Rafael Mercadante Mena is a contestant from La Isla 2012: El Reality and La Isla 2016: La Revancha.
In his first season, he started as a leader to his Famosos tribemates, but, due to his hotheadedness when his tribe barely lost a challenge, he ended up being targeted by Julia Orayen and, once she was saved and had the final say, Julia put the final nail in his coffin.
Profile[]
Retrieved from tvazteca.com
Rafael Mercadante Mena
Nacionalidad: mexicano
Actor, presentador, cantante y locutor internacional, guapo, sencillo y carismático. Ha realizado labores como productor televisivo, entrevistador, reportero y director de escena en diferentes etapas de su carrera. En el 2001 inicia su faceta como cantante, de la cual lleva tres álbumes en diferentes géneros musicales de la música regional mexicana: norteña, duranguense y banda. En 2003 ingresó a UNIVISIÓN como presentador y más tarde como productor. También ha sido conductor de Ritmoson, Top 5 Grupero, Grito Norteño, Reventados y Furia Musical.[2]La Isla: El Reality[]
2012[]
Rafa joined the Famosos Tribe. He opted to take the leadership role in the tribe, and it ended up working out for them, although taking a loss at the Week 1 Immunity Challenge, they won that week's Final Challenge, and ended up once again in Medium Beach for the second week.
Since they lost that week's Immunity Challenge once again, they had to go against the Celebridades Tribe once again and, in a grueling challenge, Rafa's tribe ended up taking the loss, and they had to go to their first Trial. The challenge had some notable injuries to the Famosos Tribe, with Juanito Acosta suffering a heart attack, and Julia Orayen hurt her leg. Rafa felt as though Juanito never quit, and praised him for that, while Julia did show signs of giving up. This led to a small discussion between them both. At the Day 8 Trial, despite him supporting Juanito earlier in the day, Rafa ended up voting with the tribe, and, since the Desconocidos Tribe ended up saving Julia, Juanito got eliminated.
In the third week's Territorial Challenge, Rafa's tribe lost by milliseconds, and, once the results were made official, Rafa got extremely angry, to the point of needing stitches on his head, since he smashed the bucket used in the challenge to his head. This wasn't received well by anyone in his tribe, but most (everyone except Julia) managed to move past it. Unfortunately, they once again lost the Final Challenge, and went to Trial for the second week in a row.
The plan for that trial was to vote Julia out, since she was the weakest member. And, while everyone did vote for her, the Desconocidos, who were once again the Judges, saved Julia again, making her immune from all votes. Due to the rules, this led to a revote, where Rafa got two votes, by Julia and Mariana Torres, while Rafa voted for Mariana. This, along with El Travieso Arce's vote for Mariana, led to a 2-2 tie. The rules decreed that Julia would have the final vote to break the tie, and, sticking to her guns, eliminated Rafa from the game.
| Cycle | Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Famosos | None1 | Territorial | No | 2nd |
| 2 | Quest for Fire | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 3 | The Obstacle Course | Final | No | Won | ||
| 2 | 5 | (No title) | Territorial | No | 2nd | |
| 6 | Coconut Juice | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 7 | Cat and Mouse | Final | No | Lost | ||
| 3 | 9 | Blind Leading the Blind | Territorial | No | Lost | |
| 10 | Lock Step | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 11 | Sumo at Sea | Final | No | Lost | ||
| Voted Out, Day 12 | ||||||
| Notes: ^1 The beaches were already chosen before the tribes were divided, so no challenge was needed.
| ||||||
| Rafa's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Rafa's Votes |
Voted Against Rafa |
| 4 | Famosos Tribe Immune | |
| 8 | Juanito | - |
| 12 | Mariana; Ineligible1 |
Julia; Julia, Mariana; Julia1 |
| Voted Out, Day 12 | ||
^1 In Episode 12, the Desconocidos tribe saved Julia, negating Rafa's vote against her. As Julia was saved by the Judges amidst her voteout, the first round of votes was nullified and the voting reset. This new vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Rafa and Mariana. Therefore Julia, since she was saved by the Judges, had to decide the who between the contestants involved in the tie would be voted out, and she picked Rafa.
La Revancha[]
Rafa was part of the Zafiro tribe, where he did not stay for long, as when it was announced that a man must be voted out of the tribe, Rafa volunteered as he considered himself to be the weakest man. However, Rafa arrived at Playa Destierro for a chance to return to the game. Rafa was able to not finish last in the duels, allowing him to remain at Playa Destierro, but it wasn't until the last duel that he finally won first place and re-entered the competition.
After his return, Rafa had the opportunity to participate in the Captains' Challenge, where he was unsuccessful, but was later assigned to the Jade tribe. In the trial of Cycle 8, Rafa resulted in a tie with Delia García. Subsequently, Jorge Luis Vázquez was responsible for the tiebreaker, choosing to vote Rafa out as he was considered the weakest.
Voting History[]
| Rafa's Voting History | ||
|---|---|---|
| Episode | Rafa's Votes |
Voted Against Rafa |
| 2 | Consensus | |
| Voted Out, Day 2 | ||
| 4 | On Playa Destierro | |
| 8 | ||
| 12 | ||
| 16 | ||
| 20 | ||
| Returned, Day 20 | ||
| 24 | Fernando | Individual Immunity1 |
| 28 | Jade Tribe Immune | |
| 32 | Delia; Ineligible |
Delia, Jorge Luis, José Antonio, Pepe; Jorge Luis2 |
| Voted Out, Day 32 | ||
^1 As part of his return from Playa Destierro, Rafa was given the returning bracelet that gave him immunity at the next trial.
^2 In Episode 32, the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Rafa and Delia. Therefore, Jorge Luis as the winner of the Final Challenge had to decide the voted out between the contestants involved in the tie, choosing Rafa as the voted out.
Post-La Isla[]
- From 2015 to 2023, Rafa would host Escape Perfecto (the Mexican version of Raid the Cage) alongside future Survivor México contestant Adianez Hernández.
- Then, starting in 2023, Rafa would now be the host of La Rueda de la Suerte, a reboot in Mexico of Wheel of Fortune, this time with co-host Curvy Zelma.
Trivia[]
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References[]
| La Isla 2012: El Reality Castaways | |||||||||||||||||
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| La Isla 2016: La Revancha Castaways | |||||||||||||
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