There are specific moments and small decisions in which one is not aware of how much taking one direction or another could change one’s life. Surely Samantha Vallejo Nájera has thought about it on some occasion, because her life would have been, surely very different, if she had not said ‘yes’ when the producer contacted her to take charge of MasterChef. And it’s been eleven years and twelve editions since that moment, which is undoubtedly a very high number considering that it is a television format and that television, and what works or doesn’t work in the business, changes every day.
And, although Samantha had already fulfilled some of her dreams when she began her role as a jury, many others have come since. Her family is full of prestigious doctors and psychiatrists, she was the first to have that love for cooking, and she did not hesitate, when she had the opportunity to professionalize what had been a hobby for years. ‘Samantha from Spain’ was her great project, a catering for all types of occasions that grew little by little until she had the need to register a company to manage it.
Samantha Vallejo-Nágera’s businesses outside of television
Samantha Vallejo-Nágera Catering SL, dedicated to the “preparation and distribution of all kinds of food products, as well as beverages and liquors, the execution of activities related to the catering service included in the hospitality industry” and today, More than ten years after its inception, it continues to bill figures such as the 2.9 million in sales it presented in the last fiscal year. And it is evident that, when the program began, it had already started rolling and had provided numerous services, but. The visibility that MasterChef’s screen quota gave her in each edition was undoubtedly priceless publicity that made many people, who did not even know her, know not only of her existence, but also of her services as a chef.
And it was not her first time on television, because she had already debuted on Canal Cocina, in a small space in which she was preparing and sharing the step by step of different pastry recipes. But the great opportunity was that of TVE, and that has led him to be able to take a step further and set goals that perhaps until then he had not even dreamed of, such as having his own hotel-restaurant in the land he loves most, where grew up, Pedraza (Segovia). Everything was launched in 2019, and despite the adversities caused by Covid 19, in 2020 meals were already served and rooms were rented. It is her most personal initiative, and she does it hand in hand with her husband, with whom until then she had not shared business. In just one year, in what are the first accounts that can be consulted, her turnover is close to one million euros, which shows that for now this leisure offer works as well as Samantha herself imagined when she launched it. .
The salary that Samantha Vallejo-Nágera earns for the ‘MasterChef’ program
We are already talking about almost three million invoiced between his two companies, to which we must add about 10,000 euros per program, which is what it has been published that he charges, and his advertising and social media actions, which are not few, because the cook has become quite a draw for brands. On Instagram she shares a good part of her daily life, and that of her little ones, especially Roscón, who has Dawn syndrome, something that her mother has always talked about naturally, helping to show the positive side of this condition and become naturalized and integrated into society.
Together with Pepe Rodríguez and Jordi Cruz, Samantha forms the perfect tandem in the kitchens of the most famous kitchens in Spain. In fact, since Eva González, who was initially the talent presenter, left, she assumed part of her role. Apart from announcing and presenting some tests, she is in charge of receiving and chatting with the guests who attend the outdoor test at each gala, a role with which she seems to feel very comfortable.
