STAG party legend Benidorm Jade said the resort is “mourning” the death of Sticky Vicky – who went to her daughter’s shows until the very end.
The legendary Spanish entertainer died on Wednesday, leaving friends, family and fans devastated around the world.
Sticky Vicky, whose real name is Victoria María Aragüés Gadea, spent decades performing as an illusionist and dancer in Benidorm.
And the 80-year-old has been credited with putting the popular seaside resort on the map by fellow stag legend Benidorm Jade.
She told The Sun: “Sticky Vicky has been a massive part of Benidorm and building it to what it is today.
“People come to Benidorm even now just because you’ve got to see the Sticky Vicky show, even though she’s retired and has been for some time.
“She’s been such an enormous part of creating Benidorm.
“Everybody is mourning. Even people who didn’t know her and just knew of the show.”
The retired performer died after a long battle with illness, eventually succumbing to heart failure in hospital at the age of 80.
But Jade said her long-term struggles meant she was “already gone” prior to her death.
“We knew she’d been in ill health for some time,” she said. “She had been already sick with cancer and started progressing with dementia.
“But it suddenly got very, very bad and she stopped being able to walk and talk.
“She looked relatively healthy but you could tell that in her mind she was really suffering with the dementia.
“Really, she had already gone to be honest in many ways, like you still saw glimpses of her old personality, but they were few and far between.”
The news of Sticky Vicky’s death was broken by her daughter and “heir”, Maria, in a touching tribute on Facebook.
But even after hanging up her dancing boots in 2016, the Benidorm icon attended all of her daughter’s shows – just so she could still “take part”.
“Her daughter’s already been doing the show for about ten years,” said Jade.
“She very much keeps it to the original kind of show so that she can really show off the side of everything she loves, as well as honouring her mum with the original show.
“Vicky loved going out and spending time with her daughter and would be at her shows most nights, just so she could still take part.”
Popular stag party organiser Frank The Stag Man labelled Sticky Vicky as a “queen” in his own heartfelt tribute on social media.
Uploading to TikTok, however, he felt the Benidorm icon was never “recognised by the right people”.
“Benidorm would still be another sort of fishing town gone a bit tourist without these attractions,” he said.
“Being honest with you, she was the queen, wasn’t she? I mean, who hasn’t heard of Sticky Vicky?
“I don’t think she was ever really recognised by the right people, to the point where someone should have said, ‘thank you’.
“Thank you for what you’ve done. Thank you for the tourism you’ve brought here. She really put this place on the map.”
Benidorm Star Crissy Rock, who featured in 31 episodes of the hit TV series, paid tribute to “legend” Sticky Vicky after the news broke on Wednesday.
Uploading to X (formerly Twitter) she said: “RIP to the Benidorm legend that is Sticky Vicky. My thoughts are with your family and friends during this sad time.”
