EXCLUSIVE: If you’ve been anyplace close to social media up to now couple of weeks, you may be accustomed to José Carlos Montoya. He’s the Spanish hunk making the determined cost throughout a moonlit seashore to confront his girlfriend as she slips between the sheets with one other man. It’s the clip that spawned the “Montoya, por favor!” viral sensation, bringing collectively in meme-union Whoopi Goldberg, New York Nicks star Josh Hart, and Netflix’s social admin.
Viewed greater than 320M instances throughout two Twitter/X accounts alone, Montoya’s mad sprint is a cinematic second that originates from La Isla de las Tentaciones, also called Spain’s model of Temptation Island. Montoya was simply 5 years outdated when Temptation Island was first conceived on Fox in 2001 and the present is in its eighth season in Spain, which means the format is well-drilled to ship excessive drama.
For the uninitiated, the Banijay actuality collection transports {couples} to a tropical island (the Dominican Republic within the case of Spain’s model) splits them into female and male villas, and introduces them to engaging singles to check their relationships. Montoya’s anguish was captured throughout one of many present’s foundational “bonfire” scenes, throughout which contestants watch video footage of their companions getting frisky with no free go. In Montoya’s case, he was watching his girlfriend, Anita Williams, reside dishonest.
Montoya is a actuality TV animal having beforehand appeared on The Language of Love, which aired within the UK on Channel 4. Juan Ramón Gonzalo, the boss of La Isla de las Tentaciones producer Cuarzo Producciones, tells Deadline that Montoya is a really expressive particular person, who understands the grammar of the medium. But greater than that, Gonzalo says his response to Anita dishonest is genuine.
The couple went via a rigorous casting course of, through which they had been interviewed collectively and individually to ascertain whether or not they had been proper for the present. Temptation Island casting groups are plagued with faux {couples}, so they should ask testing private questions on their relationship dynamics and households. They discovered that Montoya thought-about Anita to be his past love. Her son from a earlier relationship was additionally shut with Montoya. “They are a very special couple,” provides Gonzalo.
So when Montoya sees Anita’s infidelity, a “real heart was broken,” explains Gonzalo. We don’t want to talk Spanish to grasp his horror. We don’t have to know the historical past of their relationship to be operating by his aspect as he crosses the seashore to confront Anita. It’s all there in a clip that tells the story of 25 years of Temptation Island in two minutes. Lucas Green, who oversees Banijay’s greatest codecs, says the scene is a gross sales government’s dream: “It is peak Temptation Island.”
Gonzalo notes that his crew is well-prepared for such moments. Contestants are sensible to the proximity of the villas and others have beforehand sprinted throughout the sand to intervene in a steamy second. Five cameras had been skilled on Montoya and host Sandra Barneda in the course of the scene, with one crew leaping into motion as Montoya bolted from the bonfire. “If anyone goes out, always a cameraman must go with them,” Gonzalo says. “In that moment, we know that it will be one of the best moments of the season.”
José Carlos Montoya and Anita Williams
Still, he was stunned to see the scene go so viral. “We know that we have very good content in this season of Temptation Island, very good casting, but never in my life can we imagine that this content was running worldwide,” Gonzalo says. Green provides that it’s uncommon for actuality TV exhibits to chop via so spectacularly as a result of they often require some understanding of the backstory. He compares “Montoya, por favor!” to Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain’s Got Talent, which turned an early high-watermark in TV moments breaking out on-line.
Does Green want it had been an official clip that broke the web fairly than one posted from a fan account? “It’s great when it’s shared organically, rather than trying to make that a viral meme,” he replies. “It gives the show a bigger profile outside the territories where it’s already on air.” Green laughs that his licensing crew’s telephone has been “red hot” with inquiries about buying the Spanish collection, with a clamor to learn how Montoya and Anita’s story ends. No phrase but if any deal will likely be completed within the U.S. or UK.
Another potential winner from the Montoya second is Netflix. The U.S. model of Temptation Island lands on the streaming big on March 12 and can hope to capitalize on the web buzz. Green says Netflix is “very ambitious” concerning the collection, which will likely be hosted by Mark L. Walberg, however he can’t promise there will likely be a equally meme-worthy incident. Netflix will hope to recreate the rankings success of Mediaset’s Telecinco, the place the Spanish model is comfortably successful its time slot and generated greater than 30M on-line views, serving to streaming service Mitele to a document January.
As for Montoya himself, he had loads of welfare help from producer Cuarzo Producciones within the interval after his heartbreak. He now seems to be revelling in his new-found fame, sending himself up in on-line advertisements for Burger King and Real Betis, the Spanish soccer membership. Montoya was loopy in love, and now, producer Gonzalo jokes that “everyone has gone crazy for Montoya.”