• February 17, 2003
• Vol. 59
• No. 6

Spanish Idol

Singing Cabbie Miguel Angel Guzman Wins a Record Deal on Telemundo's Answer to Reality Talent Shows

Singing before Simon Cowell may be terrifying, but try being a contestant on Telemundo's Protagonistas de la Música. A Spanish-language cross between American Idol and Big Brother, the show locks 14 showbiz wannabes in a Miami house for three months where they are rated on talent as well as how they get along with their roommates. (Viewers vote one contestant out each week.) Throughout it all, New York City cab driver Miguel Angel Guzman never flinched. "I always thought I'd win," says the Dominican-born Guzman, a salsa singer. "I never envisioned myself leaving the house early."

In fact, Guzman, 28, was the last man standing—the female winner, Barbara Higuera, is a 28-year-old Cuba-born singer—after viewers cast more than 42 million votes by the series finale Jan. 14. For Guzman, whose girlfriend gave birth to their daughter Kalary while he was in the house, sudden celebrity—not to mention the recording contract he won—is a shock. "It's hard to process the fact that I could go from taxi driver to all this in only three months," he says. "But I'm enjoying every minute. This is where I've always wanted to be."