We meet near his office in a large shared office building in the financial district of Madrid. Here, for 375 euros per case, Conchita uses the lie detector on people from all over Spain to prove to someone – their partners, their parents, their bosses – that they are telling the truth, even if the machine later proves that they are lying and they end up “singing” right in front of the person concerned. It’s 10am and crowds of young people taking a coffee break stare at this extremely tanned 70 year old lady who looks 10 years younger as if they are having visions. Yes, it’s Conchita, Sálvame Deluxe’s celebrity polygraph, who shows up very smartly for the appointment and still brings a few extra outfits in a bag, just in case we think she’s unsuitable for the photo. Just four days ago, the program he taught said goodbye to the screen forever. She doesn’t seem very concerned.
Are you sad about your departure from television?
On the contrary: very happy and very grateful. This had to end. TV was a great side hustle, but it’s not my full-time job, which I’ve never left. I receive clients in Zaragoza where I live and in Madrid. This afternoon, for example, a gay couple comes for counseling.
Who brings whom?
Those who come do so of course voluntarily. It can be someone who wants to know if they’ve been unfaithful, if they’ve been robbed, if they’ve exaggerated their curriculum, or if their son is on drugs… Or someone who wants to prove their innocence to someone who doubts them. People who want to clear doubts. You can’t live with doubts. The fear of not knowing is worse than knowing you are being lied to.
And why does a liar go to the polygraph voluntarily like someone who goes to the slaughterhouse?
Because they think it won’t work. Or because they are left over and have lived in lies for many years and end up believing it. Or because they think it’s a game and they’re going to win. And it’s not. It’s not just the machine, it’s the questions I ask before and after. your silence his language. The one who comes into sin usually gives himself away.
Hear intimate things from your neighbor every day. how is gossip
I am not curious. I neither watch TV nor read magazines. I’m not interested in anyone’s private life, except when I’m working.
I imagine you’ve witnessed divorces, layoffs, and personal debacles almost live. How much do you cry in your office?
Very much. They are in a very deteriorated situation and are stuck in a loop that they don’t know or don’t want to get out of. I listen to them, I open their eyes to the naked truth and I try to help them, but I don’t interfere. I don’t cry, it’s work for me and I don’t take it home. I do the report and that’s it. Many thank me for life. I’m sticking with it.
Why are we lying?
To save face, for shame, to protect ourselves, to hide our misery, for fear of the consequences, to thrive, to harm and harm others. Almost always, out of selfishness. There are white lies to avoid hurting someone, but that’s the least I hear.
In addition to the lie detector, does the clinical eye also play a major role for you?
Yes, I have very few surprises. I am many years old and very callous. The body speaks. And the eyes. And the face. I see many of them lying from the door.
Conchita Pérez uses her own lie detector in her Madrid apartment. Bernardo Perez
She admits being religious and that lying is a sin. do you sin a lot
I try not to lie, or as little as possible, because if they spot me, my reputation would end. But we all have secrets and lies.
Are you conducting a soul-searching?
Frequently. There are those who do the Camino de Santiago to find themselves. I, who live alone, do the Camino de Santiago alone every day.
What shocks you the most?
Nothing at all. I’m afraid. I have worked with the public all my life. I’ve seen and heard everything. Before I became a polygraph, I ran a street hotel next to a gas station. I saw everything there. Drug addict truckers, corrupt businessmen, judges, infidels. And in counseling, when you think you’ve heard everything, something bigger appears. It seems incredible that people can be so mean: children who abuse and steal from their parents… There is a lot of sex, of course, but the worst is almost always to do with money. Money brings out the worst in people.
And what disgusts you the most?
The chauvinists who believe their wives are theirs, who set up cameras in their homes, who distrust them, who control them, who kick them. Nobody owns anyone. If you don’t have confidence or don’t care, let it go. But I have seen many cases that do not leave her, even though they are fatal. I wonder why they persist.
Would you give a politician a lie detector?
Unnecessary. It’s plain to see how they burden us with their facts, the newspaper library and the look on their faces.
And you, did you slip in?
politicians, no. But personally, of course, sometimes. There are situations, for example when you fall in love, when you lose your mind and become careless.
Did you enjoy your job? save me deluxe?
Professionally, it’s not that interesting. They were repetitive themes about celebrity sexual behavior or personal relationships, and the result was more or less familiar. They were very good years, although there were also disappointments. There is much hypocrisy and people who are not what they appear to be.
Well, on the show he gave the impression that he loved spotlights.
I try to do my job well. The show has a great crew and there are great people, but I’ve never sided with the cast. Often times I haven’t had any more contact with them than I did at the time of the lie detector. Then I would go home.
Have you ever been embarrassed?
A lot. I don’t judge anyone, but there are those who, just for the sake of money, tell very intimate and sometimes very uncomfortable things. Back to the same. Money moves fame and glory, money.
Did you cheat on the lie detector?
Yes, I did it in the USA as part of the internship for the course, but I can’t tell you how I did it because it would compromise professional secrecy.
When I tell you, “The truth is never sad,” what do you answer?
There is no cure for it. Yes, Serrat hit the nail on the head.
BOWL ‘DELUXE’
Thirteen years ago, they dubbed her the brains of Sálvame Deluxe after reading an interview of her in a local newspaper where she talked about her job as a private polygraph. They called her over one night to use the lie detector on the program’s celebrities and staff. And it stayed. Conchita Pérez (Zaragoza, 70 years old) found her true vocation at the age when others retire. Before training as a polygraph in the US, the daughter of an Aragonese gas station entrepreneur had set up her own oil management company and hotel next to a gas station, where she says she learned almost everything she knows about life and earned a degree in tourism and business. His famous “lies” or “tell the truth” and neat and unabashed silence while listening to salacious confessions from celebrities of all stripes earned him a spot on the show’s celebrity list. After the final closure of the format, he will now devote himself entirely to his private practice.
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