Laura Madrueño: "The first day of rehearsals for 'Survivientes' I thought, 'My God, I'm not going to be able to do this'"

Laura Madrueño (Madrid, 37 years old) has gone from writing Telecinco news to the Cayos Cochinos.

From the green background on which the maps with clouds and suns of

are projected to the beaches of Honduras.

She was chosen to replace Lara Álvarez in

, who had been counting the adventures of the contestants from Honduras for eight years.

Madrueño, a passionate about the sea who has a production company with which she has shot documentaries to raise awareness about the need to care for the seabed, she had been at Informativos Telecinco since 2014, in addition to collaborating in other

of the chain.

On February 21, she arrived in Honduras to completely change the third and become one of the visible faces of the

star of the channel, the great hope to conquer the audience.

She answered the phone last Friday, from Cayo Paloma and after an exhausting Thursday gala for the team.

In Honduras it was 9:30;

in Spain, 4:30 p.m.

It was his day off of the week.

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40% of the winner of 'Survivors'

Ask.

How did you receive the proposal to go to

?

Answer.

I was very shocked.

It was something that many colleagues and friends had told me for many years, you have to go to

.

It has not been a specific goal for me either, it has come by itself, but I was shocked and the challenge has been great.

I have left a set of one square meter to an open-air beach with many cameras, in a different format, a

, and this

, the

par excellence of the chain.

I wanted to try doing entertainment, I wanted to laugh on TV.

It is a program that is very tailor-made for me, with that part of adventure, the sea... So I am very grateful to the channel for having trusted me, but also very afraid.

I am working very hard and the first few weeks have been very, very hard, but I am very happy.

Q.

Did you speak with Lara Álvarez before going to Honduras?

Did she give you any advice?

R.

Yes, I spoke with Lara, she was very generous and affectionate with me.

She told me not to worry about her, that I was going to be with a great team, and now I realize how lucky I've been because the team is brutal, and I've learned so much in two weeks that it seems like it took three months.

She told me to enjoy, and I think that's one of the best pieces of advice.

I wanted to try doing entertainment, I wanted to laugh on TV

Q.

How does one prepare to present

in Honduras?

R.

With a lot of training, I swim almost every day, and with a personal trainer.

Here I am training a lot more, every morning, at least half an hour a day to train strength.

Physical preparation is essential, having a strong back to endure.

Laura Madrueño (left), during the preparations for 'Survivientes'.

Q.

And for the mental pressure, the comparisons and the expectations?

R.

For this you are never very prepared.

I already knew that the comparisons were going to be there, after eight years it was already Lara's program, we no longer remembered Raquel Sánchez Silva, Eva González, Paula Vázquez... The viewer was used to Lara, who has been brilliant.

The day of the first gala I felt like a Roman before jumping into the arena.

A lot of fear, a lot of vertigo, a lot of nerves.

I felt like my heart was going to explode.

Q.

What has surprised you the most about the program when you live it from the inside?

A.

Everything.

When I got to the beach on the first day of rehearsals, you see that from home you can't appreciate what's going on here.

On the beach, on gala days there are more than 100 people, a tremendous array of cameras, everything moves at tremendous speed… It's magical.

It is a film production, I am not exaggerating.

Q.

Can you describe a day in your life in Honduras?

R.

Yesterday was a gala day.

I get up early, at 6.30-7.00, and the first thing I do is do half an hour of training.

I eat breakfast, get ready and then warm up my voice.

I prepare the scripts for the game and the day.

At 9:00 I take the helicopter that brings us to the key, and as soon as we arrived we went to the palapa [one of the spaces where the Thursday galas take place in Honduras] to do rehearsals, then we rehearsed the games and in between I studied the scripts .

Here we do not use

[the screen where the hosts read the text on some shows] because there's not enough light near a camera to see it, so I have to learn the script.

Around 1:00 p.m. I eat and go to make-up, hairdressing and wardrobe.

And at 3:00 p.m., your 10:00 p.m., the gala begins.

Depending on the day there are more relaxed stages for me, but that was a very intense night.

Around 7:00 p.m. we finished, I take a shower, remove my makeup, have dinner, and at 10:00 p.m. I was in bed exhausted.

And this is one day yes and another no.

And the one that remains between galas we are working on the script for the next day, the game, rundown meetings, content… Every day in the afternoon we meet with the editors who are on the beach and they tell us how the contestants are doing.

The production control of 'Survivors', with Laura Madrueño on their screens.

Q.

And do you have free time?

R.

Today Friday is my day off.

I am in the key and now I will take my fins, my mask and my tube to throw myself into the sea for a while.

On Fridays I stay here to spend the day, which is very relaxed, I love to

.

I stay alone, but a calm day is necessary and try to disconnect a bit.

The head must be given a parenthesis.

Q.

He said that he has had hard days in this start.

In what sense?

R.

The day I had the most vertigo was the first one I got to rehearse on the playground, I felt completely lost.

I didn't know how to move, with so many cameras… I had to learn to move and communicate in this space.

Then also acclimatize to the heat, the humidity, the body is like crushed.

I will always remember that day because I said, 'My God, I'm not going to be able to do this.'

I worked tirelessly during the week of rehearsals to get to the premiere with all the strength we were looking for.

I work a lot on the voice, the tones, and I didn't want it to remind me of the news, or former presenters.

I have watched this program a lot with other presenters, other

from other countries... to refine the tone and get closer to what we were looking for.

I was pulling a lot at the beginning to the tone more than

, news... and that has to be worked on to shape it.

I work a lot on the voice, the tones, and I didn't want it to remind me of the news, or former presenters

Q.

So you look at the screen to try to improve?

R.

Self-criticism is very important.

I do it myself and I am very meticulous about the issue of voice, tone, how I move, posture, how I am with the contestants... There are many changes for me and I think it is a good exercise to see myself to understand how it works.

A rehearsal of 'Survivors' in Honduras with Laura Madrueño.

Q.

To all this will be added the pressure of the audience data, and even more so since it is the star program of Telecinco.

R.

I not only have the pressure of the comparison and that people see you in a completely different format, but also the audiences, which are always there.

But here the team does not feel that pressure, what they have transmitted to me is that, for our part, the work is very well done, there is a brutal demand.

That peace of mind that we are leaving our skin so that everything goes well is real.

Then the audiences sometimes do not depend on you, but if we have a clear conscience that we have given our all, the rest is to hope that people will follow us and have a good time.

Q.

Are you looking at the hearings?

R.

Yes, I look at them, and they are congratulating me when they tell me.

I didn't understand much about this, until now my program didn't depend so much on the audience, but I know how TV works and it's important to me that people now see us more or less.

has always had

or exceed them.

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