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“Go ahead, choose. I’m sure you’ll lose.”, were the reckless words that Hugo heard from Scylla, the evil witch who was waiting for him in the castle where he arrived after traveling an arduous path, to rescue his family. Almost 20 years after its premiere, To play with Hugo (Magic Kids) remained in the memory of thousands of people who turned on their telephone to have fun with the adventures of the friendly elf. But not only the cartoon managed to reach the hearts of viewers, but also Gabriela Roife, your energetic driverabout which very little was known after 2005, the year in which the program disappeared as if by magic.
Gaby was a kindergarten teacher, but she felt that her vocation should not only be destined for the classroom, so she applied for a casting to do something on television and this was the beginning of success. In 1993, she made her small screen debut with Power Games, the first cycle dedicated exclusively to Nintendo video games. Then he went on to do The Cablevision Boys Club; until she was 24 years old when she received the proposal that would change her life: she was selected to be in charge of To play with Hugoa format imported from Denmark, about which little was known, but which would mark a before and after. “It was all crazy, not knowing how it was going to go. “It was a big bet for the channel because it was the first self-produced program.”trusted in dialogue with LA NACION.
At first, he combined kindergarten with driving, but after a year and a half he had to choose one of the two, especially because, although at first the cycle ran in the afternoon, having the approval of the public, It was broadcast from Monday to Monday and twice a day. “When it began to arise to start the program in the morning as well, it was already very impossible for me because I went from one school to another and sometimes I didn’t have time to have lunch.”. From the second garden I went straight to the studio and did not go to the program neatly. So I held it for a while,” she explained.
The excitement caused by the entertainment program was such that the little ones remained glued to the screen all week; and that was until December 31, 2005, the day they stopped manipulating Hugo with the phone buttons. “From production they confirmed to us that we had one month left. “Every day that passed was one less program, but the public didn’t know it until the last day.”he maintained, with a certain melancholy about that moment.
At that time, Gaby had a two-year-old daughter and another of her dreams was to expand the family, so she dedicated herself to that. “The life of Magic Kids, of TV and driving, was completely relegated. I had two children twenty months apart, so they were years of intense motherhood and great dedication. The other thing was a topic that was not talked about, so there were years in which people didn’t even know me.. Furthermore, I was renegade from the networks, I didn’t like the topic of the exhibition there at all and it all seemed very artificial, strange to me, like I had a rejection of it,” she said honestly.
After being one of the iconic hosts of the 90s, Gaby left no traces and refused to have social networks, so different hypotheses began to circulate: since she had died or that Pancho Dotto had hired her as a model. “There were Facebook groups looking for me and it was very funny because there were all kinds of theories. “People wanted to know what had happened because they couldn’t find current photos of me.”he mentioned, laughing.
Unlike back then, today she is very active on Instagram, an account where she has almost 25,000 followers. From her profile, The 52-year-old host causes a sensation by interacting with users about the remembered cartoon which today brings together several generations of melancholics. Gaby tours the country with his events, where hundreds of people participate in To play with Hugoas before, but now on stage. “There are people who remember what they paid for the phone for the month they called to play with Hugo; Others buy the poster and come to have it signed.”he assured.
For her, To play with Hugo It meant much more than a job, a place where she felt fulfilled, in which happiness was the protagonist of the scene, the same one that she transmits today, when she revives in each of her presentations those programs that, for almost a decade, had in mind. I saw the viewers, who were waiting to hear “press 5”, the indication with which the fun began. “You can’t always choose or do what you like, but To play with Hugo It meant years of happiness and feeling fulfilled. “Today is an extra prize, a plus that life gives me.”she concluded, grateful.
