Nikki Fernandez

"Nikki" redirects here. For other uses see: Nikki (disambiguation)

Nikki Fernandez
Actor	Kiele Sanchez
First	"Further Instructions"
Last	"Ji Yeon"
Episode Count	7
Centric	"Exposé"
Death	11 December 2004
Death Episode	"Exposé"
Place	Los Angeles, California, USA
Profession	Actress Con woman
Reason in Australia	Guest starring in the show Exposé, Murdering Howard L. Zukerman along with Paulo to obtain the diamonds.
Reason For Trip	To return to the U.S. with Paulo

Nikki Fernandez was one of the middle section survivors from Flight 815 and is first introduced in "Further Instructions". She had spent most of her time on the Island isolated from the other survivors, along with Paulo. She was trying to recover the $8 million diamonds that she and Paulo had stolen from Howard L. Zukerman, her staged lover, before the crash. After her greed and anger drove her to throw a female Medusa spider onto her lover Paulo, she received a spider bite from a male Medusa that induced a deathlike paralysis, which caused death-like appearance. She died after being buried alive alongside Paulo, as the other survivors were unaware that the two of them were both still alive.

Before the crash

Exposé

Nikki plays her role on Exposé as the hottest agent ever. ("Exposé")

Nikki Fernandez was an American actress originally from Los Angeles, California, who landed the guest starring role of Corvette on the Australian television show Exposé. In a scene from the finale of the fourth season, Corvette walked onto the stage, the emcee declaring her the "Pride of St. Paul". However, Corvette's performance was interrupted when she noticed two businessmen walking into an office. She investigated, and upon entering found Mr. LaShade, played by Billy Dee Williams, handling the money for an orphanage and deducted that he was part of the villainous force in the series. LaShade then shot her in the chest three times as she tried to take down the other men, exclaiming her catch phrase "razzle dazzle." LaShade then told the two heroines of the show, Autumn and Crystal, that Corvette was working for the Cobra. After the cut in filming was called, Billy Dee helped Nikki up, and both remarked that it was an honor to have worked with each other. Howard L. Zukerman, the creative force behind the series, then announced to the crew that it was a series wrap for Corvette and thanked Nikki for her work. ("Exposé")

Conning Zukerman

Nikki tells Zukerman that she isn't leaving Sydney. ("Exposé")

Zukerman then took her outside and, against the backdrop of the Sydney Harbor and the Opera House, told her that they didn't have to kill her off; that she could have not died or been wearing a bullet proof vest, but she proved this impossible by revealing that Corvette was wearing a faux diamond bikini at the time of her death. He then told her that he expected her to return to L.A now her work on Exposé had concluded, but she said that she wasn't leaving because she loved him.

Nikki breaks into Zukerman's safe, shortly after his poisoning. ("Exposé")

Some time later, Nikki and Zukerman were dining at his large home and Nikki complimented the food. Zukerman then told her of his newest chef, Paulo who he introduced to Nikki and the two playfully bantered among themselves. After Paulo departed, Zukerman recited the story of his hiring of Paulo before offering Nikki a bread role, and upon taking it she realized that a diamond bracelet was hidden underneath. Zukerman then professed that it wasn't a ring, yet, but as soon as his wife was out of the way — but he was stopped in his tracks as he started to choke. A worried Nikki called for Paulo, but soon he was dead. At this point, Nikki and Paulo gave up their ruse and tore the key that he wore around his neck away from him. They then proceeded to a secret room and opened the safe. Paulo started to light up a cigarette, but Nikki stopped him, foreshadowing with the lament, "Ashes are evidence, Paulo. We poisoned him, lets not poison ourselves." Inside the safe they found a matryoshka doll, and upon opening it Nikki and Paulo found $8 million worth of diamonds, which made Nikki exclaim, "Razzle freakin' dazzle." ("Exposé")

Oceanic Flight 815

Nikki listens to Paulo, reading about Zukerman's death in the newspaper. ("Exposé")

