A television host in Monterrey, Mexico, kicked a small camera drone during a live broadcast on Monday night, October 26, and the drone flew into the face of a model standing a few feet away. Ernesto Chavana, the longtime host of Es Show on Multimedios’ Canal 6, lashed out at the quadcopter as it hovered low beside him. It shot across the studio floor and hit Isabella Rojas, a Colombian model and cast member known on the show as “La Colombiana,” in the mouth.

Rojas covered her face, bled on camera and was helped off the set by castmates, and paramedics treated her off camera. She returned to the studio later in the program and told viewers her injuries were minor. Chavana apologized on air later in the broadcast. Clips of the kick have been viewed more than three million times on X since Tuesday.

Chavana says his bosses have summoned him to a meeting on Thursday at noon. None of the Mexican outlets covering the story as of Wednesday morning quote Multimedios or the production on who was flying the drone or why it was at leg height in a studio full of people.

Chavana Blamed the Production, Then Took the Blame Himself

Chavana stayed put after the kick and did not go to Rojas, and Infobae reports he was still angry and blamed the production while castmates helped her off the set. Multimedios’ own sister outlet Milenio says he appeared sorry afterward and did not answer its questions.

“Me hago responsable de lo que acaba de pasar,” he told viewers. He said this later in the broadcast, adding that he felt very embarrassed and ashamed of what he had just done. Es Show’s production confirmed to reporters that Chavana would pay for the damage caused to Rojas.

In a video posted the next day, Chavana went further and called himself the only one responsible, saying the kick was never meant to hurt anyone and that if there was something to pay, he would pay it, SDP Noticias reported. SDP also reported that the production barred him from discussing the incident on air, and Milenio says the summons came from Multimedios’ human resources department. Viewers have called on the network to suspend or fire him. The company had not announced any sanction as of Wednesday morning, and Rojas, who SDP says already has legal advice, has not commented on whether she will act.

The Drone Was Flying Unguarded at Leg Height in a Live Studio

The clip shows a small black quadcopter with four exposed rotors hovering what looks like a foot (30 centimeters) off the floor, a few steps in front of the cast. Milenio says it was filming the studio for the show. None of the outlets covering the story identify the pilot.

DroneXL has covered a string of drone-to-face injuries on sets and stages. An actor ran into the propellers of a hovering DJI Inspire 2 during a film shoot in Wales in 2022. A photographer was fined in 2024 after losing control of his drone, which crashed onto the stage during a Fatboy Slim concert. And a 14-year-old was hospitalized with propeller lacerations on a Florida fishing pier the same year. In none of those cases did a person strike the aircraft. In Monterrey a man kicked it.

DroneXL’s Take

Chavana kicked the drone, so the injury is on him, and he said as much. But I keep looking at where that quadcopter was before his foot got to it. Somebody on the Es Show crew put a drone with bare propellers roughly a foot off the floor, by my read of the clip, in a live studio, with a dozen performers standing within a few steps of it. That is a flight plan for an accident even without a host losing his temper. Drones built to fly close to people indoors, the DJI Neo and the ducted Avata 2 among them, ship with full prop guards for a reason. A ducted drone kicked across a studio still hurts. A guarded one is far less likely to open a lip. My read is that Multimedios will sanction the man who kicked and keep flying the same drone the same way. The fix belongs to the production: guard the props, keep the aircraft above head height or behind the talent, and give the pilot the authority to land it the moment a host starts swatting at it.

Source: Milenio, SDP Noticias, El Imparcial

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.