Yanko Flores

**Yanko Flores** is the weatherman of UBA's The Morning Show.

## History

### Mitch's 50th Birthday

Yanko joined the rest of the cast and crew of TMS to celebrate Mitch's 50th birthday.

### Mitch's Firing and Bradley's Hiring

After the New York Times reported that Mitch Kessler was being investigated for allegations of sexual harassment, Yanko helped Alex interview an expert in PTSD. During the interview, Yanko was visibly uncomfortable and had difficulty articulating the questions he wanted to ask.

While at work, Yanko was interrupted when Claire came in and climbed on his lap and told him she wanted him. He asked her to stop, but they started kissing anyway. Despite Claire's insistence that their relationship was not like what happened with Mitch, Yanko said they had to be careful.

Yanko attended an awards show where Alex was being honored. He was surprised, along with everyone else, when Alex announced Bradley as her new co-host.

Yanko was doing his weather report when Bradley came in to look around the studio and start to get prepared for her new job. As they prepared to do a rehearsal and Bradley learned that Alex was late, Yanko confirmed that that wasn't unusual for her.

On Bradley's first day, Yanko had to jump in quickly to do his weather report early when she went off script when talking about her life and admitted that she'd had an abortion at age fifteen.

The next day, Yanko was interviewed by Vicki Manderly, whom the network hired to interview everyone on the show about Mitch and the culture on set. Yanko told her there was gossip about Mitch, but he never let himself believe it was true. She asked if he believed they had an environment that condoned sexual misconduct and he said no.

That night, Yanko and Claire watched a report critical of Bradley on television. They disagreed over their opinions on Bradley, with Claire loving her and Yanko not being impressed. He also worried that his relationship with her was like what Mitch was doing. She was offended at the implication and reminded him that her family could buy and sell his ten times over. If either of them had power over the other, it was her.

### Alex's Fundraiser

Yanko attended a fundraising party at Alex's place. She encouraged Yanko to sing, which she had set up for people to do in exchange for a charitable donation. Later, when Cory performed and pulled Alex from the audience to do a duet with him, Yanko watched with Daniel.

### Wildfires

Yanko went with much of the rest of the cast and crew of TMS to California to cover the wildfires raging there. After they set up production there, Yanko began dictacting his report to Joel. When Yanko went off into some history, Joel asked if he wanted that in the copy and Yanko said yes. Yanko then worked with Greg to fit everything into the show. While they were there, Bradley hired Claire as her assistant and Claire immediately went to tell Yanko, who said he was proud of her despite being worried someone would see the two of them together. Later that night, Claire texted Yanko and then came to his hotel room.

### Going to HR

Shortly after their return to New York, Claire came to Yanko in a panic and told him to check his email. They both had messages asking them to come to HR. They speculated that someone must have seen her go into his hotel room. Yanko said they should just go to HR and put on paper that they were dating. Claire wanted to deny it instead, but Yanko knew that wouldn't work. He said he loved her and wanted to be able to take her out in public for dates. She agreed to meet him in HR after the cast photoshoot.

Yanko met on set with Daniel, Bradley, Alison, and Alex to get new promotional photos taken for the show. While they were being photographed, they were shocked to hear Mia's voice come over the speaker as she talked about her relationship with Mitch and the rumors surrounding it. She emphasized that she just wanted to focus on her work.

Yanko then went up to HR, where Sheila Lutkin asked him about his relationship with Claire. He told her it started as a friendship and he never pursued her. When she kissed him, he stopped it because he worried it would be inappropriate. When they started seeing each other, they decided it was best to keep it quiet. He thought many times about coming forward, but Sheila pointed out they only came forward when they were summoned. He told her that fear is what made them stay quiet.

After the meeting, Yanko found Claire and asked if she was okay. When she said she wasn't sure, he told her he was sure they'd be okay. When she saw Bradley approaching, Claire awkwardly ended the conversation.

After this meeting, Yanko noticed that Claire was avoiding him and wasn't answering his calls, so he asked her about it. She told him that she didn't want their co-workers knowing about their relationship. He told her he still thought they'd done the right thing and asked her to go out to dinner with him outside his apartment.

They met for dinner, but Claire found she couldn't go inside the restaurant for fear the other patrons would judge her. Yanko said he knew the owner and they wouldn't do that, but Claire said she couldn't do it. She said she thought she'd be okay with it, but it didn't feel relieving to her like it did to him. She loved being in a dark room with him, but found she didn't feel the same once they were outside. He told her he understood and walked away.

After this breakup, Yanko went to a bar, where he started talking to the bartender and another patron about El Niño and how it got its name. Later, when Claire learned that Hannah had died, she came to Yanko, who hugged her and said he was sorry. They both then watched as Alex and Bradley took over the airwaves and implicated Fred for covering up Mitch's actions.

### Changes at UBA

In the aftermath of Bradley and Alex's broadcast, there were lots of shakeups at UBA. Yanko was walking down the street one day when he ran into Meredith, one of Claire's friends, who told him Claire was studying for her GRE. She promised to tell Claire she'd seen Yanko.

In order to facilitate Alex's return, Cory planned a dinner for himself, Alex, and Stella. However, the guest list quickly grew to include Yanko, among others. When Alex didn't arrive at the scheduled time, Ty asked Yanko and Daniel if she liked to make people wait for her. Yanko tried to answer diplomatically, but Daniel said that she was entitled.