The day of Oceanic Flight 815, Nikki and Paulo sat in the Sydney Airport cafe reading a newspaper article which told the story of Zukerman's death and said that he was presumed to have died from a heart attack. After telling her that he was chewing nicotine gum having quit smoking for her, they shared a toast to their new life together. However, they were soon interrupted by Shannon and Boone arguing about finding a seat, with Shannon complaining that there were not seats free and screaming that Boone already lost them their first class seats so why could he find seats here. Boone then asked if he could take a chair from Nikki and Paulo's table and they agreed, but Shannon stormed off, wanting to leave. As they watched the feuding couple leave, with Shannon telling Boone to "stop flirting with random guys", Nikki asked Paulo to promise they would never end up like them, and Paulo made her that promise. The couple then boarded the doomed flight. ("Exposé")

On the Island

Nikki asks a shell-shocked Paulo about their bag. ("Exposé")

Immediately after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Nikki began searching through the wreckage to find Paulo. However her search was interrupted as she is warned by John Locke to get out of the way of the turbine which was close to exploding and to get down. Nikki witness first hand the death of Gary Troup who didn't listen to Locke's warning as was sucked into the turbine forcing it to explode. Close to giving in, she saw a pair of feet sticking out from under the wreckage and helped the man, who she thought was Paulo, up. The man was Leslie Arzt, who questioned if he had survived. Nikki walked off only to be asked by Boone if she had a pen, a request Jack made to help save Rose. Nikki gave up hope on finding Paulo, only to see him at the edge of the beach looking out to sea, severely shell shocked. Despite the desperate situation, Nikki had only one question - "Where are the diamonds?"

Nikki and Paulo introduce themselves to Ethan. ("Exposé")

Six days later, Nikki and Paulo searched the camp for her script bag, which contained the $8 million worth of diamonds. Paulo, however, was more preoccupied with the Monster in the jungle than finding the script bag. They were then approached by a fellow survivor, who introduced himself as Ethan Rom, who told them that there were spare clothes that they could use should they need it. Nikki thanked him but told that they didn't need clothes - as Paulo had lost his nicotine gum. Ethan advised them to look inland as the plane split apart over the island. They were interrupted by Arzt, who was yelling that it was Boone who stole the water. As chaos began to fall on the camp, Jack returned and calmed everyone. Nikki was present as Jack delivered his "live together, die alone" speech.

Two weeks later, Nikki went to Arzt's tent where he was observing some of the new species he had found (he claimed he would be the next Charles Darwin) and she asked if he was a scientist, to which Arzt responded "and an educator, yes". He then told her about his most interesting and dangerous discovery - the Latrodectus Regina, or the Medusa Spider, and claimed it's pheromones were so strong that it could attract every male of the species, likening it to Nikki. She then asked if he knew anything about trajectories and he agreed to draw her a map to help her find her luggage.

Nikki and Paulo find the entrance to the Pearl whilst searching for the diamonds. ("Exposé")

Nikki and Paulo, following the map that Arzt drew, began to search for their luggage. Paulo was initially skeptical about listening to a junior high science teacher and Nikki joked that Paulo was jealous of Arzt. Bitterly, Paulo responded that he wouldn't be surprised given that she slept with Zukerman. A comment that Nikki did not take well. However, their search lead them to the Beechcraft plane sat atop the canopy. Nikki told Paulo to climb up and see if they had a radio but he refused asking "do you want me to die?" Upon turning around they found the entrance to the Pearl station and opened it. Paulo was initially happy to climb down the shaft into the dark tunnel, but Nikki refused to let him do so saying that their bag wouldn't have opened a manhole and climbed down. They continued their search and didn't tell the survivors of their discoveries.

