Islanded with Mother-in-Law: Nery Family reveals what they did with the prize money and whether Francine and Rodrigo have already left Taninha’s house

Could you be stuck on a “deserted” island with your mother-in-law? The Nery family, made up of the couple Francine Nery and Rodrigo Castro and their mother-in-law Taninha Nery, not only managed it, but also took home a whopping R$500,000. The winners of the reality show “Ilhados com a Sogra” showed in the Netflix hit – with a second season already confirmed – that it is possible to improve family relationships, even if doing so requires going through several VERY intense tests. And of course the team at hugogloss.com I wouldn’t stop talking to them. After chatting with the Sassone family and the Tenório team, it was time for the competition’s great champions.

The burning question is: what did they do with the prize? The family revealed that they have already received the amount, but that, unlike what they said during the final of the program, the final destination was the investment. “As for the money, the prize I received, I haven’t spent it yet. I’ve already used it a little, but I invested some of the money and didn’t spend it. Because it’s something we have to take it easy, where is best, what are we going to do. I haven’t spent the money yet”said Taninha.

“So, we haven’t spent our money yet either, we invested a large part. We are studying the possibility of how to build our new house, so desired, both by us and by the public who want to see it”, said Rodrigo. Francine added that buying a new car is still in the couple’s plans.

One of the big family issues to be resolved in the reality show is that Francine Nery and Rodrigo still lived with their mother-in-law. Taninha even said on the reality show that one of her wishes is for the couple to have their own corner. However, the businesswoman revealed that she still divides herself between her mother’s house and her beloved’s parents’ house.

“I don’t 100% live at my mother’s house. I share my mother’s house with Rodriguinho’s parents’ house, which is about an hour and a half away. I return to my mother’s house to stay for two to three days, at most, to meet some students at my school, which is close to my mother’s house. The main factor is my son, it’s the moment I spend with my son”she explained.

During the program, the issue of structural racism was also raised by the public due to the attitudes of the participants towards the Tenório family. According to Rodrigo, this did not happen with the Nery family, but the opposing team preferred to move away from coexistence and this disrupted the relationship between the participants.

“What happens there, in fact, who knows is the participants who were inside, who lived together 24 hours a day. But certainly, our society is structurally racist, yes. This is a parade that crosses everyone there in different ways, right? But I don’t believe that happened in our case. The Tenório family, we saw that they chose to stage and fake fights. This also ended up disrupting relations inside, but we respected it”, explained.

Francine highlighted that in the bunker the relationship was different. She and May even spent most of their time creating dances! We remember the choreography show they gave before the final together with Vini Sassone, right? They rocked it too much! However, they still confirmed that they no longer maintain contact with the Tenório.

Check out the interview with the three in full below:

HG: Firstly, congratulations on the well-deserved victory! Have you already received the reality award? Is it R$500 thousand without discount?

Rodrigo: Thank you, Hugo, thank you for the congratulations. We were very happy with this victory, we were very focused on winning this program. And to answer the question: No. It wasn’t without a discount, there was a discount on top of the R$500,000 prize.

HG: Have you already spent the money? What have you done with the prize?

Taninha: As for the money, the prize I received, I haven’t spent it yet. I’ve already used it a little, but I invested some of the money and didn’t spend it. Because it’s something we have to take it easy, where is best, what are we going to do. I haven’t spent the money yet.

Rodrigo: So, we haven’t spent our money yet either, we invested a large part. We are studying the possibility of how to build our new house, so desired, both by us and by the public who want to see and…

Francine: Buy our new car.

Rodrigo: AND! We also want to buy a new car

HG: Have Rodriguinho and Francine left Taninha’s house?

Francine: I don’t 100% live at my mother’s house. I share my mother’s house with Rodriguinho’s parents’ house, which is about an hour and a half away. I return to my mother’s house to stay for two to three days, at most, to meet some students at my school, which is close to my mother’s house. The main factor is my son, it’s the moment I spend with my son. My son doesn’t go to Rodrigo’s house because he studies, he plays football, his life is at my mother’s house and at his father’s house too. He shares two places, my mother’s house and his father’s house. At Rodrigo’s parents’ house there’s a very large backyard, so that’s where we’re going to build a space of our own. We earned this money, and now we have this project to build a space just for us.

HG: What didn’t happen in the reality show that should have happened?

Rodrigo: I would like to see a little more about the people’s coexistence, the people’s daily lives, the people’s conversations in the village, which were a lot of fun, especially mine with Socorro. We were always lifting people’s spirits, always trying to make people laugh. I believe that the public would have a better perception to understand the dynamics of each family, but I understand that the program was a competition and that, in fact, it was very important to pass the tests.

