‘Temptation Island’: The ‘Montoya, por favor’ meme, explained

At this point, everyone has probably seen the clip of a man exaggeratedly ripping his shirt and running in the rain. Montoya from Spain’s rendition of Temptation Island has been immortalized as a meme, but all for the wrong reasons.

For those unaware, a meme captioned “Montoya, por favor!” with a man dramatically ripping his shirt is circulating online. While not everyone understood the dialogue in Spanish, the drama between Montoya and Anita—a couple who became contestants in the show—was so intense that nobody needed subtitles. Basically, social media users got the important part: Montoya and Anita’s relationship was messy, toxic, and possibly doomed. The message was even clearer for Spanish speakers, whose jaws were dropping at the words exchanged amid Montoya and Anita’s argument.

As dramatic as Montoya looked in the memes, he had a valid reason for crashing out—that being, seeing his girlfriend commit the deed with another contestant on the island. Upon seeing that unfold on screen, Montoya was screaming, thrashing, then crashing on the floor. No longer able to take what’s happening in front of him, Montoya decided to run off by the seaside at night like he was having his own cinematic entourage. Sandra Barandra, the host of the show, tried to chase after Montoya and blurted out the infamous lines. “Montoya, por favor!” Barandra was asking him to stay put and calm down (as if anyone could), but to no avail. He reached the contestants’ lodgings to confront Anita.

The plot thickens

Instead of being remorseful, Anita insulted Montoya and called him “shameless.” As if this show weren’t dramatic enough, Anita accused Montoya of cheating first. Montoya walked away from the argument and collapsed on the sand. But just a few moments later, Anita ran back to Montoya regretfully and said she “wants to leave” the island with him. It’s as if the entirety of Spain (and at this point, the rest of the world) didn’t bear witness to her own betrayal of Montoya.

But did Montoya cheat first? Not quite—which explains the meme of Montoya ripping his shirt off. Prior to the scandal, Anita cheated on Montoya with another contestant named Manuel. They were spotted kissing in the pool, which Montoya watched through a screen. Out of anger, Montoya ripped his shirt off. It was only after Anita cheated that Montoya decided to get frisky with another contestant to spite Anita. So Montoya did cheat, but he wasn’t the first to do it.

The drama was difficult to pass up, and for some terrible reason, most social media users find amusement in Montoya’s breakdown. It’s no surprise that this obscure episode of Temptation Island has been trending during the weekend and has become a meme, considering how messy this drama is. Perhaps the most surprising thing to come out of this series isn’t the cheating scandals, it’s that Temptation Island is still ongoing. Despite everything that ensued, Montoya and Anita are reportedly still together.