Dirty tactics: Influencer covers himself with mud before filming ‘report from the scene’ of Spain flooding

Ruben Gisbert's act was caught on camera. Photo / @raaxon

A Spanish influencer has been caught deliberately covering himself in mud before filming a news segment in flood-decimated Valencia.

Ruben Gisbert was on Sunday filming in Valencia for Horizonte, a news programme directed and presented by veteran Spanish journalist Iker Jiménez, when he knelt down to coat his legs in dirt before a live broadcast.

But the influencer and lawyer was caught by an onlooker filming the broadcast from a building above. The video was shared on social media and met with scorn.

Valencia is still recovering from the worst flash flooding in modern history after being met with a year’s worth of rain within eight hours last week.

At least 217 people were killed as the flooding ravaged south-eastern Spain. The number of people still missing remains unknown.

Almost all the deaths occurred in the Valencia region and more than 60 in the suburb of Paiporta.

On Sunday, some residents in Paiporta threw mud at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and King Felipe and his wife, Queen Letizia, chanting: “Murderers, murderers!”

The Prime Minister was also struck during the protests, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in an interview on TVE, blaming a handful of extremists for the trouble.

Locals in Paiporta said anger boiled over because they felt authorities were using them for a photo opportunity.

Gisbert, who describes himself as a “practising lawyer and freedom revolutionary”, defended the action on social media, arguing that he was ensuring continuity so his appearance would match an earlier shot.

“I’m not a reporter and I’m not used to making live connections,” he added in a later apology for his “stupid mistake”.

Jiménez also responded to the clip saying he never asked the influencer to “dramatise something”.

“I cannot count on him, he has failed me. I was shocked when they sent him to me,” he said in a video posted online.

The broadcaster said Gisbert would not be allowed to contribute to the programme again after his “despicable” stunt that had undermined their coverage of the devastation.

The Telegraph contacted Gisbert for comment but he did not immediately respond.

- Additional reporting, Reuters