From Big Brother fame to selling Spain's ONCE lottery tickets

From Big Brother 2 to the ONCE: the price of fame in the 2000s

In the early 2000s, Big Brother was the mass phenomenon of Spanish television. Raquel Morillas, a contestant on its second season, became a familiar face on TV panels. A car accident left her disfigured and cut her career short. Today she makes a living selling ONCE lottery coupons (Spain's national organisation for the blind). Her story sums up an era when fame was paid in cash and, sometimes, in very steep bills.

The reality TV bubble: easy money and apartments in sight

In that Spain without social media, being a Big Brother contestant meant a guaranteed income. Payments for appearances, nightclub gigs and hosting jobs reached figures that surprise today: a non-finalist from the first season bought an apartment for himself and another for his mother within a single year. The couple formed by Morillas and Noemí Ungría, another contestant, was no stranger to that flow of income: they bought a Mazda MX5 convertible with their fame money. Talking about millions is no exaggeration: the era's most bankable names pocketed them through years of TV panel appearances.

The accident that changed everything

Cars and estimulante ilegal played a cruel trick. In the accident, Morillas hit the roadside guardrail and suffered injuries that marked her face for life. The career that pointed to a permanent spot on Telecinco's talk shows was cut short. Soon after, Ungría reportedly rebuilt her life in another relationship, leaving Morillas not only with the physical scars but with the collapse of a personal and professional project.

The new life at the ONCE and the debate over her conditions

Today Morillas works at the ONCE. Her working conditions leave no one indifferent: some point out she earns above minimum wage with performance bonuses, while others recall that the accident was no anecdote and that disability does not exempt anyone from medical expenses. The uncomfortable question is whether all the money from her moment of glory was of any use when life turned against her. For some, Morillas's story is that of a bubble that burst on the road; for others, a survival story with more luck than that of many of her fellow contestants.

Meanwhile, the ONCE coupon is still sold every day, with the same routine that erased the spotlight.