could have done. I haven't seen a presenter with a chainsaw or telling lies like those told by today's populist politicians. I wish we were so important. We don't even appear on the radio talk shows. Can you explain to me why there's a talk show about Barça and not one about the heart? The heart is supposed to be the press that the housewives, meeeThere's a touch of machismo here.

I've heard you describe yourself as a fanciful person. What's the last fantasy you had?

— Ah, I'm walking down the Rambla and a Hollywood agent discovers me, signs me and I'm an actress. megatop I'm already a bit older, but I don't think there's any age to fulfill your dreams. Harrison Ford started very late and won an Oscar. Why not? Can you prove that this can't happen?

But do you really think this?

— Of course! I fantasize a lot, I get delirious when I'm walking down the street... Yes, yes. Or maybe I suddenly get a call from TV3 and they tell me they want to revamp the election debate, ha ha, and make it a bit more entertaining. Why not?

What do you think is more manageable: doing the TV3 election debate or going to Hollywood?

— Go to Hollywood, for the good of Catalonia and the voters.

Did you want to be an actress?

— Yes, it's my frustrated dream, but I don't rule out that it could happen. In some ways, I already do some acting at work. When I go to the It's passing I play the role of being beautiful, very beautiful. Or when I speak English, I do a lot of acting.

Let's see.

— If you can make it, you can fake it. My English is so nice, I can pretend I was born in the UK.

Where did you learn it?

— You won't believe it. At first, attending to class, like everyone, but then I worked as an entertainer in a hotel in Tenerife.

Can't believe it! Now, switch to Catalan [in the original] to explain this. What was the last job you had before dedicating yourself to journalism?

— Hotel entertainer. When I finished secondary school in Lleida, I went on an adventure to Tenerife to work in a hotel, but I didn't know what to do. In a meeting with human resources, they asked me, "What do you know how to do?" And I said, "Whatever you want." They showed me the hotel, and I saw an entertainment group with the word "Hello World" on their T-shirts. Entertainment. They took me in. Every day we did shows at night: Hollywood Cabaret Show, Grease Cabaret Show, magic show. Everything very low cost, but I lived it as if I were on Broadway.

What has it brought you since you've had so much work at TV3 in recent years?

— TV3 was the place I wanted to work when I was in high school. Telecinco fascinated me, but TV3 was where the prestige lay. This Catalan humor thing. We watched TV Malalts, to Buenafuente...

So what has TV3 given you? The prestige you didn't have?

— No, professionally I do think I have prestige. I auditioned for the Live, but they didn't take me. TV3 was the place to beIt took me a long time to be able to do something on TV3. I don't think they knew I was Catalan.

You type a lot of words per second. Who was the last person who told you, "Núria, shut up"?

— Juanlu, my boyfriend. He often tells me this, and I have no problem keeping quiet. I have this thing about filling up when I'm working or interviewing, but normally, if we're going to have a drink, I'll let you talk. I was sent to study in the United States one summer. The woman who looked after me said I was the most talkative person she'd ever met.

Anything else? I'm satisfied...

— Do you want to talk about Catalan? I have things to say, because I'm looking for an apartment in Barcelona, and something very funny is happening to me. When we see apartments in the Eixample, in the noble area of Barcelona, the children of the man or woman who has died, who are lifelong Catalans, tell you: "Look, we set it at that price because we know some foreigner will come and buy it." And I'd like to encourage people who are inheriting apartments here in Catalonia that, if we want to protect Catalan, perhaps we should make the effort to sell the houses to people who speak Catalan. There are more and more of them. expats who only associate with their inner circle. There's a lot of talk about poor immigration, but not about rich immigration.

Is your theory to save Catalan through flats?

— In part, yes. Because if the Eixample Dret is filled withexpatsThere will soon be a neighborhood in Barcelona where no one will speak Catalan. Catalan isn't just defended on Twitter by criticizing a journalist who appears on TV and perhaps one day mispronounces a word. Catalan is also defended by helping Catalans live in Catalonia.

Have you been criticized for creating social media in Spanish?

— Yes, but since I started working on social media when I was working at Telecinco, it was an extension of my job, and at the time I was working in Spanish. Besides, I've been advocating for Catalonia throughout Spain. When I was working on the Butterfly net Every day began by saying: "We are live from Barcelona" and theskyline It was from Barcelona. In Madrid, they really valued the fact that I was Catalan. They've always told me: "It's so obvious you're Catalan, that you arrive super early, that you come with your script learned."

I thought they would have told you: "You don't look Catalan."

— No, not this. I've always been given a positive opinion about it. We shouldn't give voice to the haters from Catalan. If I make a story In Catalan, there are two or three who might tell me: "Don't speak Catalan." But there are many people from Latin America who ask me: "What language is it?" You always stick with the worst and sometimes you take a screenshot and share it. haters They make a lot of noise, but I'd like to think there aren't that many. I'd like to think there are more who want to know or want to learn.

What's the latest song you're listening to?

— Blue velvet, from the soundtrack to David Lynch's film. It's like a caress, that song.

The last words of the interview are yours.

— Well, thank you very much, because by being here I feel like a person with cultural prestige. People don't know I'm an intellectual; I hide it. Have I hidden it well? I encourage you to read the newspaper ARA, read it in Catalan, watch series and films in Catalan, long live Catalan, long live Catalonia... and the Aran Valley, too.

This sounded like a presidential speech in the Poland.

— Oh, I want them to imitate me one day in the PolandSomeday they will imitate me.