News anchor caught cheating on 'Big Brother' star girlfriend when semi-naked woman walks in during video call
A Spanish news anchor was left red-faced after he was caught cheating on his 'Big Brother' star girlfriend when a semi-naked woman walked through his live video call.
Alfonso Merlos, a presenter for Telemadrid and Trece, had been speaking to a host on the Estado de Alarma channel on YouTube when the unfortunate incident occurred, according to the Sun.
While he's talking, a partially-clothed woman walks by in the background without him noticing. However, the gaffe was pointed out quickly by eagle-eyed viewers, who also noticed that the woman was not his girlfriend, former 'Big Brother' star Marta López.
The mystery woman was later identified as fellow journalist Alexia Rivas, leaving Merlos facing mounting criticism on social media for his inappropriate behavior. While he initially stayed away from the public eye, he eventually resurfaced and apologized to López for his actions.
"If you think that my attitude has not been correct or that there are things that I have not done well, I have no problem asking for forgiveness, although my goal was not to harm someone else," he said during an appearance on The Ana Rosa show.
However, he insisted that he and López were not together at the time the video was shot. Rivas similarly claimed that she had been seeing Merlos for several weeks.
"I didn't get into a relationship, he told me he was single. We have been [seeing each other] three weeks," she said.
But the drama did not end there. In yet another twist reminiscent of one of the telenovelas that have become synonymous with the country, López came out to state that she was with Merlos at the time.
The 'Big Brother' star went on to say that the whole saga had been "unpleasant" and "shameful."
López revealed that she and Merlos had argued before he cheated on her but that it had not been serious enough that they called off their relationship.
"I had been mad at Alfonso for four days. Four. He didn't want me to do something that affected my family and I did it and he got mad," she said. "We discussed, he sent me very nice messages of love."
"I am not going to tell the truth of the discussion or the reason why I would leave Alfonso," she continued. "The discussion was about a personal issue that does not come to mind."
However, another Spanish journalist, Isabel Rábago, did share the reason for their rift. She claimed that Merlos had been upset that the father of one of Marta's children would come up to the house.
But it seemed like they had put the issue behind them, according to López.
"On Thursday (the day of the video) in the morning, I sent him a message saying that I missed him, that if we were going to continue without talking. Alfonso answered me with several messages saying that he loved me, that it was the most important thing in his life, that he would not change a minute of what he had lived with me," she said.