Miguel Arce, a 42-year-old Peruvian actor and model who became one of the best-known faces on the reality competition show Combate, has admitted that he squandered much of the money he earned during his years on the program. In a recent interview, Arce said the fame and near-constant television exposure of that period led him to make reckless spending decisions he now describes as foolish.
Arce said that although he was, alongside fellow cast member Mario Hart, one of the highest-paid contestants on Combate, he never learned to save. He said he did not keep money aside but instead ran up debt, explaining that he bought apartments because he preferred putting his earnings into property rather than holding onto cash, even though he often ended up spending more than he should have.
21 bottles of Jägermeister in one night
One of the episodes Arce singled out involved a single night out with friends. He said that after they arrived somewhere and he had a chilcano, a popular Peruvian cocktail made with pisco and ginger ale, he disappeared for a stretch of the night and ended up with 21 bottles of Jägermeister, a German herbal liqueur. He called it one of the three worst "burradas," or foolish acts, of his life.
Asked whether he drank all of the liquor himself, Arce clarified that he did not consume it all and instead gave much of it away. He said he now views that night as an example of the poor decisions he made at the time.
Handing out bottles of premium whisky
Arce described a similar pattern with more expensive spirits. He said that whenever a friend started a new job or was promoted, he would give them three bottles of Etiqueta Azul, referring to Johnnie Walker Blue Label, a premium Scotch whisky. He recalled one occasion when an administrator taught him a valuable lesson, and Arce responded by giving the man a bottle of the whisky as a gift.
Rather than thanking him, the administrator placed the bottle back on the shelf to sell it again, a gesture Arce said showed him that the gift had served no real purpose.
A mindset shaped by fame on Combate
Combate is a Peruvian reality competition show that turned Arce into one of the most recognizable figures on national television after he joined the program in 2011. He was eliminated from the show in 2013.
Arce said his outlook on money during those years was simple and, in his words, immature. He said Hart still reminds him of it: at the time, his thinking was that money existed to make people happy, and that if people wanted a drink, they would go drinking, and if they wanted food, they would go eat. He added that his partying was even more intense during Combate's tours, describing the trips and the hotels as worse than his nights out at home.
Crediting ex-partner Vanessa Momhe for the change
Looking back, Arce said those years of excess ultimately taught him lessons that shaped who he is today. He said he has made many bad decisions in his life, but that despite how much it might sound like a cliché, he does not regret them, because without those mistakes he would not have learned what he did or become the person he is now.
Arce said he would never repeat that kind of behavior today, but that he does not regret living through it, saying he feels he already experienced everything he needed to from that period of his life.
Asked what prompted him to change his lifestyle, Arce pointed to a past relationship. He said he met people who influenced him, particularly one partner who was much calmer than he was. He said moving in with her helped ground him, naming the former partner as Vanessa Momhe.