Arzt, Shannon, Nikki and Paulo learn of the waterfall from Kate. ("Exposé")

9 days later, Nikki and Paulo overheard an argument between Shannon, Arzt and Kate over the Marshal's Halliburton case which Shannon laments Kate and her two boyfriends found. After an annoyed Shannon and Arzt walk away, Nikki asks Kate where they found the case. At the waterfall, Paulo asked why he had to jump in, and she responded that he reminds her on every chance that she slept with Zukerman and so therefore he has to do this for them. Worried he asked Nikki if she would need him without the bags. Nikki reminds him that the bag if worth $8 million dollars and orders him to dive in. Paulo takes this response as her saying that she wouldn't need him if they found the bag and after diving in, he returned to the surface and told her the bag was not there. She walked away, unaware he was lying as he went to retrieve the bag from the bottom of the water. Paulo tried to bury the diamonds on the beach later, but eventually concluded to leave them in the Pearl station. ("Exposé")

Days 69-81 (Season 3)

Nikki scolds Hurley for not telling them about Jack captivity by the Others. ("Further Instructions")

When Locke and Charlie returned from saving Eko after the Swan implosion and brought him back to camp, Nikki and Paulo assisted them in helping them, and Nikki lamented that they needed Jack to help the injured survivor, but at this point Hurley told the group that Jack wasn't coming back and that they had him. This infuriated Nikki, who questioned why Hurley hadn't told them sooner. Locke, however, delivered a speech to Nikki, Paulo, Claire, Charlie, and Hurley saying that they would find Jack, Kate and Sawyer together. He then told Nikki and Paulo to fetch the towels to help Eko. ("Further Instructions")

A few days later, Locke alerted the group that he planned to head out to the Pearl Station to both attempt communication with the Others and to trail a missing Eko. Nikki decided that she would like to join him and she tried to become more involved with the group - something Paulo didn't seem to approve of. He questioned why she wanted to go, and she replied that he is always complaining about not being included and this was their chance. Nikki and Paulo then joined Locke, Desmond and Sayid and they ventured to the Pearl.

Nikki is startled by Mikhail's sudden appearance at the Pearl. ("The Cost of Living")

Inside, Nikki watched the orientation video for the station as the others attempted to work out the wiring. She, however, noticed that Mark Wickmund said that there were six stations and questioned if the other TV's were connected to the other hatches. As the others worked on feeding a connection from other stations, Paulo emerged from the toilet - Nikki was unaware that he had just continued his deception by hiding the diamonds. Sayid managed to successfully patch the feed from the Flame station, which revealed a man wearing an eye patch. Locke then lamented that he would be expecting them. The sound of the Monster, however, called the survivors up from the Pearl station and they arrived to find Eko who died from the wounds he sustained from an attack by the Black Smoke. ("The Cost of Living") ("Exposé")

Nikki and Paulo in the Pearl station ("The Cost of Living")

Moments after Eko's death, Nikki questioned what happened to him and Locke lied, saying that it must have been an animal despite his knowledge of what really killed him. Locke and Sayid departed to find Eko's stick covered with scripture, and when they buried Eko at the entrance to the Pearl station. Nikki then returned to the beach camp. ("I Do")

Several days later Hurley found a DHARMA van in the jungle and asked for volunteers to help him fix the van and get it going again for a source of fun to relieve the stress of Island life. Nikki seemed to want to help him, but Paulo refused to allow her - pulling her back by the loop of her shorts and she apologized as he did so. When Kate and Sawyer returned to the camp Nikki was among the survivors who welcomed them back - hugging Kate first and then Sawyer. ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")

Later, Nikki was among the survivors who helped in carrying the ping-pong table from the imploded Swan and she helped in setting it up. However, Sawyer soon noticed that the survivors had been taking his stash during his absence and, when he confronted them about it, Nikki spoke up and said that it wasn't him to start with, to which he responded "who the hell are you?" Sawyer's was forced to release ownership of his stash when he lost to Hurley. ("Enter 77")

A few days later Nikki and Paulo sat on the beach together, and she confessed to him that she is sad that Thanksgiving passed a few weeks back, and they didn't even remember to celebrate it. She began to worry that they will never be rescued from the island, but Paulo comforted her. He said he is glad that they didn't find the diamonds (even though he was in possession of them at the time) because it was beginning to tear them apart as a couple. He left Nikki to go get them both some breakfast, and accidentally left his nicotine gum in the sand, which fell out of his pocket. Nikki picked the nicotine gum up, and realized that he must have found their bags if he has found the gum, because they were stored together when on the plane - putting two and two together, she realized she had been double crossed by Paulo.

