Sometimes in the world of quiz shows, the unexpected happens. Participants, from the most expert to the most novice, surprise with pearls that end up being a meme. A clear example of this phenomenon occurred at the beginning of 2024, although it has now gone viral again in Catch Me If You Can, a popular contest broadcast by the regional channel of Castilla-La Mancha,
Salva, the contestant who is the protagonist of this peculiar story, provided an answer that sparked laughter and surprise in equal measure. During a tense round, with a prize pool of 25,100 euros at stake, she was asked who was the first Spanish writer nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The contestant, who was hesitating between a few women, ended up stating that the writer the program was looking for was Sara Mago, an obviously invented name. This error, most likely, is due to a confusion with the award-winning Portuguese writer José Saramago, who did receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.
The problem is that this answer would not have been valid either. Saramago, known for works such as An Essay on Blindness and The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, not only was not a woman, but she was also not Spanish.
The correct answer to this question was Concha Espina. In 1926, 1927 and 1928, this author of literary gems such as The Maragata Sphinx and Altar Mayor had the opportunity to win the prize. Despite these three nominations, in total, she was nominated for the award nine times.
If the networks burst out laughing at that moment, it has been no less now. A large number of users who have seen the clip of the error have wondered that, if the good option for Salva was Sara Mago, who must have been the writers with whom he was doubting: "I need to know who the ones he was doubting are, I urgently need to know ".
Others, in parallel, have joined Salva and have begun to launch compound surnames that belong to a single person, but that many people believe are several. "Ortega or Gasset. I had that doubt," one user theorized. For his part, another has bet that Salvi hesitated between "Menéndez and Pelayo."
