Voting Station

Walter Mercado

Please vote to return to collections.

Psychic/Fraud

The Resume

    (March 9, 1932-November 2, 2019)
    Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico
    Birth name was Walter Mercado Salinas
    Nickname was Shanti Ananda
    Host of his own weekly psychic/astrology television show at WKAQ-TV, Channel 2/Telemundo
    Notable film works include 'Una mujer sin precio (1966),' 'Hoy (2003),' 'Chasing Papi (2003)' and 'Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado (posthumous Netflix documentary, 2020)'
    Notable television works include 'Historia de mi vida (1963),' 'Ana Rosa (1965),' 'La mujer de aquella noche (1968),' 'Recordar (1968),' 'Entre el puñal y la cruz (1969),' 'Una sombra (1970),' 'La intrusa (1970),' 'Renzo el gitano (1971),' 'Totally Scott-Lee (2005)' and 'Doritos advertisement (PepsiCo, 2016)'
    Broadway and musical theater works include 'Anastasia,' 'Bodas de sangre,' 'La dama de las camelias,' 'Androcles y el león,' 'Los cuatro coroneles,' 'El tríptico de amor, dolor y muerte,' 'Todos los hijos de Dios tienen alas (1960)' and 'Look Back in Anger (Mirando hacia atrás con ira) (1970)'
    Notable books written include 'Mensajes Para Vivir, co-authored with Dr. Leon Alberto Vasquez,' 'Enciclopedia De Walter Mercado (Tomo 1) (1983),' 'Más allá del horizonte (Beyond the Horizon: Visions of the New Millennium) (1997),' 'Guia Para Una Vida Mejor (1997)' and 'El Mundo secreto de Walter Mercado (Spanish Edition) (2010)'
    At age 6-years-old, he predicted and told a teacher that the bell at school was going to fall the next day. And the next day, an earthquake happened, and it was what he predicted happened

Why he might be annoying:

    He looked like a cross between Liberace and Jocelyn Wildenstein.
    It has been rumored that he's had numerous plastic surgeries, face-lifts, botox and a nose job.
    His face became ravaged as he got older.
    He wore make-up.
    He oftentimes pressed and curled his hair.
    Producer and director Alex Fumero said that Mercado's silence on his sexual orientation may have allowed him to keep the adoration of LGBTQ fans and maintain acceptance from conservative Latins who could have rejected an openly gay television star. (Although obvious from his appearance, most probably already knew he was gay).
    He never formally came out as gay, leaving people wondering his sexuality.
    As a boy in his hometown of Ponce, he tells this mysterious story of a bird that once fell from the sky at his feet, dead. He picked it up, said a prayer, and breathed life back into it, then watched as the animal fluttered away.
    He claimed in an episode of 'Primer Impacto' that he had the abilities to have witnessed and seen ghosts and chupacabras, and that chupacabras actually exist.
    Some believe that his tarot card readings may be staged and rehearsed.
    His gimmick was spending years telling viewers their horoscopes while dressed in his sequined capes, using a lot of hand gestures and proclaiming his weird "Mucho, mucho amor!" line.
    He wasn't a natural blonde, and often dyed his hair platinum.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was of Puerto Rican and Spanish descent.
    He owned a great dane dog.
    He did a cameo in the romantic comedy, 'Chasing Papi' (2003).
    He was skilled and trained in classical and modern ballet.
    In 1970, he first started his regular astrology segment in 'El Show de las 12.' Where he enhanced his studies with formal training, studying into astrology, tarot, and other occult disciplines.
    He was very attractive, when he was younger.
    He died on November 2, 2019, after a long battle with kidney failure, at Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Credit: Eddie Burphy


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 10 Votes: 100% Annoying