A cheating scandal, a dramatic sprint, and an instant meme—Everyone is obsessed with ‘Por favor Montoya, por favor!’

The phrase “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” has been turned into a meme as a sense of impassioned urgency in a dramatic moment, be it in a sporting event or a scene from a movie.

What is the ‘Por favor Montoya, por favor!’ meme?

“Por favor Montoya, por favor!” originates from the eighth season of Spanish language reality television show La Isla de las Tentaciones — the Spanish version of Temptation Island — where in episode three, contestant José Carlos Montoya witnesses his girlfriend Anita Williams sleeping with another contestant via video feed.

Montoya sprints across the beach to confront the pair, with producers shouting after him,  “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” ( “Please Montoya, please!” in English.)

The clip was first posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by @ProjectLabX on Feb. 4, 2025, where it has since been viewed over 93.6 million times and retweeted, including quote-retweets, over 50K times. @ProjectLabX wrote in the caption to the video,  “La Isla de las tentaciones esta siendo CINE y Montoya es el goat.” In English, this translates to, “The Island of Temptations is cinema and Montoya is the GOAT.”

Not long after @ProjectLabX’s post went viral, @PopCulture2000s also shared the clip, writing, “This is CINEMA…Montoya..the tension… you don’t need to speak Spanish to understand, this is insane.”

They also shared the clip of the aftermath, with Montoya’s confrontation with Anita at the other house.

So, what is it about “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” that has made it such a massive hit? In part, it’s the sheer drama of the moment. Montoya’s frantic sprint to confront his girlfriend’s new connection on La Isla de las Tentaciones is the kind of over-the-top reaction that makes for perfect meme material and transcends language barriers.

Meme examples

As memes do, “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” folks across various fandoms and subcultures as well as a variety of social media platforms latched onto the copypasta meme format.

Sports accounts, particularly those of football teams, were quick to hop on the trend. Major clubs like Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain all posted clips of their athletes in action, pairing them with the phrase for added drama. Even the US Open Tennis account jumped on the bandwagon, sharing a dramatic moment with the iconic caption.

But it wasn’t just sports fans getting in on the action. Movie buffs took the meme and ran with it, too.

Netflix España posted a clip from Twilight, with Edward Cullen zooming across the forest with Bella on his back, all set to the “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” sound. The added drama of Edward’s intense sprint through the trees seemed to perfectly match the urgency of Montoya’s beachside meltdown.

Other movie moments were also transformed into memes. One user posted a shot from Nosferatu, where Lily-Rose Depp’s character appears to be possessed, with the “Por favor Montoya, por favor!” quote tacked on for extra emphasis.

It seems that the more intense or high-stakes the scene, the more likely it was to pair perfectly with the plea for Montoya to stop running down the beach toward his girlfriend and her lover.

Responses to Montoya’s relatable breakdown

Folks on X shared their views on Montoya’s reaction to seeing that his girlfriend was cheating on him.

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