Nairobi (Money Heist)

Before getting recruited by the Professor, she was an expert counterfeiter and forger, which she learned at an early age due to poverty. She had a son named "Axel" whom she lost custody after serving in prison for drug trafficking and counterfeiting. [2]

Nairobi was known for her energetic, charismatic and motivational persona throughout the show. A born leader, she leads the hostages and her team with joy, passion and enthusiasm as she famously says "Chikipum Chikipum Chikipum" in order to motivate them to work.[3]

In a team of hotheads and big egos, she was level-headed, focused only on accomplishing the job, maintaining peacefulness within the group and staying alive. She was well liked by the team as well as some of the hostages, Mr. Torres, a hostage assigned to print the money in parts one and two even praised her saying that she was the best boss he ever had.[4]

With her maternal instincts, she was able to sympathise with some of the hostages like how she defended and motivate Alison Parker to stand up to her bullies and taught her to say the infamous line "Soy La Puta Ama" which translates to "I am the Fucking Boss".[5]

Throughout the show, she has shown disgust over the excessive patriarchy on the team, questioning the leadership of Berlin and Palermo's offensive actions. In one scene in Part Two, when she overthrow Berlin's leadership and temporarily took control at the Royal Mint of Spain after a heated argument, with him shouting he is in charge because of Patriarchy, she proudly declared “Empieza el Matriarcado” which basically translates to "Let the Matriarchy Begin", a now iconic line for her character. [6]

In part three, in order to create chaos and vulnerability on the team, Inspector Alicia Sierra, took her son and used him to lure her out. Nairobi who haven't seen her son for years and in moments of vulnerability peeked out through the window. She was shot by a sniper through her chest. Lisbon's fake execution and shooting Nairobi angered the Professor and the team causing them to retaliate by shooting the Military's armoured van and thereby, declaring war. [7]

She barely survived during the opening of part four when the police denied them a surgeon to help Nairobi. Afraid and disoriented, Nairobi beg Tokyo and the rest of the team to hand her to the Police since she really wanted to live even it means she's going to be in prison but was denied by Palermo, stating that the Police will only kill her like what they did to Lisbon. Tokyo and the rest of the team with the help of a Pakistani surgeon via video call, successfully operated on Nairobi, removing the bullet and cutting a part of her lung. But all efforts were put to dust when the head of security of the Bank of Spain and ex-mercenary, Gandia, escaped with the help of Palermo. Nairobi who's still barely recovering from her fatal shot and operation, was targeted by Gandia. After giving a motivational speech for her team underground, her "Golden Boys" as she named them, Nairobi who's still weak was taken hostage and tortured by Gandia. After several failed attempts of killing her, Gandia shot her point blank to the head, instantly killing her, in front of the team, in a truce between the robbers and the police.[8]

Nairobi's death triggered a series of "Missiles" launched by the Professor against the Police and the System, declaring they will avenged her death a thousand times. First of which was her funeral. Her body was placed on a makeshift coffin with the label, "Nairobi, La Puta Ama" and was taken outside the bank, carried by the Governor's Personal Bodyguards. Everyone outside the building, including the Police and the Protestor, were taken aback by the impromptu funeral. Lisbon, who was illegally taken in the tent for questioning, cries upon seeing Nairobi's coffin while the professor and the rest of the team cries in silence.

In the season finale of part four, after the professor and the team brought Lisbon to the Bank of Spain, they all shouted "For Nairobi!" in her honor.[9]

In an interview, Alba Flores revealed that her character does not exist on the original script. The creator Álex Pina was writing the script and realized that the team only have one female character, Tokyo. Flores, who have previously worked with Pina on Vis a Vis (Locked Up) said, "So he called me and asked if I wanted to come be on his new TV show and offered to send me the script for the first two episodes. He said, 'If you like it, I can write a role for you.' And that’s how Nairobi was born."[10]

Nairobi's quirky yet level-headed bossy character quickly became one of the favorites of the show. Her lines, "La Puta Ama", "Chikipum Chikipum" and especially "Empieza el matriarcado" were a hit amongst fans.

After the character's death in part four, fans mourned for her character as another fan favourite was killed from the show.[11] Some grieved saying that Nairobi did not deserve a brutal death, especially since her character was so full of dreams and promises.[12]

A behind-the-scene video of Flores tearfully saying goodbye to her character and cast was included in the Money Heist: The Phenomenon Documentary.[13]

For her work as Nairobi, Flores won a Best Actress Award in Premios Iris (ATv),[14] as well as three Best Actress nominations on Spanish Actor's Union Awards and two Best Supporting Actress Nominations for Feroz Awards.[15][16][17][18][19][20]