After everyone arrived, they sat down to dinner. Conversation first centered on the novel coronavirus, which Daniel felt they should be covering. Alex suggested he get on a plane to Wuhan and said Bradley could cover the Iowa caucus instead. Yanko said if they could get the "sham impeachment trial" out of the way, it would free up airtime. Stella started to challenge him on why he felt it was a sham, but Cory interrupted and called everyone's attention to him so he could toast to Alex and Bradley's reunion and announce his plans for the return, including one-on-one interviews for each of them with Laura Peterson.

When the day came to announce Alex's return, Yanko, Alison, and Ty were called over while Eric and Bradley announced it. Later, Yanko reported on Groundhog Day and called the groundhog his spirit animal. After the report, Ty informed him that it's not appropriate to call something your spirit animal. Yanko thought that was silly, but thanked Ty for telling him. Ty later told Yanko someone had reposted his report and he was now receiving massive amounts of criticism for using the term spirit animal, including #YankYanko. Yanko was upset at the criticism as he didn't believe he'd done anything wrong. Mia and Stella made it clear to him that he needed to apologize, but when he did so on the air, he did not take responsibility for what he'd done or truly apologize, which Stella knew wouldn't be sufficient.

Mia told Yanko that his apology came off as insincere, so he'd have to travel to Florida and speak to members of the seminole tribe, learn about their culture. He was fine with going, but didn't want it to be filmed. Mia told him no one would know he went if it wasn't filmed and they needed him to set an example. Yanko told Mia that he thought Stella was full of shit and wanted to deal with the issue quietly instead of doing it on television.

Later, when Yanko witnessed a man making violently racist comments at Stella, he stepped in and told the man he was ignorant. When he made additional racist comments about Yanko and shoved him, Yanko punched him until he was pulled off.

Yanko ended up with a black eye after the fight. He met with Stella, who suspended him due to the pressure from the network. This upset him as he said he'd just been accused of being racist and now was being suspended for fighting a racist. Stella reminded him that his job was to report the weather and she wasn't his enemy.

### Mitch's Death

When a report came that Mitch had died in a car accident in Italy, Mia gathered everyone together in the studio to tell them, including Yanko.

### Seeing Claire

Yanko was out on the street when he ran into Meredith again, this time followed by Claire. They decided to catch up. After talking for hours, Claire said she was leaving town the next week, but could meet him on Monday to catch up more. He said he was busy and she realized he was planning to go to Mitch's memorial, which horrified her becuase of what Mitch had done to Hannah. She revealed to him that she was bankrolling Hannah's father's lawsuit against the network as she felt awful for how she'd treated Hannah the day she died. Claire then left in horror.

### COVID and UBA+ Launch

After being sent home, along with everyone else at TMS, Yanko reported from home that the coronavirus had been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. He then transitioned to announcing the launch of UBA+.

## Personality

He is endearing and very passionate about his line of work.

## Relationships

### Romantic

Shortly after her arrival, he began a romantic relationship with PA Claire Conway.

### Family

In 3x08, during a heated exchange with Chris over abortion rights, Yanko mentions that the adoption process is hard. Later she asks him if he tried to adopt a kid and he smiles with a nod. She then offers to let him babysit to change his mind about adoption.

## Career

Yanko is the weatherman of UBA's The Morning Show. It is revealed during Season 3 that Yanko was given an anchor position at some point after the pandemic as a replacement for Bradley.

## Memorable Quotes

"Do you ever wonder why they call it that, El Niño? It starts with something so small, so insignificant. An anchovy. See, the anchovy, it prospers most in temperate waters. So, when equatorial trade winds—when they brought cold water west-ward—they slowly boiled under the beating sun. And by the time it reached Chimbote, Perú—which is the anchovy capital of the world—the warming waters were completely uninhabitable for the anchovy.

Oh no, it gets worse! The economy suffered. I mean, everything suffered, not just the fish. The aquatic seabirds that fed on the anchovies, from the gannets, to the cormorants, the pelicans, they all died. And so did the animals that fed on them. And because this phenomenon would, without fail, coincide with the celebration of the birth of christ they called it: El Niño de Navidad. The Christmas Boy.

Oh c’mon! You gotta hand it to the Peruvians. I mean, something so destructive in such harmless packaging! El Niño de Navidad. I mean, this thing that seemed so insignificant. The winds that make the water too hot for the tiny little fish to live. But, no. It’s a harbinger of something that throws everything out of whack. I mean droughts, floods, storms, huge global events! But there’s nothing you can do to stop the wind from blowing.

So, what can you do when you see all these little anchovies belly up in the water? You just keep on moving. And you brace yourself for the shit storm." -- **Season 1, Episode 10: *The Interview* Written by: *Kerry Ehrin***

## References

1. ↑ Lonely at the Top, 1x08
2. ↑ In the Dark Night of the Soul It's Always 3:30 in the Morning, 1x01
3. ↑ A Seat at the Table, 1x02
4. ↑ Chaos Is the New Cocaine, 1x03
5. ↑ That Woman, 1x04
6. ↑ No One's Gonna Harm You, Not While I'm Around, 1x05
7. ↑ The Pendulum Swings, 1x06
8. ↑ Open Waters, 1x07
9. ↑ Play the Queen, 1x09
10. ↑ The Interview, 1x10
11. ↑ My Least Favorite Year, 2x01
12. ↑ It's Like The Flu, 2x02
13. ↑ Laura, 2x03
14. ↑ Kill the Fatted Calf, 2x04
15. ↑ Ghosts, 2x05
16. ↑ A Private Person, 2x06
17. ↑ Confirmations, 2x08
18. ↑ Testimony, 2x09
19. ↑ Fever, 2x10