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What Does 'Montoya Por Favor' Mean? Memes Inspired By José Montoya's 'La Isla de las Temptaciones' Outburst Explained
A clip from the Spanish reality show La Isla de las Tentaciones or Temptation Island has blown up internationally, with sports pages and soccer accounts posting edits of their athletes racing across the track and field with the phrase "Montoya Por Favor" slapped across the footage.
The catchphrase comes from a recent explosive episode of the reality dating show in which a colorful character named José Carlos Montoya finds out that his girlfriend Anita Williams is cozying up to a new addition to the cast, Manuel.
José Montoya does not take the news well, agonizing over the footage of Anita and Manuel in bed together and eventually letting out a scream of anguish and racing across the beach to confront Anita, all while the producers try to stop him by saying, "Montoya por favor!" or "Montoya please!"
Here's how a clip from the Spanish dating show broke into the mainstream, and why reality show veteran José Montoya is quickly becoming the internet's favorite lover boy.
What Does 'Montoya Por Favor' Mean, And Where Did The Phrase Come From?
The eighth season of the Spanish reality television show La Isla de las Tentaciones aired in January 2025, following several contestants as they participated in a dating show similar to Love Island. The cast featured a mix of fresh faces and reality show veterans, with José Montoya previously having participated in El Conquistador, the Spanish version of Survivor.
Toda la secuencia de Montoya es simplemente…… CINE 🚬 #LaIslaDeLasTentaciones3 pic.twitter.com/u4lDJzTb3F
— Ojito 👁 (@elojoquetodolv) January 20, 2025
José Montoya had paired up with his girlfriend Anita Williams early on in the show, which is why he totally lost his cool when the show's producers showed him footage of Anita getting up close and personal with a new addition to the cast named Manuel. Montoya paces around the set and screams in anguish before deciding to dump the show's protocol and race across the beach to confront Anita.
As Montoya gallops on the sand, the show's producers can be heard calling after him and begging him to come back, saying, "Por favor, Montoya, por favor!" For fans of the show, the dramatic scene immediately made Montoya the indisputable GOAT of Temptation Island, with his passion surpassing all language barriers.
this is CINEMA…Montoya..the tension… you don’t need to speak spanish to understand, this is insane https://t.co/2sYZA8jBSM
— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) February 4, 2025
How Did 'Montoya Por Favor' Become A Meme?
The aforementioned clip of La Isla de las Tentaciones producers shouting, "Montoya Por Favor," went absolutely viral on Twitter / X this week, racking up over 80 million views in just three days.
Soon after, internet users of all languages began posting memes and jokes about the catchphrase. On February 4th, X[3] user @JoelPostbad used a GIF of South Park's Eric Cartman alongside a caption that reads, ""¡ Montoya por favor !" « TE AMO , AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH »," racking up over 32,000 likes in a few days.
Meanwhile, sports blogs and soccer editors began splicing the sound "Montoya Por Favor!" over videos of their favorite football moments. On February 5th, 2025, X user @panams75 posted a clip of a soccer streaker with the catchphrase as a caption, gathering over 28,000 likes in two days.
"¡ Montoya por favor !" pic.twitter.com/9gIP6GtYgJ
— Panam’s (@panams75) February 5, 2025
Many Spanish-language Twitter pages posted jokes in which they clip scenes from movies like Twilight to jokingly compare it to the scene of Montoya running, while official sporting accounts like the U.S. Open clipped videos from their matches to highlight a sportsman being made to run on the field.
The meme soon spread to TikTok, where more sports accounts shared "Montoya Por Favor" jokes, as seen in posts by @ligue1 and @rolandgarros in recent days.
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7468272717335366917
https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7468352245067746582
For the full history of Montoya Por Favor, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
