EXCLUSIVE: If you’ve been anywhere near social media in the past couple of weeks, you will be familiar with José Carlos Montoya. He’s the Spanish hunk making the desperate charge across a moonlit beach to confront his girlfriend as she slips between the sheets with another man. It’s the clip that spawned the “Montoya, por favor!” viral sensation, bringing together in meme-union Whoopi Goldberg, New York Nicks star Josh Hart, and Netflix’s social admin.
Viewed more than 320M times across two Twitter/X accounts alone, Montoya’s mad dash is a cinematic moment that originates from La Isla de las Tentaciones, also known as Spain’s version of Temptation Island. Montoya was just five years old when Temptation Island was first conceived on Fox in 2001 and the show is in its eighth season in Spain, meaning the format is well-drilled to deliver high drama.
For the uninitiated, the Banijay reality series transports couples to a tropical island (the Dominican Republic in the case of Spain’s version) splits them into male and female villas, and introduces them to attractive singles to test their relationships. Montoya’s anguish was captured during one of the show’s foundational “bonfire” scenes, during which contestants watch video footage of their partners getting frisky without a free pass. In Montoya’s case, he was watching his girlfriend, Anita Williams, live cheating.
Montoya is a reality TV animal having previously appeared on The Language of Love, which aired in 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 very expressive individual, who understands the grammar of the medium. But more than that, Gonzalo says his reaction to Anita cheating is authentic.
The couple went through a rigorous casting process, in which they were interviewed together and separately to establish whether they were right for the show. Temptation Island casting teams are plagued with fake couples, so they need to ask testing personal questions about their relationship dynamics and families. They learned that Montoya considered Anita to be his first love. Her son from a previous relationship was also close with Montoya. “They are a very special couple,” adds Gonzalo.
So when Montoya sees Anita’s infidelity, a “real heart was broken,” explains Gonzalo. We do not need to speak Spanish to understand his horror. We don’t need to know the history of their relationship to be running by his side as he crosses the beach 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 biggest formats, says the scene is a sales executive’s dream: “It is peak Temptation Island.”
Gonzalo notes that his team is well-prepared for such moments. Contestants are wise to the proximity of the villas and others have previously sprinted across the sand to intervene in a steamy moment. Five cameras were trained on Montoya and host Sandra Barneda during the scene, with one crew jumping into action 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 surprised 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 adds that it is unusual for reality TV shows to cut through so spectacularly because they usually require some understanding of the backstory. He compares “Montoya, por favor!” to Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain’s Got Talent, which became an early high-watermark in TV moments breaking out online.
Does Green wish it had been an official clip that broke the internet rather 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 team’s phone has been “red hot” with inquiries about acquiring the Spanish series, with a clamor to find out how Montoya and Anita’s story ends. No word yet if any deal will be done in the U.S. or UK.
Another potential winner from the Montoya moment is Netflix. The U.S. version of Temptation Island lands on the streaming giant on March 12 and will hope to capitalize on the online buzz. Green says Netflix is “very ambitious” about the series, which will be hosted by Mark L. Walberg, but he can’t promise there will be a similarly meme-worthy incident. Netflix will hope to recreate the ratings success of Mediaset’s Telecinco, where the Spanish version is comfortably winning its time slot and generated more than 30M online views, helping streaming service Mitele to a record January.
As for Montoya himself, he had plenty of welfare support from producer Cuarzo Producciones in the period after his heartbreak. He now appears to be revelling in his new-found fame, sending himself up in online ads for Burger King and Real Betis, the Spanish soccer club. Montoya was crazy in love, and now, producer Gonzalo jokes that “everyone has gone crazy for Montoya.”
