Despite the fact that he started in sports journalism at the age of 8, Giancarlo Granda gained notoriety in 2020 when he was introduced as the new storyteller for Gol Perú. He immediately caused an impact due to his fresh style, his acid comments and a physical peculiarity that made him the target of some jokes from viewers or followers of social networks.
However, the one known as ‘Flaco’ for obvious reasons, was never intimidated and decided to take his build to make it his brand. In this way, ‘Tiempo Muerto’ was born, a successful interview program on his YouTube channel, and ‘Alma de Mundial’, in which he interacted with users during the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
In an interview with the YouTube channel ‘Habla ‘Barba’, granada reveals his secret to cope with the jokes and some anecdotes that his still young career left him in sports journalism.
Almost by accident, I was with my dad at a newsstand, looking at the front pages, while he cussed something. They listened to me and invited me to a radio program, the truth was that I spent 3 or 4 months with small spaces of two minutes. Then came ‘Those Chibolos’
I will never forget it, I have written to him 10 more times and he has not answered me but Claudio pizarro He gave me an interview when he wasn’t talking to any media. He was on the bus and the cameraman carries me, I greet him with the giant microphone he had, he laughs and goes down to give me the interview. He was very kind, not like others who were in the Videna.
Giancarlo Grande.
There was a man who would not let me enter the Videna. García Pye gave me authorization but there was someone who did not want me to enter because “I was not a journalist.” I am 13 years old, of course I was not a journalist (laughs).
I agreed to speak English (laughs). They gave me the email of the owner of the production company and I wrote to him as if it were my paw, I didn’t lose anything. In the casting, there was a name impossible to pronounce, the Croatian Vrsaljko. Later they told me that I stayed because I pronounced it correctly.
Just stepped foot in a stadium. We had to adapt, happily there was no shortage of work, I had to narrate play station games at 1:00 am at my house. My neighbors wanted to kill me.
I found out that I was going to narrate the classic, having a coffee on the canal with Maxi Mendaña. I thought that Jaime (Guerrero) was going to narrate it, but they kept looking at me and there I felt something. Maxi said: “That’s where he narrates it, Flaco”, they said: “It could be.” For me, being at the gig was already great.
Darlin Leiton will be remembered more for the blooper than for what he did in Alianza Lima. What happens is that I am very nearsighted and at the Monumental the booth is far from the field, so I get as close as I can and therefore I don’t carry paper. When I see a player warming up I think it’s Leiton (who wasn’t on the list) and it was Arley. When I say that, Rebagliati will go as if to say: “What is this guy talking about?”
Those from Alianza think I’m from the ‘U’ and those from the ‘U’ think I’m from Alianza, that tells me that I’m doing my job well. In the classic I found out that Peruvians don’t watch football, they just watch their team. They thought I was a fan of the ‘U’ because I reneged on Cayetano, but I renege on everyone like that.
I don’t really have, I feel affinity with San Martín and in Argentina I am a fan of Independiente. I also don’t agree with the fact that journalists talk about their fans because you get in trouble, you say it and the next day you can’t enter the rival stadium.
Watch the full interview here.
It is enough to see the publications in social networks of Gol Peru to realize that Giancarlo is a success among netizens. Obviously, he knows that many of the comments bring some jokes, among which we find many that are good vibes and others that cross the line.
But “Skinny” is not bothered, he learned to be the first to laugh at himself and made it his trademark, so much so that his web programs are called ‘Time-out’ Y ‘Soul of the world’.
At first it made me uncomfortable, but you have two options: get upset or laugh. I am the first to laugh at myself, when I go to the beach I am the first to take off my polo shirt, someone gets scared but that’s how it is (laughs). Laughing at yourself is the key.
The only time it bothered me, it wasn’t because of me, but because of my mom. Social media can be very toxic, especially Facebook and my mom sees it. So I had to tell him: “If I don’t want to be bothered, I’m going to work in an office but that’s not my thing, so we take it on or I do something else.”
Once a publication announced that I had died in an apartment in Miraflores on New Year’s, my mother was caught and she kept calling me. I had left my phone charging, when I see it I had about 40 missed calls. That bothered me a lot because one has a family.
Giancarlo Grande.
Of course, my shows are called ‘Tiempo Muerto’ and ‘Alma de mundial’, they’re always going to annoy me that I’m skinny… because I’m skinny, well brother. But I’m fine, I don’t have a disease, the last time I had a checkup they congratulated me, they don’t know that I smoke and drink soda like crazy (laughs).
It wasn’t because of skinny. Once at the Gallardo a guy yelled at me that he was salty because he had lost Cristal. So far I let it go but those around were already getting excited. So I patched it up and told him: “You say that because you’re down there, let’s see, come here and tell me to my face.” In the end he did nothing and half an hour later he asks me for a photo. I didn’t tell him.
My friend Martín Cassana was the one who taught me that laughing at myself could be my shield. But if there’s someone I owe everything to, it’s my mom, she went out of her way for me and she always supported me. In fact, my last name is not Granda, I am Giancarlo Ponce Granda, but I use my mother’s last name because I think it is giving her the credit she deserves.
