Belén Esteban returns to Telecinco: Mediaset prepares two nights to turn her return to '¡De viernes!' into a big "Belenazo"

Belén Esteban returns to Telecinco. Three years after the end of 'Sálvame' and a breakup that seemed difficult to mend, the collaborator will return this Friday to the channel that made her one of the great personalities of Spanish television. She will do so starting at 11:00 PM as the protagonist of the main interview of '¡De viernes!', alongside Santi Acosta and Beatriz Archidona.

Mediaset confirmed her return this Wednesday with a brief announcement that immediately stirred up television news. The strategy, as 'El Confidencial' exclusively reported, will unfold over two nights. This Friday, the most powerful fragments of a recorded conversation will be broadcast, and on October 2, Belén Esteban will appear live on set to give the full interview.

The return has a special significance for Telecinco. The channel canceled "Sálvame" in June 2023 after fourteen years and tried for months to erase any trace of the universe that had marked its afternoons from its programming. That policy has gradually unraveled with the recovery of images from the program and the return of faces like Lydia Lozano or Karmele Marchante. Belén Esteban's appearance represents the most important step in that reconciliation with the past.

Negotiations had begun to surface several weeks before the announcement. Marta Riesco reported on 'El Sótano Club', on TEN, that Mediaset had proposed two appearances to Belén on "¡De viernes!", one recorded and one live, along with a possible stable collaboration and a participation in 'Gran Hermano VIP'. The one from Paracuellos then denied having a contract on the table and ruled out re-entering the Guadalix house because she wants to stay close to her mother.

"Television doesn't want me," she even admitted just a few days ago. The confirmation of her double interview shows that, at least a part of those conversations, has indeed moved forward. Mediaset is still silent about a possible stable incorporation and has not confirmed that Belén will participate in the 'reality' show.

Juls Janeiro and the challenge of boosting ratings

The return comes after a summer in which Belén Esteban has once again occupied the center of social news due to her confrontation with Juls Janeiro. The controversy began when she published a photograph of her daughter Andrea and wrote that she was not a "nepo baby like others." Jesulín de Ubrique and María José Campanario's daughter took offense and responded with several messages in which she went so far as to define the collaborator as "a television meme" and "Jesulín's shadow".

Belén has tried to de-escalate the direct clash with the young woman and has placed the conflict in her old relationship with the bullfighter. "I am not going to have a war with Julia," she clarified before assuring that her true dispute continues to be with Jesulín de Ubrique. She has also responded to María José Campanario, who has defended her daughter's right to express herself freely. Everything indicates that this family battle will occupy a significant part of Friday's interview.

The appointment will also serve as an audience test for Telecinco, which continues to go through one of its most delicate moments. The channel marked its historical monthly low in July with a 7.1% share and closed August with 7.8%. The last installment of "¡De viernes!" gathered 637,000 viewers and 10.8%, while "La Voz" led on Antena 3 with more than a million and 13.8%.

Mediaset now entrusts one of its most complicated nights to the woman who for years guaranteed headlines, conversation, and great audience figures. The first test will arrive this Friday with the recorded interview and the second will take place on October 2, when Belén Esteban returns live to the Telecinco set.