Nikki buried the diamonds for safe keeping. ("The Cost of Living")

Later, Desmond saw Nikki arguing with Sawyer. She demanded that Sawyer let her have one of the guns he had in his possession, but he refused, saying she is too agitated, and it wouldn't do any good if he gave her one. He commented he doesn't have the guns anymore anyway, yelling "who the hell are you?" as she stormed away from him in anger and frustration.

Nikki later pretended she was taking Paulo to a secret location, but then, in the jungle, she confronted him. He lied to her, saying that he didn't have the diamonds, but Nikki shows him the gum. She produced one of the jars from Arzt's specimen jars and threw the Medusa Spider from the jar at Paulo. She then described to him that it is called the Medusa Spider because it slows the heart rate of the victim down to a point where it is almost undetectable for around eight hours. Paulo's paralysis then began to set in, and Nikki begins to search for the diamonds, first throwing off his shoe and then realizing he hid them in his underwear. He tells her he hid them because he thought if she had the diamonds she wouldn't need him anymore. She realized what she has done and stared apologetically at Paulo. However, the ticking sounds of the Monster are heard and an onslaught of male Medusa Spiders appeared, but a distracted Nikki didn't realize. She is then bitten by one of the spiders, a personification of the monster itself, on the ankle. Following her bite from the Medusa Spider, Nikki began to run back to the beach camp to warn them of her and Paulo's predicament, but stopped briefly to bury the diamonds for safe keeping. Nikki made her way back to the beach camp, collapsing in front of Sawyer and Hurley at the ping-pong table. She attempted to utter "paralyzed" as they crowded around her, but they couldn't understand what she was saying due to her paralysis. As Sawyer began to leave to try and get help, Hurley stopped him and told that him Nikki was dead, to which he responded "Who the hell is Nikki?"

Nikki opens her eyes. ("Exposé")

Because of her mysterious and ambiguous last words, Sawyer, Hurley, Charlie, Jin, Desmond and Sun attempted to unravel the mystery about what happened to the little-known couple, who were both paralyzed and presumed dead after Paulo was also found in the jungle. The group ransacked the couple's tent, finding Paulo's walkie (causing suspicions that the pair were in league with the Others) and the Exposé script, which Hurley commented he was a big fan of. Hurley began to suspect Sawyer played a part in their "deaths" due to Desmond seeing him arguing with Nikki hours earlier, however Sawyer maintained his innocence, and the group continued to bury Nikki and Paulo. However, during this, Vincent dragged the black material off their bodies, forcing them to be buried without it. Having dug the graves and placed the "corpses" inside, Sawyer mumbled, "Rest in peace, Nikki and Paulo," getting their names right, and scattered their diamonds over their bodies. Hurley then gave a eulogy and said even though they appeared to have killed each other over the diamonds, they were nice to him, and that he liked Exposé. Hurley and Sawyer then began to fill the graves.

Slowly, the sand began to cover their bodies, and just as it covered their faces, the spider's venom began to wear off, and Nikki opened her eyes to see sand hitting her face. Unable to move and warn the survivors of their real state, Nikki and Paulo were buried alive. ("Exposé")

Post-Death

Sun turns off the Korean dub of Nikki's death scene in Exposé. ("Ji Yeon")

The day after their tragic demise, the deaths of both Nikki and Paulo were one of the numerous reasons used by Hurley in persuading Sawyer to take a leadership role in the group. ("Left Behind")

According to the story told by the Oceanic Six, Nikki died in the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 when it hit the water along with boyfriend Paulo. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 1")

In the summer of 2005, the season four finale of Exposé aired on Korean TV. Moments before Sun went to labor with her baby, the Korean dub of Nikki's character, Corvette's death at the hands of Mr. LaShade was playing on Sun's TV, until she turned it off. However, Sun didn't seem to recognize Nikki in the program. ("Ji Yeon")

