Felipe Camiroaga

Felipe Humberto Camiroaga Fernández (8 October 1966 – 2 September 2011) was a Chilean television presenter, actor and comedian, one of the most popular in his country.

Camiroaga hosted many shows for Chilean television station TVN, including the morning talk show Buenos Días a Todos and a late-night talk show Animal Nocturno.

He also acted in several TV series, such as Jaque Mate and Rojo y Miel, and in two films.

In 1981, while spending his vacations at the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Camiroaga offered to work as a camera assistant for a TV crew from Televisión Nacional de Chile that was in the location, his first ever interaction with TV.

In 1987 he completed studies of TV Production and Direction at Instituto Incacea.

He also studied journalism at Las Condes University, but did not complete the course, and theater at Academia de Actuación Fernando González Mardones.

Felipe Camiroaga started working as a camera assistant at the press department of television channel Red de Televisión Universidad de Chile (RTU, now Chilevisión) in 1988, and later as a production assistant at the channel's production department.

But he quickly went from off to on-camera; his first job was as a host in a music video programme called Videotop, that was previously hosted by Pablo Aguilera and Justus Liebig.

Later, he presented Extra Jóvenes, RTU's teenage-oriented show, which he co-hosted with Katherine Salosny.

His chemistry with Salosny proved successful and he became her co-host a few months later.

However, at the end of the 1990s, he achieved success with prime time programme La Noche del Mundial, which was broadcast during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and Pase lo que Pase, a miscellaneous evening programme which he co-hosted with Karen Doggenweiler.

In 1991 he declined an offer to become a news anchor and continued at Extra Jóvenes, now co-presenting with Claudia Conserva.

Camiroaga was hired by Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) in 1992 to co-host Buenos Días a Todos with Tati Penna, a breakfast programme first transmitted that year; however, the couple were later replaced by Margot Kahl and Jorge Hevia.

Later, he had a brief television acting career, debuting in Jaque Mate, and later he portrayed an antagonistic character in Rojo y Miel.

Despite being advised by actress Ana Reeves, Camiroaga did not receive good reviews for his acting performances.

At the same time, he hosted some unsuccessful programmes, such as La Gran Apuesta and El Chapuzón, and others with mixed results, such as Motín a Bordo and Contigo en Verano.

Camiroaga also hosted prime time programmes during the 2000s such as Con Mucho Cariño and Ciudad Gótica, both of which did not complete a full season for their "controversial contents", and the first two seasons of the reality show Pelotón.

In 2004 he co-hosted Pasiones with Bárbara Rebolledo, but he left the programme later that year and was replaced by Martín Cárcamo.

He returned to Buenos Días a Todos in 2005, sharing duties with Tonka Tomicic, then with Katherine Salosny, and finally Carolina de Moras.

In 2006, he began hosting his own talk show, Animal Nocturno.

Camiroaga twice hosted the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in 2009 and 2010.

He was nicknamed "Halcón de Chicureo" ("Falcon of Chicureo") because he bred falcons in his residence in Chicureo, a rural area north of Santiago.

In February 2009 he co-presented the Viña del Mar International Song Festival with Soledad Onetto, and also co-presented the 2010 edition.

The replacement of Salosny by de Moras was not well received and the local entertainment media blamed Camiroaga for it, which later resulted in a mass booing while Camiroaga was being awarded a Premio Copihue de Oro for "Best TV presenter" at the Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago, in 2010.

In 2010, Camiroaga co-hosted Halcón y Camaleón with comedian Stefan Kramer.

That same year, he received an offer from US television network Univisión to present a breakfast programme.

Camiroaga rejected this offer and renewed his contract with TVN for three years.

Camiroaga died on 2 September 2011 after the military plane which was taking him and twenty others to Juan Fernández Archipelago crashed in the sea.

Camiroaga's death was officially announced seven days later, and after a funeral oration at TVN's headquarters, he was buried in Santiago.

He has been posthumously awarded several prizes, including the "Social Communicator Special Award" by the National Council of Television in 2011.

Camiroaga was born in Santiago, Chile.

His parents were Jorge Camiroaga Puch and María de la Luz Fernández Stemann; he was the second of three brothers.

Camiroaga and Fernández separated when Felipe was four years old.

His mother moved to the Canary Islands in Spain, leaving her children with their father.

In the Canaries, Fernández married Fernando Bontempi, with whom she had three children, including Spanish actress Paola Bontempi.

Camiroaga was of Basque, German, and Peruvian descent; he traces his Peruvian ancestry to his paternal grandmother Irene Puch de Olazábal who was born in Arequipa; Camiroaga's German blood is traced to his mother and paternal grandmother.

His paternal grandfather was Carabineros de Chile colonel Humberto Camiroaga, Director of the Escuela de Carabineros de Chile.

During his childhood, Camiroaga regularly visited rural places such as Villa Alegre, where his aunt Lavinia "Mirnia" Camiroaga lived, and Robinson Crusoe Island, marking his love for animals and the countryside.

Camiroaga was named an "Illustrious Son" of Villa Alegre in May 2011.

Camiroaga completed his primary studies at Colegio San Ignacio de El Bosque, and his secondary studies at Colegio Marshall.