It has been almost 20 years since La Sexta began broadcasting on our televisions and, since then, it has established itself as one of the public’s favorite networks. One of the culprits of this success has been Antonio García Ferreras (León, 1966), director since 2006 and presenter of one of the successful formats, ‘Red Hot’a benchmark program in what we are talking about when it comes to political debate.
The journalist, licensed by the Complutense University of Madridhas almost 40 years of experience behind him, becoming one of the great models when it comes to communication. Since he began his career in 1986, the Leonese has worked for large companies in the sector, such as SER Chain, South Channel or Atresmedia, in addition to a short stint at Real Madrid.
Famous for his usual ‘tailtag’ of “more journalism” or for him ‘pactometer’ When election time arrives, Ferreras’ private life has also aroused much expectation. The presenter has had a relationship for years with another professional colleague and partner, the journalist Ana Pastor, and tries to reconcile his daily work at the head of ‘Al Rojo Vivo’ and his work as a manager with the care of his two children, Carlota and Simón.
We review everything you need to know about the hermetic life of Antonio Ferreras behind the cameras of ‘Al Rojo Vivo’ and away from journalism.
Antonio García Ferreras and Ana Pastor: love at home and a “battle” at work
Antonio García Ferreras and Ana Pastor form one of the most consolidated and media relationships in journalism in our country. The two journalists They met during their time at Cadena Serwhen he was news director and she was part of Iñaki Gabilondo’s team, and it was there where love arose. However, they would not meet again at a work level until several years later, in 2013, when the presenter of ‘El Objective’ stopped at La Sexta after passing through Spanish Television and CNN.
During these more than 15 years of relationshipthe two have created a family – in 2010 they became parents of little Simón -, although their profession has always come before their relationship: “I always say it, Ana is not the love of my life and people don’t understand me.” . Ana Pastor is not the love of my life, journalism is the love of my life! “Ana is the lover who rescued me,” said Ferreras in the book Wise Words to Deaf Ears, by Antonio Contreras.
«I always say it, Ana is not the love of my life and people don’t understand me. Ana Pastor is not the love of my life, journalism is the love of my life! “Ana is the lover who rescued me.”
In front of the cameras where the two have stood out, Ferreras and Ana Pastor have always tried to remain hermetic and have left very few details about what their relationship is like. Of course, recently the journalist spoke in ‘And now Sonsoles’ about her relationship and the affectionate nickname she calls her partner when they are off the sets: «He likes to cook and I don’t And I have a mother who likes to cook, but he finds it funny. I ask ‘Ferri‘Make me a French omelette,’ he said when referring to this curious nickname, explaining that he, for his part, “interspersed more between Pastor and Ana”.
Regarding the professional competence Between her and her partner, Ana Pastor recognized that Ferreras always has an advantage when working daily: «He works from Monday to Friday and I work on Sundays. When my day comes it has burned everything and was able to have the guest I wanted. Sometimes I found the guest I wanted live on your program», she said with a laugh, explaining that when this happens, she tries to «get the next guest up to him». “We have a very fun battle at home,” he assured.
The complicated reconciliation with his two children
The schedules of two journalists who have always put their work first are not ideal for running a family. Ferreras is the father of Simonthe fruit of his relationship with Ana Pastor, and a girl named Charlottefrom his previous marriage, something that is not usually easy to manage: «We have to make a distribution between the help we have at home and the grandparents. We pay our grandparents with love, but many of us know that in this country we would not do anything without grandparents,” said Ana Pastor.
To achieve this, the couple has resorted a lot to help from a babysitterwho has “a bed at home and everything you need.” «I wish conciliation were our problem alone.but in our country there are so many people who also have very intense jobs with many difficulties, such as the health sector. For me, nurses are like the least cared for sector and one that we should take care of the most: they have children, regrettable contracts, regrettable salaries and they also want to go to school to pick up their children. I hope a debate opens around this aspect, because it is very necessary», reflected the journalist.
For his part, García Ferreras has taken these problems with much more humor than his partner. During an interview on ‘Zapando’, the presenter explained how his work had affected his relationship with his young son: «He gets up in the morning and asks ‘Where is my father?’. In the afternoon he asks again: ‘Where is my dad?’ And at night he says to his mother: ‘Mom, when does Dad sleep and when does Dad eat if he’s there all the time?», joked the director of LaSexta.
The origin of his friendship with Florentino Pérez
Antonio García Ferreras has not hidden that his other great passion, behind journalism and his family, is Real Madrid. The presenter is one of the regular faces who visits the Wizink Center every week to follow the Madrid basketball team’s games, although his connection with the club goes beyond sports: for almost two years, he served as Director of Communication and Content of Real Madrid and continues to maintain a great relationship with the president of the club, Florentino Perez.
It was in 2004 when the journalist decided to leave his position at Cadena SER to try his luck in the offices of the white entity, after years of showing mutual love. The twoand they met through some mutual friends few months before the elections from 2000 to the presidency of Real Madrid, the second for which the current Madrid leader ran, and the spark arose between them.
Ferreras himself told in Onda Cero’s El Transitor how this first meeting between the two had come about, from which a long-lasting friendship ended up emerging: «We met in a peculiar way. A friend knew that I am very Madrid fan and that he was worried about the decline of Madrid and He wanted to present it to me. At first I said ‘how lazy’. It was six or seven months before I joined the club. I sat down with him and two or three other people and he told me his project.. I told him that it seemed fantastic to me, absolute modernity, and he told me that he wanted to sign Figo and Zidane in one fell swoop and how he wanted to do it, even that he was going to risk part of his assets,” the journalist explained to José Ramón de la Morena.
The director of ‘Al Rojo Vivo’ did not hesitate to criticize the then Madrid presidential candidate and asked him if he had come “to stay with Madrid: “He replied: ‘I give you my word that Madrid will always be one of its partners‘. And I answered, ‘so…’. And from there we established a deep friendship. I’m the one who argues with him the most. He has saved Madrid from decline, but he is a human being. “He is very intelligent, but he is right and wrong,” acknowledged Ferreras, who shortly after would end up occupying an important position within Florentino’s scheme.
Such was the trust he placed in the businessman that, when he decided to resign from the position in 2006he did the same. Of course, a football and basketball lover, he has not left aside the team of his life and we can see it regularly at the foot of the track with his partnerthe journalist Ana Pastor, and her children, to whom she has also instilled this love for Real Madrid.