José Miguel Villouta
José Miguel Villouta Reyes (born 3 August 1976) is a Chilean television presenter and radio host from Santiago, Chile.
Villouta became widely known as the host of El interruptor, a program broadcast by the cable channel Vía X from 2002 to 2005. The show combined in-depth interviews with public figures from different fields with commentary on Chilean and international current affairs, and became known for Villouta's acerbic style and advocacy of LGBT rights. Villouta is openly gay.
Villouta has also worked in radio. He hosted Buffet on FM Tiempo. After the station ended the program following disagreements over its editorial direction, he joined Chilevisión's entertainment program SQP as a panelist in January 2007.
In 2016, El interruptor was revived with Villouta again serving as its host. He remained with the program until June 2017, when he resigned.
Biography
Villouta attended The Grange School. He subsequently studied journalism at Diego Portales University for two years before transferring to SEK University, where he studied the same subject for another two years but did not complete the degree. At the same time, he attended the literary workshop of Zona de Contacto, led by writer Alberto Fuguet, for four years.
He began his television career in 1995 as the presenter of Tú la llevai on the now-defunct Canal 2 Rock & Pop. After appearing in several programs on the channel, he became a regular presenter of Superpop, a youth-oriented program focused on music and current affairs.
In 2004, Villouta appeared in the "Los opinólogos" segment of Canal 13's Vértigo, alongside Pamela Jiles and Gloria Simonetti. The term opinólogo subsequently became widely used in Chile to describe media personalities who provide commentary, particularly on celebrity and entertainment news. Villouta also appeared on Canal 13's morning program Viva la mañana.
In March 2007, he competed in the second season of El baile en TVN, where he was eliminated during the second week of competition. On 13 December 2007, he was dismissed from SQP following comments about executives at Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) that were considered potentially defamatory.
On 7 February 2008, Villouta announced through his personal blog that he would enter a rehabilitation program for drug use. He was discharged on 21 February. He later hosted Los nuevos chilenos on LivTV and La grúa on Rock & Pop.
In mid-2011, Villouta joined La Red as a panelist on the entertainment program Intrusos. He later combined this role with work as a newsreader for the same network and hosted the podcast Abajo el amor.