Francine: One thing that didn’t happen in the reality show and I think it should have happened was that May and I, to pass the time and to relax the atmosphere in the bunker, we spent a lot of time doing nothing, looking at each other, We created dances. May, mainly, did several choreographies, she and I. And we spent hours and hours doing different dances in the bunker, and it was cool, it was a moment when we called all the children and performed the dance, and everyone was dancing. This moment was a great vibe.

HG: What was the hardest moment for you on the show?

Taninha: The most difficult moment for me in the program was a mistake I made on a test. I made this mistake because I really found it very difficult to hold the bucket, which was a dynamic of the race and was not allowed. I ended up using my hand wrongly, but then I apologized to all the participants in general, understand? And I’m sure I wouldn’t make that mistake again, because we end up making mistakes on impulse, making mistakes because we want to protect people. In my case, I didn’t want to disappoint my daughter, and I ended up making that mistake. This mistake was the hardest moment for me.

Francine: The most difficult moment of the program for me was in the first test, when Fernandinha said: “Welcome to Ilhados com a Sogra. Children, you can say goodbye and leave.” Then I said: “What?! You’re kidding me.” Man, I freaked out at that moment. I said: “What? Will Rodrigo stay with my mother and I’ll leave?” Man, that was the worst moment for me. At that point I felt sick and said: “I don’t believe they’re going to stay and I’m leaving”.

HG: Who do you keep in touch with?

Francine: We maintain contact with all the families, except the Tenório family by their choice, which we respect.

HG: At a certain point in the reality show, you had some obstacles in living with the Tenório family. Did you change your mind about them after seeing the show?

Francine: So, our relationship with them has always been very good. In fact, even though there are some impediments – which is always normal in any relationship, even more so in a confined reality, right? – the balance was very positive. May and I had a super cool exchange inside the bunker, so our perspective didn’t change. A game is a game, right? They chose to play their way, and we respected it, each one follows the strategy they believe best.

Rodrigo: I make my words those of Francine. My relationship was great, I was always very polite to everyone there. I have always used the side of education, of good coexistence. I’ve always been [a favor de] no fights, no confusion. But that’s what Francine said, everyone chooses their option, their strategy, and that’s what happened. Life goes on.

HG: Did you get to talk to them after the screening?

Francine: After I left the reality show, I talked to May. I sent her a message, asked how she was, she said she was fine, that she was calm. We had a brief conversation and everything was fine.

Rodrigo: Me and Thyago, we had a really nice conversation after the program, in the van, leaving. We talked well, but it was the last conversation we had. After that, he blocked all participants from social networks. But the last conversation we had was cool, it was very peaceful inside the van.

HG: The public also pointed out the structural racism of some participants towards the Tenório family during the game. Did you notice this while recording the program? How do you analyze these accusations, especially now, seeing from the outside?

Rodrigo: So, “Ilhados com a Sogra” is different from those reality shows, like “Big Brother”, “A Fazenda”, so it goes through an edition. There are days and days recorded there that are condensed into seven, eight hours of program, which is delivered to the public. What happens there, in fact, is up to the participants who were inside, who lived together 24 hours a day, to know. But certainly, our society is structurally racist, yes. This is a parade that crosses everyone there in different ways, right? But I don’t believe that happened in our case. The Tenório family, we saw that they chose to stage and fake fights. This also ended up disrupting relationships inside, but we respected it.

HG: Was that bunker real? Was it underground or just a set with a camera trick there when going down the stairs?

Francine: The bunker was, in fact, underground, people. And it was a relatively small space for six people.

HG: Were you confined all that time inside the structure or were you able to leave the bunker for a bit to get some air? In the show, it’s like you’re standing right there, but it feels a little claustrophobic.

Francine: We stayed inside the bunker the whole time and we couldn’t leave there for anything. It was a little claustrophobic, yes, because there was anxiety at times, so you felt a little short of breath. But as the children were very close, they helped each other. When we saw that someone was feeling bad, wasn’t feeling well, was a little silent, we called them, welcomed them, started talking. Vini and I would wake up and call for training. So, we tried to occupy our minds with physical activity, especially me and Vini. And May too, she always called us to dance, invented choreographies, so we spent time dancing, or training, talking. The children were very close, so that helped a lot. When one was feeling bad, the other would go and help. And we did this to be able to spend time in that place, which wasn’t easy, folks.