Ion Aramendi Urrestarazu (born 11 February 1977) is a Spanish journalist, television presenter and former basketball player.

Biography

Born in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

in the Basque Country, Aramendi moved to

Salamanca Salamanca () is a city in western Spain and is the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several rolling hills by the Tormes River. Its Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritag ...

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

in 1996 to play basketball for

CB Tormes Club Baloncesto Tormes is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Salamanca, Castile and León that currently plays in Liga EBA, the fourth tier of Spanish basketball. History CB Tormes was founded in March 2000, after splitting from UD ...

and

CB Avenida Perfumerías Avenida Baloncesto formerly C.B. Halcón Viajes, is a women's professional basketball team based in Salamanca, Spain. The team currently plays in the Liga Femenina de Baloncesto. In 2011 Perfumerías Avenida won the Euroleague, an ...

. During his time there, he also studied journalism at the

Pontifical University of Salamanca The Pontifical University of Salamanca (in Spanish: ''Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca'') is a private Roman Catholic university based in Salamanca, Spain. History This Pontifical University has its origins in the unique University of Sa ...

. In 2002, he returned home to play for Santurtzi CB. He began in television in 2009 as a reporter on the tabloid television programme ''Sálvame'' on

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially launc ...

. In 2016, he moved to

ETB 2 ETB 2 is the second television channel from the Euskal Irrati Telebista group in the Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre and the French Basque Country. The channel broadcasts entirely in Spanish. The channel launched on 31 May 1986. A HD feed ...

in his native region to present the current affairs programme '' ¡Qué me estás contando!'', as well as New Year's Eve programmes on EITB. In December 2019, Aramendi returned to national television as the host of ''El cazador'' on La 1, the Spanish adaptation of the British game show ''The Chase''. In March and April of the following year, he presented '' Todos en casa'', a variety show at the start of the

COVID-19 lockdown Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countrie ...

. It was broadcast from his home, with his family. In February 2021, Aramendi was announced as the co-presenter of ''The Dancer'' with

Sandra Cervera Sandra Cervera Peris (born June 19, 1985 in Valencia, Spain) is a Spanish actress, presenter and singer known for her role in the soap opera, '' El secreto de Puente Viejo'', where she played Emilia Ulloa for eight years. Biography. Her begin ...

, an adaptation of ''

The Greatest Dancer ''The Greatest Dancer'' is a British dance competition television series created by Simon Cowell and produced by Syco Entertainment. The first BBC programme created by Cowell, ''The Greatest Dancer'' sees previously undiscovered dance acts perfo ...

'' on La 1. In 2022, Aramendi returned to Telecinco to present the debate show of ''

Survivor Spain ''Survivor Spain'' is the Spain, Spanish version of the popular reality series ''Survivor (franchise), Survivor''. This version of the show has aired on Spanish broadcast channels Telecinco, from 2000 to 2001 and 2006 to the present, Antena 3 (Spa ...

''. In November 2022, Aramendi was announced as the presenter of ''Reacción en cadena'', the Spanish adaptation of the American game show ''

Chain Reaction A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chain reactions are one way that syst ...

''. In 2023, he became the host of the nightly "debate" episodes of the ''Gran Hermano VIP'' reality show reboot.

Personal life

Aramendi married María in Salamanca in 2011. As of 2020, they had two sons. He is the third of four brothers, who were all teammates at CB Avenida in 2000–01.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aramendi, Ion 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from San Sebastián Spanish men's basketball players Pontifical University of Salamanca alumni Basque journalists Spanish television journalists Spanish game show hosts Basketball players from the Basque Country (autonomous community)