"The most romantic night of my life ended up being the most humiliating."

Txabi Franquesa defines himself without complexes as "the summer Grinch". Heat distresses him, sleeping without a fan is impossible for him ("it has to be a ceiling one!") and, in addition, he associates this time of year with tours, sticky sweat and drops in blood pressure. It is coherent, therefore, that the summer night he has chosen to share is memorable precisely for everything that went wrong. "Although I laugh about it now, at the time it seemed like one of the most humiliating moments of my life," he recalls.

The story goes back to the time he started dating a girl he really liked. He, who is not romantic at all, decided to "make an effort" and organize an intimate dinner on the beach "with a checkered tablecloth, wine and music". He even prepared a final surprise: a small jewel buried in the sand for her to discover later. "As an initial plan it wasn't a bad idea," he says.

As the date approached, however, things began to go wrong. The wind picked up and the sand began to invade everything: the food, the tablecloth, and the dishes. The next disaster came with the guitar. The comedian had learned an Alejandro Fernández song: "Only because she liked it a lot, I didn't like it at all". The problem is that he had left the instrument too long by the sea and the humidity had completely put it out of tune. "I played the first chord and it was unplayable."

Then came the climax: looking for the jewel buried in the sand. "We're still looking for it," he says. What was supposed to be a romantic scene turned into a completely Berlanguesque image, with him digging desperately like "a truffle pig". "It was one of the most regrettable and humiliating moments of my life," he assures. Nevertheless, he says the girl appreciated the effort and the detail, even though the relationship did not prosper. "A woman like that didn't deserve to be with a negative person like me at that time," he says, joking.

The comedian remembers his childhood summers – when he wasn't the Grinch yet – with much more tenderness. The family used to spend their holidays in Tamarit, Aiguafreda or Sant Feliu de Codines, and he associates those years with the local festivals, outdoor dinners and tuna sandwiches.

He also remembers that he was afraid of water. So much so that for two whole summers he hid in the changing room when it was swimming class. "I used to bring a comic book and stay there," he explains. For years he pretended to swim only in places where he could touch the bottom, until finally the family noticed and forced him to learn. The paradox is that today he is passionate about the sea and swimming. "With time, fears turn into challenges," he concludes.