Wendy Guevara Makes History in Mexico
Wendy Guevara has spent the last 71 days of her life isolated in a house with what started as 14 other people, who came from all over Latin America and Spain, and who slowly dwindled down to five finalists. It was Mexico’s version of Celebrity Big Brother and a phenomenon that nobody expected.
When the contestants entered the house, they were divided into two bedrooms: Room Cielo (heaven) and Room Infierno (hell). The people in the hell room quickly became a team and Team Infierno took over the show and Latin America. Team Infierno consisted of Sergio Mayer, Poncho de Nigiris, Apio Quijano, Emilio Osorio, Nicola Porcella and Wendy Guevara. One by one Team Infierno got enough votes to keep nominating people from the other team and the Mexican audience continued to vote them out. Eventually we were left with five finalists all from Team Infierno (though they were six members, they had to lose one due to immunity challenges that left them with no one from the other team to nominate).
With the help from the eccentric Wendy Guevara, the Team took over all of the social media apps since so many of their moments went viral. It was an emotional and hilarious 71 days and I was tuned in to every single second of it. The obsession was so real that I downloaded a VPN and subscribed to a Mexican streaming service in order to watch the 24/7 live feeds. I spent 71 days walking from room to room with my iPad and I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep. I miss the world, I feel like I’ve missed so much since I spent my days cracking up with Wendy, watching Nicola work out and never missing the many fights the contestants got into. I do miss the world though, so if anyone could tell me what I’ve been missing in Pop Culture news that would be great.
By the time the 71th day came around, Wendy Guevara was the clear stand-out of the season, so it makes sense that with 41 million votes for the finale she (the winner) received 18 million of those. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because in 2017 Wendy Guevara and her friend Paola Suarez were left stranded on a hill by two men. While waiting to see if the men would come back for them, Wendy and Paola decided to record a hilarious video that immediately went viral. Though Team Infierno is truly a phenomenon (just ask the piñatas, cakes and blankets), the reality is that most people tuned in (myself included) for Wendy Guevara.
While inside the house Wendy was her most authentic self and that’s what moved so many of us. She told the housemates about her rough childhood, her past life of prostitution and drug use, plus about the work it took her family to accept her as she is. She was unapologetically honest, even when talking about the most uncomfortable subjects and somehow found the laughter within her tragedies. Wendy Guevara is the kind of person that you cannot wait to root for. When she entered the house she had an instagram following of 1.6 and today she has 6.4 million followers; she is a powerhouse (just ask the many people that stormed the Angel of Independence in Mexico City as they celebrated her win on the show).
Of course the laughs were great, but really Wendy Guevara is a movement and a necessary step in the right direction for a country that can so often be extremely homophobic. She is the first trans woman to win a reality TV show in Mexico. She was a revelation to families all over Latin America, as well as to the contestants that she was isolated with. Many of the other celebrities within the house had never interacted with a trans woman before, so this was also a learning experience for them. Wendy opened the minds of everyone who came in contact with her existence and we’re all so much better for having experienced the joy and chaos that she brought to the house.
Though Wendy Guevara being the winner of the show doesn’t fix the hate crimes that happen against the LGBTQ+ community, it does help remind families that we are people deserving of happiness. Here’s to the slight obsessions that end up in a movement of epic proportions!
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