Estrella TV abruptly cancelled “Estrellas Hoy,” laying off most of the entertainment and gossip show’s employees, including two of the show’s hosts, a reporter, and production staff.
According to an inside source, hosts Gino del Corte and Andrea Rincón, reporter Lupita Herrera, producer Juan Alberto Santos, writer Félix Castillo, and production assistant Ana Escobar are among those who lost their jobs.
The third host, Victoria del Rosal, was kept on board for the time being, because she participates in another network show called “Rica Famosa Latina,” which is currently in production for season 3, set to debut in August.
A small group of people from the show were reassigned to other positions within LBI Media.
“Estrellas Hoy,” which debuted in 2009, aired its last show at on Monday, July 27.
Staffers received a group text less than two hours after the final show aired, requesting they attend an early morning production meeting on Tuesday. A source says they thought they would be discussing the show’s planned move from 4 to 3 pm, to give their timeslot to the new program “I Testigo,” which debuted on Tuesday, July 28.
Instead, they were told the company decided to cancel the show and that most of the team would be laid off.
Estrella TV’s new 4 pm show “iTestigo,” highlights video from citizen journalists. The program hosts are Venezuelan TV host Celeste Santana, who previously hosted “Marcador Final” and “Acceso Total” on Telemundo’s KVEA; actor and former Univision/Telefutura TV host Rodolfo Jiménez, and María Elena Anaya, a finalist in Univision’s 2014 “Nuestra Belleza Latina.”
The 3 pm timeslot, where “Estrellas Hoy” was supposed to be moved to, now airs a repeat of cancelled show “A que no puedes VIP.”
Estrella TV did not respond to a request for comment.