Just beyond the opening of the Cliffiside cave is a room in which Jacob has written the last names of several candidates on the walls and ceiling, and a number preceding each one. When the wall is first seen, all of the names and numbers are crossed out except for those preceded by one of The Numbers. The Man in Black explains that each name is the name of a candidate. Nikki's surname Fernandez is crossed, meaning her death. According to it, her number is 321.("The Substitute")

Trivia

• Nikki has appeared in only 1 episode after her death, appearing on a television in a flashforward in "Ji Yeon", although she appeared for less than a second.
• According to a rough translation in the Whisper Transcripts, Nikki's name is mentioned in one of the whispers during the time Hurley spots Jacob's Cabin in "The Beginning of the End".
• Nikki was the twenty-second character to ever have a flashback.
• As of "Ji Yeon", Nikki's episode count is 7 (including non-speaking appearances). She died on her 6th appearance.
• Nikki has never met Juliet, Ben, Ana Lucia, Libby, Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, Richard, Lapidus and Ilana.
  • However, as they were at the camp at the same time it is probable that she met Ana Lucia or Libby off-screen.
• Nikki and Paulo were noted by the producers to be the most universally despised characters due to their sudden appearance.
• A deleted scene introduced Nikki and Paulo in another way: Claire is taking care of Aaron when she hears some weird noises coming from Jack's tent. She starts to call Jack's name, and when she opens the tent she sees Nikki and Paulo having sex there. This scene was deleted from "Further Instructions", however pre-broadcast summaries of the episode seem to reference this particular scene, implying that it was removed at the last minute.
• Nikki along with Paulo were the sixth and seventh main characters to be killed.
• Nikki and Paulo are buried in a different way from any of the other characters that have died on the Island; Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby and Scott were buried in individual graves, while Nikki and Paulo shared a large one.
• According to an Entertainment Weekly article, Nikki and Paulo were originally supposed to be part of a longer storyarc, with one episode having its flashbacks devoted to Nikki's fictional TV show, Exposé, to end with a surprise twist (presumably revealing that those "flashbacks" were merely part of a TV show Nikki was acting in). Faced with the negative fan backlash to the two characters' abrupt introduction, however, the producers, already facing declining ratings for the show, decided back in December 2006 to trim down the storyarc and kill off the two characters in a single episode.
• The Monster was heard, but not seen, moments before Nikki receives the spider bite.
• Because of Rose and Bernard's absence from much of Season 3, it was speculated that the fail-safe had altered the timeline so that they were never aboard the plane, and Nikki and Paulo had been seated in their place. This was disproven when both Rose and Bernard returned in "Greatest Hits".
• Nikki originally held the record amount of least number of episode appearances for a main character at 6. However, since she appeared on the TV in "Ji Yeon", she is now joint bottom with her former lover and conspirator, Paulo.
• Originally, only Nikki was going to emerge from the background characters as a main character, but due to the fact Juliet was being newly introduced in Season 3, the producers decided to include a male in the new Season 3 characters, so as to weight it a little more evenly. They then decided to create the character of Paulo as Nikki's boyfriend and accomplice.
• Marsha Thomason auditioned for the part of Nikki. (Flashback)

Cultural references

• Nikki mentions to Zukerman about her character's death in Exposé that death is just what happens to guest stars on the show. Similarly, guest characters in Lost have been or are potentially subject to death.

Reference to Alias

• Exposé tips its hat to J.J. Abrams' Alias. Nikki guest stars in a one-word titled TV show playing a female agent posing as a stripper to track down criminals.
  • The episode features a shocking twist as Mr. LaShade turns out to be the Cobra, a common theme in Alias. Hurley reads the script and suggests that for 4 seasons Exposé has been building to the point of revealing the true identity of the Cobra.

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Nikki Fernandez/Theories

• How did she meet Paulo?
• Why was Nikki a candidate?