The Rise and Fall of Mozos de Arousa in Reacción en Cadena
It’s hard to remember Reacción en Cadena before Mozos de Arousa. The Telecinco game show hosted by Ion Aramendi started airing in December 2022. Its beginnings were not easy, and in its first six months, it only managed to attract an average audience of just over 800,000 viewers, with a share of around 7.5%. Even in May 2023, its recordings were temporarily suspended. But on May 25, 2023, a team called Mozos de Arousa appeared on the screen for the first time, and the fate of the program changed. Reacción en Cadena reached 500 episodes by the end of October with an average share of 9.6% and 917,000 viewers.
The Rise of Mozos de Arousa
The two brothers Raúl and Borja Santamaría and their friend Bruno Vila, three young twenty-somethings from Vilagarcía de Arousa, captivated the audience with their charisma, spontaneity, and ability to guess word chains, especially in the key test of the show, Complicidad ganadora, which decides which team repeats the next day. The Mozos de Arousa always emerged victorious there, until this Monday.
The Defeat of Mozos de Arousa
Three friends from Granada, Los Alhambraos, named Gustavo, David, and Begoña, were the ones who eliminated Mozos in a program that started airing around 11:30 PM. Coincidentally, in their presentation, the team that defeated the Galicians stated that they came with a mission to avenge the Profes Granaínas, the trio that Mozos eliminated a year and a half ago. In the first part of the program, the aspiring team managed to accumulate €64,000 compared to Mozos’ €44,000, so the Galicians were the first to compete in the decisive test. Raúl, Borja, and Bruno, after using up their three chances to pass a question and making two mistakes, only managed to get seven correct answers, a low score for them. Los Alhambraos got their eighth word right with two seconds to spare.
The Emotional Goodbye
When the elimination round ended, the excitement of the winners contrasted with the tears of Ion Aramendi, embracing the Mozos in what he described as a historic moment. Aramendi could barely speak as he bid farewell to the contestants. “Thank you for making me believe in this project,” the presenter said, barely able to speak. “You have proven that you are the champion team, you have made history in this show, history on television. I personally carry you, as we have always maintained the distance between presenter and contestants, but from now on we are friends. I’m going to miss you a lot,” added Aramendi. “We were not aware of what we were achieving, we will be when we see it from the outside,” Raúl said. The three, also emotional, thanked all their followers for the encouragement and support. The presenter also praised their attitude towards the show.
Life After Reacción en Cadena
Before airing the episode in which Mozos were eliminated, a special program with interviews with the protagonists, their family and friends, reviewed their lives with childhood images. They also showed some curiosities, such as videos of the team’s initial castings, originally named Publers in honor of a fourth friend, Pablo, who was left out of the group.
The Legacy of Mozos de Arousa
“Life after winning over two and a half million euros changes quite a bit because you no longer have the worries you had before,” Bruno said in that tribute program, where they also discussed how they have experienced the popularity they have gained in recent months. “Unfortunately, Vilagarcía was not known for good things. Now people say Vilagarcía is the city of Mozos,” Bruno reflected. The mayor of the town also highlighted their role as ambassadors of the place.
“We did not expect to stay for so long. I remember a conversation with Bruno on the street about whether we would make it past the first episode. Bruno’s goal was to earn €10,000 each, but we never imagined reaching the number of episodes we have today, it’s a bit scary,” Raúl Santamaría said in an interview with EL PAÍS in August 2023. At that time, they had only accumulated €350,000. This Monday, they left the show with a total prize of €2,630,177 (of which 47% will go to the tax authorities). The trio prepared well before appearing on the show, practicing for at least an hour a day for two months with similar word chains to those they had to solve in Complicidad ganadora. During the show, they continued rehearsing during breaks between recordings.
The Personalities Behind Mozos de Arousa
Borjamina (nickname of Borja Santamaría in honor of a family dog named Mina) has a degree in Business Administration and Management and works coordinating and training young people. Raúl has a degree in Teaching and is a councilor in Vilagarcía. In the last Galician elections, he was number 7 on the PP lists for the province of Pontevedra, which earned him a seat in the Galician parliament. Both brothers founded the Xuvenil Arousa Moza Youth Association in 2017 to promote cultural and leisure activities among young people in their town, and they have always said that part of the prize money will be used to improve the facilities of their headquarters. Bruno met the brothers through the association and was studying Law, a career he put on hold due to his TV appearances, which included Reacción en Cadena and the show Bailando con las estrellas, where his popularity and being a favorite of the audience took him to the final episodes.
The Bittersweet Farewell
However, the farewell of Mozos de Arousa has been somewhat bittersweet. Borjamina posted several messages on social media expressing his displeasure with Mediaset. He claimed that the trio had secured a spot in the New Year’s Eve broadcast, something that ultimately did not happen. “It’s not that we were getting our hopes up, it was a done deal,” the contestant said in a post. “It’s not a tantrum for not doing the New Year’s Eve broadcast, as we had come to terms with it in the last few days. It’s about discovering (and new things every day) that we have been deceived, laughed at, and lied to our faces to do things we didn’t want to do,” he added in another message. Unlike winners of other major prizes in contests, it is not expected that Mozos de Arousa will give interviews in the immediate days following their last appearance.
Conclusion
The journey of Mozos de Arousa on Reacción en Cadena was one filled with triumphs, emotions, and unexpected twists. From their humble beginnings to their record-breaking success, the team captured the hearts of viewers across Spain. While their exit may have been tinged with controversy, their legacy as champions will endure in the annals of television history.
FAQs
1. Who were the Mozos de Arousa?
The Mozos de Arousa were a team of three friends from Vilagarcía de Arousa who rose to fame on the TV show Reacción en Cadena.
2. What was the prize money accumulated by Mozos de Arousa?
Mozos de Arousa accumulated a total prize of €2,630,177 during their time on the show.
3. What led to the elimination of Mozos de Arousa?
Mozos de Arousa were eliminated by the team Los Alhambraos in a tense showdown on the program.