Malaga motorbike fan to pay off debt with Spanish prime time TV show prize money

A resident of Vélez-Málaga on the eastern side of the Costa del Sol won a prize of 12,000 euros in a competition on Spain’s Antena 3 prime time television programme El Hormiguero on Thursday 24 October.

Andrés García revealed on show, when he learned that’s he’s answered a question correctly, that the money would go towards a new motorbike after confessing that the one he currently owns had been “embargoed” due to debts with the social security office.

García, 54, is a faithful follower of El Hormiguero, the prime time programme of Antena 3. He was tuned in when his phone rang. “When I picked up the phone and heard David Bustamante and Pablo Motos, I knew that yes, I had won,” said the husband and father of one.

After answering the question correctly, the question of what he was going to do with the 12,000-euro was asked at which point the audience and presenters errupted with laughter when he answered, “They have seized my 'burra', which is what we call in Vélez-Málaga a motorcycle like the one I have, a 'chopper' type, for a debt to social security of just 600 euros, when the bike is not worth 30,” he told SUR to explain the term he used in his speech and that sparked more laughter.

Although he said live on TV that he would buy another motorcycle, Garcia later revealed to SUR that he would use some of the money to pay off his debt to the social security imposed on him for an undue collection of unemployment benefits a few months ago.

“Although in the end the prize is only 9,700 euros for what I have to pay to the social security, it is very good with Christmas already there in sight,” said García, who has written four books. He is also behind a Facebook page allowing people in Vélez-Málaga to swap items and services that they no longer need, which SUR covered in October 2020.