The ubiquitous and priceless in terms of audience Mario Vaquerizo is enjoying his most recent showcase: Encuentros con Sabor, a gastronomic talent sponsored by Mahou and which will arrive at Sexta soon. “It is the first time that everything revolves around having a beer: family gatherings, friendships, leisure, etc. And I have brought out my competitive side again. I come from a family with a cooking tradition because my parents love to cook, but I had never seen myself doing it. When they called me from MasterChef I realized that if I enter a competition, I want to win. I'm lucky, although it's really a bitch, that I really like my opponents on this show."
The characters who will present and judge the contestants from the other three teams are Maxi Iglesias, Beret and Ruth Lorenzo. Vaquerizo could not be missing from an idea sponsored by Mahou: his passion for barley juice is known, only comparable to that of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, the Seville leader of the band Mojinos Escocíos.
The reality show Alaska and Mario made him an essential character on television: before Encounters with Flavor he has been on reality shows such as the aforementioned MasterChef, Hair Style, El Desafío, Tu cara me familiar, Los fears de…, in addition to appearing as a talk show host and guest on other programs until he became a brand in himself: “It is true that I feel loved although I do not intend to be liked or not liked; I show myself as I am. I think that spontaneity, that absurdity mixed with coherence, intensity, Germanism and absurdity is what people like. But as long as I like it, that's the main thing. When I walk down the street I love receiving the love of people and stopping to take photos. Many will not like me and that is their right: I thank them for their good manners because they do not express it. Then there are those who criticize via Twitter, who are daughters of..., because they don't have the nerve to say it to your face. But come on, every day when I go to bed I close my eyes and thank God for how well life treats me. I have worked on it myself but I am privileged.”
From the cloud in which he lives, from set to set, and continuing his work as a representative of Fangoria – Leonor Watling and Elsa Pataky have included Leonor Watling and Elsa Pataky in his client portfolio – Mario does not hide: he likes popularity, he enjoys it and thanks: “My desire in life has not been to be famous, I love fame, but I have never pretended to be. It came to me how to be an actor or a contestant. I face it with a sense of responsibility and gratitude; You have to be with everything in life, as a husband, as a lover, as a son and as a brother. Many times I get angry with friends who are famous and turn away and don't say hello. If fame bothers you so much, from which you actually live, if advertising bothers you so much and getting paid a fortune and then you don't want anyone to know you, you're a son of a bitch. Dedicate yourself to being a cashier if you want to be anonymous.”
Mario Vaquerizo, journalist, leader of Nancys Rubias, husband from Alaska and contestant willing to do anything to have fun, is dissolving the last embers of shame that he still retains. This is his formula for facing an uncomfortable situation: “I have my moments of lack of self-esteem and doubt, but when I have doubts I stop being me and I like to be me. I recently filmed a commercial in Poland and I don't know how to speak English well. What I do? If I block myself, I stop being Mario. So I let go; I told myself that with my best or worst English I am going to communicate with you and I am going to show myself as I am. The following week Deborah Harry [Blondie vocalist] came to eat at her house and because of her modesty she wouldn't have shown me who I am, so I took the plunge and talked to her for two hours. Fears paralyze, so a little security, not to be confused with arrogance, saves your life.”
His red line for this interview, scalded for speaking out, is to talk about politics: “I am now like Marta Sánchez: at fashion parties I don't talk about politics. I'm an entertainer, a showman, a faggot, whatever, but I didn't know my opinions were so important. Since we are in such a tense moment, of so much intolerance, I am speechless. I do a backcombing, I put on makeup, I dress well and I look great. And it makes me angry because this contains a danger and that is self-censorship. Anyway, you don't have to ask a pop star who votes. I like Bowie, Warhol or Fabio McNamara as artists and as people, what they vote for doesn't matter to me exactly. And I hope it happens with me, I wear the T-shirt of the Legion or the USSR.”
We assume that in the intimate atmosphere offered by family Christmas gatherings, he will let loose openly. And Mario is in love with these dates and does not give up Christmas Eve dinner with his family: “I love Christmas. I always say that traditional and classic was always modern. I love giving gifts, meeting my college classmates, the city lighting, seafood, lamb, the vegetables my mother makes, celebrating Christmas at my house and we all sleep there, even if it's on the couch. . I love the union, the family. “I am a patriarch.”
