Juan y Medio is a slightly sinister TV presenter on regional TV Canal Sur. He presents a number of programmes, including one where small children sing and dance for the amusement of OAP’s, but the programme that concerns us is a stupefyingly boring daily afternoon programme called “la tarde aquí y ahora” (the afternoon here and now).
In it, Juan y Medio (I understand he was actually born in Almeria but fled the place as soon as he could) finds elderly, often slightly gaga OAP’s and encourages them, live on air, to tell his public about their miserable solitary lives. People from the opposite sex who are interested can then call in, talk about themselves and be setup on a blind date with the contestant.
This live geriatric version of blind date has been going on for God only knows how many years now, but trouble has flared after an 80 year old man with “physical and mental difficulties” (according to the family’s police report) went on the show and was sent off on a date with a 76 year old woman who has now emptied his bank accounts.
Pedro is an 80 year retired plumber from Malaga whose wife died in 2010. He went on the show last year and instantly fell head over heels with his date, a 76 year old woman from Cadiz.
The family, who live some distance away from old Pedro, thought it was a summer romance, but were alarmed after social services called them to warn that he was in some distress.
The old woman and her daughter had cleaned Pedro out, taking his life savings of 60,000 euros, maxing out his cards and pinching anything of value from his home. He had, according to police, just 17 cents to his name when the family filed a denuncia. And had to face debts of a further 7,000 euros.
Local bank officials said that Pedro often turned up with a younger woman who claimed to be his grand-daughter to take cash out. The woman, in her mid forties, was actually the daughter of the old woman, who usually waited out in the car. They also went shopping with his debit and credit cards, maxing them out and then going back out as soon as the balance cleared.
Police have arrested both women. And this is where the story gets really interesting…
The cops discovered the pair had previously been on the same show, met another old man, and cleaned him out. So the police have issued a subpoena on Juan y Medio’s programme, getting details of up to 50 men who were put in contact with the pair.
Juan y Medio’s programme say in their defence that they have had 3.256 people on the show over the years over 1.511 episodes. Over 20.000 people have called in their details to meet these people and this “is the first time such a thing has happened”. The show’s producers add that the first thing they knew of this was when the cops go in touch with them, and that they encourage contestants to get in touch with them if they are worried about the prospective partner.
