Pocholo is set to be one of the big stars of Masterchef Celebrity 9. His real name is José María Martínez-Bordiú y Bassó, he was born in 1962 in Madrid and belongs to the dynasty of the House of Gotor, a family of high society aristocrats. In fact, Pocholo is the 18th Baron of Gotor, the first-born of the marriage formed by José María Martínez-Bordiú, 17th Baron of Gotor, and Clotilde Bassó y Roviralta. His godfather was the bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín and he has four younger siblings: Alfonso, Alejo, Clotilde and Esperanza ‘Cuca’.
He has had the nickname ‘Pocholo’ since childhood. “It comes from the hepatitis. He was sick, this child is going to die…”, his family said of him, as revealed to Bertín Osborne some time ago in an interview on the program ‘Mi casa es la tuya’.
But he is much more than an aristocrat. He is an economist, a hotel entrepreneur, and a media personality. He began his career in Veterinary Medicine and has a double degree in Finance and Marketing. He speaks four languages and is a founding partner of an electric vehicle company.
He has been in the army, lived in Miami and Switzerland, worked in the banking sector, motorbikes and snow are his passion and he currently resides in Ibiza. For 15 years, as he explains to RTVE, he has “lived in a truck” that has no bathroom or kitchen, only two electric burners, so he doesn’t cook much, but he claims to have “intuition and attitude” and is very creative. Oh, and he remembers watching his father cook game on the stove as a child. Just what it takes to stand out at Marsterchef.
He is famous for his family ties: he is the nephew of Cristóbal Martínez-Bordiú, Marquis of Villaverde, who was Francisco Franco’s son-in-law. He married Sonsoles Suárez, daughter of the former Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez, with whom he was married for only two years, although he maintains that they have a good relationship. “We separated, not out of mutual pleasure, but by mutual agreement,” he said at the time.
Pocholo also confessed why he has not had children. “I wanted to be a father, but then it wasn’t possible and now I don’t know if I’m old enough to have children.” He added that he projected his frustrated fatherhood onto his nephew Bosco, son of his sister Clotilde Martínez-Bordi.
