Amigas y rivales

**"Amigas y rivales"** is a Mexican teen telenovela created and executive produced by Emilio Larrosa for Televisa. It's an original story and is produced by Emilio Larrosa and Arturo Pedraza Loera. The main stars are Michelle Vieth, Angélica Vale, Ludwika Paleta and Adamari López.

## Synopsis

*Amigas y rivales* tells the story of four young women from different social backgrounds. The first is Laura, a studious, sensitive, serious girl from a middle-class family; she studies data processing in a private university because she received a scholarship.

The fourth protagonist is Nayeli, who has a humble background and works as a maid in Jimena's home. Nayeli dreams of being a Hollywood actress, like her idol, Salma Hayek. This dream takes her to the United States illegally, where she meets boxer Johnny Trinidad, who falls in love with her. She is reported to the immigration service and deported back to Mexico.

Laura's emotions are divided between Robertito and his father, Don Roberto de la O, who hired Laura to instruct his firm in how to use their new computers. Don Roberto becomes determined to attract Laura, who unconsciously compares him with her own father, a man of weak character. Laura and Don Roberto date briefly; their relationship ends when Laura's mother lies to Don Roberto, telling him she's his daughter. Later Laura discovers that he is not her biological father, and that she was the result of a one-night stand. Her parents separate. She resumes dating Don Roberto until she realizes, weeks later, that she isn't in love with him after all. She is caught kissing his son Robertito. When Don Roberto discovers, thanks to Roxana's deceitful efforts to keep him, that Laura loves Robertito, he suffers a stroke.

Roxana, Don Roberto's second wife, is extremely beautiful but hiding an unscrupulous criminal soul under the mask of an ideal wife. Her real name is Carolina. She attempted to kill her own father, Tomás, for which he sent her to an asylum, but she escaped and established the new identity of Roxana. She poisoned Don Roberto's first wife so he'd be free to marry her, but secretly desired her new stepson Robertito and killed his fiancée so she would have a chance with him. They became romantically involved, but Robertito realizes how much he loves Laura and tries to end his relationship with Roxana, which angers her. Roxana teams up with Sebastián to take revenge on the friends.

## Trivia

* To this day, 'Amigas' is considered, along with 'Clase 406' and 'Rebelde', one of the most successful teen telenovelas in Mexico.
* The final episode of the show had 40,3% rating, considered to be extremely high for that time-slot.
* Angélica Vale, Michelle Vieth and Arath de la Torre worked together on Emilio Larrosa's other telenovela 'Sonadoras'.
* Acting debut for Johnny Lozada, ex-member of the popular music group Menudo.
* First villain role for Susana González. She admitted later that she was not happy the way her character was written.
* Jaime Camil was reserved for the role of Carlos, but due to salary dispute, Emilio Larrosa gave the role to René Strickler.
* Ernesto Laguardia joined the show in later episodes. Although he was supposed to appear in about 40 episodes, he was very well received and stayed through the show's entire run, playing himself.
* Michelle Vieth, one of the show's protagonists, does not appear at all in the final episode. When the actress refused to wear clothes production had given her for her character to wear, Emilio Larrosa decided to punish her for her behavior and wrote her out of the show's finale.
* According to some rumors from set, Michelle Vieth did not get along with Arath de la Torre at all during filming.
* After the show's finale, a television special 'Lo que no se vio en Amigas y rivales' aired right after. The special included some cut-off scenes that were not included in the show.
* Actor and singer Alex Sirvent sang the show's outro theme song.

## See also

* 'Amigas e rivais', 2007 Brazilian telenovela, starring Cacau Melo, Karla Tenório, Lisandra Parede and Thaís Pacholek.