Is Univision's Fernando del Rincón Defecting To Rival Telemundo?

Fernando del Rincón is at the center of a perplexing controversy. Last night during prime-time Telemundo aired a promo with Del Rincon's image welcoming him to their network.

The promo stated, “You have to see it to believe it. Telemundo welcomes Fernando del Rincón. Only on Telemundo.” leaving little doubt in the viewers' mind that 37-year-old Del Rincón had made the move to the other network.

No one was more surprised than Del Rincón, who tells Peopleenespanol.com that he has not signed any contract with Telemundo. “I don't know what happened, how it happened, or why it happened; I have not signed a contract with them”, he says.

“I am not quitting my job like some hired help,” said Del Rincon clearly upset by the bogus rumors. “I don't know what the devil Telemundo's people have done, all I know is that the promo has caused quite a stir and I haven't even seen it”. Del Rincón is said to have been at the movies with girlfriend and fellow Univision presenter, Carmen Dominicci, at the time the promo aired.

Telemundo spokesperson, Suzette Millo, confirms that they did, in fact, air the promo but would not provide further comments. Another source from the same network assured Peopleenespanol.com that if the promo aired, it was not by mistake. The same source assured us that the Primer impacto host has been involved in negotiations with Telemundo to host Cosas de la vida, a new prime time show.

Del Rincón insists that he has nothing to do with this mix-up: “It's a complete lie. Univision has taken the issue at hand and has contacted Telemundo directly. I'm just a TV host who is caught in the middle of a big controversy. Today I will host my show, Primer impacto, as I will do tomorrow and the day after that. My contract is up in 2009.”