Damiel Bernaldo is a contestant who appeared on season 1 of Fishtank. He finished in 5th place.
Official Description[]
A San Francisco native who embodies the essence of the West Coast: laid-back, always ready to smoke, and down for anything. He's half Filipino and half Irish, but his humor makes it hard to tell if he's joking about his ethnicity.
Damiel is an influencer and rapper, known for posting hilarious content on his Instagram page @therealestdamiel. He got his start as a Vine star, but is now looking to break into the reality TV world to take his career to the next level.
With his comedic talent and charismatic personality, Damiel is sure to bring some laughs and entertainment to the show. Whether he's freestyling or cracking jokes, he knows how to keep things light and entertaining.
But don't let his easygoing nature fool you, because Damiel is also a savvy media mogul in the making. He's constantly pushing himself to try new things and grow his brand, and Fishtank is just the latest adventure on his journey to success.
So get ready to see Damiel in action, because he's sure to bring the heat and show us all what he's made of.
Overview[]
Damiel is a fish that appeared on season one of fishtank.live. His interests include fashion, music, comedy and recreational drugs. He earns a living through small acting gigs in minor roles or as an extra and works steadily as a line cook.
Prior to fishtank, Damiel built a social media presence through his comedy videos on vine and instagram, as well as attempts to start a music career with tongue-in-cheek comedy rapping. He is affiliated with members of the now defunct rap collective Odd Future and has appeared as an extra in the group's Adult Swim series Loiter Squad. Damiel's social media accounts were followed by the accounts of some fishtank production staff, possibly due to Damiel and the these staff members operating in the same underground Internet rap/comedy circles or due to connections through his previous work on Adult Swim. In the early days of season one, photos surfaced of Damiel having recently visited the Million Dollar Extreme studio. This led to widespread viewer speculation that Damiel was a plant, and was mentioned by Jon after using the opportunity to use phones during the swatting incident to read social media discussions. During the airing of fishtank season one, viewers discovered that Damiel worked as a voice actor on the short-lived animated series The Nutshack, a show that gained mainstream Internet attention in 2016 and was heavily lampooned due to its bizarre premise, awful theme song and general terrible production quality.
Damiel's experience in the tank was quite different from the other fish and rarely took the show's challenges and premise seriously, often mentioning that he did not care about winning the grand prize, although he stated at one point that he only wanted to make it far enough in the game to outlast Letty out of spite for her. He was very vocal about how he felt about how he felt about the other fish, namely Jon and Letty, often engaging in loud verbal altercations. Damiel was removed from the tank on three separate occasions- once on the second day of the show after violating the "no weed" rule by smuggling in a vape containing THC concentrate, second on the sixth day of the show following an argument with Jon where he allowed himself to be removed by exposing himself and openly using his phone in front of the cameras, and third after Lance's antics and the ongoing dispute with Letty reached a tipping point and caused Damiel to permanently forfeit the show on day 20.
Following his second removal, Damiel was frequently allowed in the basement for periods of up to an hour and was active on social media during these times. While the reason is unclear, viewers speculate that this was to allow him to use drugs out of view of the cameras. Some claiming to be close to Damiel stated that he was on a party binge in the weeks prior to fishtank and the comedowns/withdrawals from the substances he was using caused his irritable behavior. It is speculated that the opportunity to privately use drugs was a concession granted in exchange for him returning to the show. He justified his basement visits claiming that the mother of his child would be entering labor within a week, and needed to use his phone to speak with her. These claims would be proven false and likely contributed to Damiel's final removal. It is unclear whether this excuse was given to staff or was an audience/contestant facing bit.
Outside of Fishtank[]
Damiel produces content on Instagram @DamielBernaldo, as well as YouTube on the channel TheRealDamiel.