Nikki Fernandez and Paulo (/ˈpaʊloʊ/ POW-loh) are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific.

[1] American actress Kiele Sanchez and Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro play two survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.

[7] On their seventy-second day on the island, Nikki and Paulo join Locke when he ventures back to the Pearl Station, hoping to communicate with the Others.

Nikki and Paulo are then buried alive by James "Sawyer" Ford and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes after tossing the diamonds in the grave with them as they consider them to be of no value on the island.

[7] At the end of the first season, the writers had the idea one of the background survivors would emerge and receive an on-island flashback episode to help answer the question, "What the hell is going on with the other 35 people who nothing ever happens to?

[15] The writers originally conceived of only a woman, who was previously an actress,[16] would be introduced into the main storyline, but the idea later changed to include her boyfriend as well.

[30] Lindelof called Santoro "talented"[31] and "perfect for Lost because he's a face that the American audience is not familiar with", despite being an award-winning actor in his home country of Brazil.

Part of the reason Santoro was cast over other actors was because his physique was deemed attractive; however, the writers said that they were not interested in writing for his character with that in mind, nor did he want them to.

[39] Entertainment Weekly included them in their list of the "21 Most Annoying TV Characters Ever", commenting "no one could have predicted how grating the pair's whiny inanity would become.

"[40] When rumors circulated on the Internet and were mentioned in ABC commercials that the characters were going to die, some viewers hoped for a "double murder"[41] of Nikki and Paulo and rejoiced when their wish was granted.

[42] Over three months before the episode aired on television, Santoro stated in an interview with Brazilian Rolling Stone that his character would die in the middle of the third season.

[43] It was also announced that Sanchez had signed on to film a fall 2007 pilot for another ABC show, Football Wives,[44] and thus, it would have been unlikely for her to continue to act as a "murderous femme fatale".