Rafa Castaño, winner of 'Pasapalabra': “When I won, Orestes crossed my mind all the time, he is the best contestant in history”

From the pull and without giving his rival the option to start.

The victory of Rafa Castaño (Sevilla, 32 years old) in

was unique for many reasons.

He has been the winner of the largest jackpot awarded in the history of the program: 2,272,000 euros.

His confrontation with Orestes Barbero, throughout 197 broadcasts in the recent stage, to which must be added the 41 occasions in which they have already been measured on Telecinco, is also the history of Spanish television contests.

This Thursday, in a program broadcast in prime time and which was followed by 4,578,000 viewers (a spectacular 37.4% audience share), the viewers of

they could see how the Sevillian completed the 25 words of the Rosco in one go, from A to Z, without passing even once and with hardly any hesitation.

"I was focused like every day," Rafa Castaño told EL PAÍS this Friday.

So, what do you think made the difference for you to do that never-before-seen feat, solving the whole Rosco in one fell swoop?

“I think it was more the dynamics of the Roscos in recent weeks, where from time to time encyclopedic terms were perhaps more accessible.

I studied and reviewed very well those last few weeks some lists that I had of dictionary words and encyclopedic words, and I was lucky to hit the mark with that study, ”he reflects now more calmly.

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Rafa Castaño, winner of the biggest prize in the history of 'Pasapalabra'

Castaño is already a classic of television contests.

13 years ago he began to try his luck at them in the Canal Sur program

Between 2014 and 2015 he participated in the dean of Spanish contests,

.

There he reached 100 programs in two batches and was named Supermagnificent by winning the Magnificent tournament (contestants who exceed 7,000 accumulated prize money) of his year.

to

It came when it was still being broadcast on Telecinco and was presented by Christian Gálvez.

There he could be seen three times: in 2015, 2017 and 2019. It was in this last stage that he met Orestes Barbero for the first time, and with him he competed in 41 programs, until a sentence forced Telecinco to stop broadcasting the program.

Barbero and Castaño were then the first contestants on

the question-and-answer space with which the channel filled the gap left by

.

Already on Antena 3, and with Roberto Leal as presenter, Rafa Castaño returned to the contest on June 1, 2022.

Rafa Castaño and Orestes Barbero, in the program 'Pasapalabra' broadcast this Thursday.

Adding their participation in Antena 3 and Telecinco, Orestes and Rafa have faced each other in 238 evenings in

.

The victory of the second this Thursday supposes the elimination of the program of the first, according to the rules of space.

Therefore, this climax had a bittersweet taste for the audience, and also for the winner himself.

His first thoughts when Leal said that the last answer was correct were for his opponent: “At that moment Orestes crosses my mind all the time, really;

hence my seemingly cold reaction.

It's not that he was in

, although I imagine a little too, but that he felt a bit sad because he didn't get what he also deserved, ”explains the Sevillian.

The healthy competition and the friendship forged in these months between the man from Seville and the man from Burgos has been evident on screen.

For this reason, when Castaño won, he apologized to Barbero.

“I know that it was a very difficult drink for him.

I told him that I sincerely hoped that in a few years he would return to

with a fairly tall boat and take it with him, because it is only fair that he take the Rosco from him.

He seems to me the best contestant in the history of

, and I hope that life rewards him as he deserves, ”says Rafa Castaño.

After his opponent's victory, Orestes, the contestant who has accumulated the most participations in the program, congratulated the winner and asked the viewers not to feel sorry for him, who won the prize he had accumulated so far, 215,400 euros.

Rafa Castaño and Orestes Barbero embrace in the presence of Roberto Leal after the first one won the 'Pasapalabra' jackpot.

The confrontation between Orestes and Rafa has been experienced with special intensity on Twitter, where dozens of followers of each one met every afternoon to comment on their plays.

As has happened on other occasions, some of those comments claimed that the donuts of recent times were somewhat easier for Castaño than for Barbero.

“You have to make a relative case to the comments.

I am sure that many of the people who write that did not really know those words, and if they did, I invite them to appear on the program because they are missing a golden opportunity to earn money ”, the winner responds to accusations of favoritism and of tongo.

Rafa Castaño has thus joined the select group of

winners .

In this second stage of the contest on Antena 3, only three contestants have managed to complete the Rosco: Pablo Díaz (1,828,000 euros), Sofía Álvarez (466,000 euros) and Castaño.

Other iconic winners of the contest were Fran González (1,542,000 euros), Paz Herrera (1,310,000 euros), David Leo (1,866,000), Antonio Ruiz (1,164,000), Lilit Manukyan (318,000), César Garrido (1,524 ,000) and Eduardo Benito, who in 2006 and with Jaime Cantizano as presenter, was until now the winner of the biggest jackpot in the program, 2,190,000 euros.

How much remains Treasury

Castaño had achieved 127,000 euros in this participation in

.

However, by winning the pot, that money will not go to his pocket.

The 2,272,000 euros that he has earned will not reach him either, but a significant part will have to be allocated to taxes.

On the one hand, the Tax Agency retains 26% of the prize, which is reserved directly by the producer.

The rest of the money is taxed based on the Autonomous Community of the declarant, in this case, Andalusia, with a personal income tax rate of 23.7%, the maximum there.

That is to say, once the corresponding withholdings have been deducted, Rafa Castaño will have 1,212,816 euros left from the

jackpot .

Rafa Castaño, after winning the 'Pasapalabra' jackpot.

What will Rafa do with the money?

“Now I need a few months to think about it calmly, it is a lot of money, I have a lot of time ahead of me.

But, obviously, invest the money in a diversified way and thinking in the long term ”, she completes.

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