In 100 Words: Another Chito-Neri Sex Scandal

Yesterday afternoon, another sex video of Parokya ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda and actress Neri Naig made the rounds of social media. This time the video was raunchier and more revealing. While the video spread like wildfire, Miranda immediately posted on Instagram that he felt unfazed with the incident, saying such cases only made his relationship with Neri stronger.

A few months earlier Miranda filed a complaint to track down the purported individual who uploaded the first private sex video. As of the moment the said individual’s identity remains unknown. In the meantime, this incident should only give another lesson to those who intentionally create and spread videos of celebrities in their moment of privacy, whose only purpose is to exploit the reputation of the said celebrities.

Last Sunday Night on Philippine TV, and Upcoming Teleseryes

It was an eventful Sunday night on Philippine TV. ABS-CBN’s ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ finally crowned a winner, as Mitoy Yonting won the final showdown over Klarisse de Guzman. The final showdown of ‘The Voice of the Philippines’ proved to be a ratings and social media hit. Over at TV5, ‘The Mega and the Songwriter’ also trended on Twitter, in large part to the performance of the Singing Elevator Girl Cheridel Alejandrino. And both GMA networks experienced an abrupt on-air interruption after a fire broke out at the basement of its headquarters in Quezon City, which was later put under control without any reported injuries.

Meanwhile, contrary to my prediction in a previous article, the new ABS-CBN teleserye ‘Galema: Anak ni Zuma’ will actually have its series debut on the Kapamilya Gold afternoon slot, replacing ‘Dugong Buhay’. The series will make its debut today, and will star Andi Eigenmann in her afternoon soap debut.

Over at primetime, the Kapamilya network’s highly rated teleserye ‘Muling Buksan ang Puso’ will finish its run this week, with its series finale scheduled for Friday, October 4. The remake of ‘Maria Mercedes’ will replace the former beginning October 7, and will mark the return of Jessy Mendiola to the primetime slot. ‘Maria Mercedes’ will be the fourth local adaptation of a Thalia-starred series, after GMA’s ‘MariMar‘, ‘Rosalinda’, and ABS-CBN’s ‘Maria la del Barrio‘.

Switching over to the Kapuso side, GMA will likewise debut a new afternoon series entitled ‘Magkano Ba ang Pag-Ibig’, which will mark the acting return of Heart Evangelista. The new series will replace the Bianca King-starred ‘Maghihintay Pa Rin’ beginning today, September 30.

And finally the Kapuso network also announced that the highly rated and controversial teleserye ‘My Husband’s Lover’ will conclude on October 11, as seen on the network teasers. The teasers also announce a new replacement for MHL, entitled ‘Genesis’, and will officially mark the return of Dingdong Dantes to primetime. However, Dantes will not be paired with his usual off-screen partner Marian Rivera; instead he will be paired by another returning Kapuso star in Rhian Ramos. Barring any hitches, the series debut of ‘Genesis’ will be on October 14.

Megan Young Wins Miss World 2013

The 2013 Miss World was held at Bali, Indonesia. Amid protests by the hardline Muslim groups, the event proceeded as scheduled. A record 126 candidates from around the world participated in the pageant, but one of them would make history for the archipelago of over 1,700 islands.

Heading into the contest, the Philippines‘ Megan Young was considered one of the top contenders for the title, and she proved worthy of the crown by winning the Top Model challenge and finishing in the top five of the Beach Fashion and Multimedia Award contests. Those placings, along with the online votes she received heading into the tournament, helped her become the first Filipino to win the coveted Miss World crown. Second place in the pageant went to France’s Marine Lorphelin, while Ghana‘s Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter earned third place honors.

Young’s victory was validated by this confident answer to the question ‘Why should you be crowned Miss World?’. She then replied, ‘I treasure a core value of humanity and that guides people why they act the way they do. I will use this to show other people how they can understand each other… as one, we can help society.’

The journey of Megan Young to the Miss World crown was enthusiastically followed by many fans through social media, and once her victory was validated, the Miss World contest and its related terms quickly became a trending topic on Twitter.  Young also won the contest despite the British media’s attempt to support her disqualification by using her controversial Rogue magazine cover the previous year.

While Young’s victory quickly made the rounds of both social media and online news outlets, the main coveror GMA aired the contest not knowing that the winner had already been revealed. The Kapuso network started airing the Miss World pageant at around 10 p.m., several minutes after Young’s victory was made public. They would not air it live because it would affect their other programs. But with social media starting to become a force in the entertainment industry, GMA should have pre-empted their other programs just for this occasion. Instead they carried on with their other programs for fear of losing the ratings battle with ABS-CBN.

Nevertheless, it was an ultimate victory for the Philippines. Megan Young’s victory was the country’s first for a major beauty pageant since Precious Lara Quigaman‘s 2005 Miss International victory. And along with Mutya Datul’s victory at the Miss Supranational, it only gave the Philippines some added motivation and hope heading into the Miss Universe pageant, with Ariella Arida as its standard-bearer.

Tropa Moko Unli is Hot, and Bubble Gang is Not

After only two episodes ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ became a trending topic on Twitter, fueled by the revival of the ‘Battle of the Brainless’ skit.

They may have aired two episodes so far, but TV5’s newest gag show ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ is quickly becoming a hot trending topic in social media, not only in the Philippines, but also globally. So much so that it has the potential to put the long-running gag show ‘Bubble Gang‘ of GMA out of the airwaves, just like what that program did to the Kapatid network‘s original gag show ‘Tropang Trumpo‘.

It can be argued that Ogie Alcasid‘s decision to leave GMA and sign with TV5 was a blessing in disguise. After all, Alcasid spent 18 years as part of the ‘Bubble Gang’ cast after initially leaving ‘Tropang  Trumpo’ alongside buddy Michael V. However, Alcasid appears unsatisfied in playing the sidekick role, thus he moved over as a Kapatid talent and was tapped to be the ‘face’ and leader of the ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ gang. Alcasid was joined by fellow ‘Tropa’ Gelli de Belen, and by bringing in younger talent from the ‘Lokomoko‘ gag show, it unified both of TV5’s past and present gag shows into one, which became ‘Tropa Moko Unli’. And so far the union has been beneficial.

The strength of ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ lies on a carryover skit from the ‘Tropang Trumpo’ days. The decision to bring back the classic ‘Battle of the Brainless’ skit has been met with both critical and popular acclaim; the segment itself was also a social media hit. In addition, a parody of ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’, entitled ‘Lasa May Toyo’, also contributed to the show’s popularity. For tomorrow’s episode, Alcasid will play host to the ‘Show Show A All the Way’, a parody of ‘The Medyo Late Night Show’ starring Jojo Alejar.

While ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ is gaining momentum, ‘Bubble Gang’ is losing steam. GMA’s long-running gag show is suffering from the lack of interesting skits, the worst of the bunch happens to be Diego Llorico’s ‘Atlit’ segment which took out the more popular ‘Ba’t Ganun?’ skit. The retirement of ‘Boy Pick Up’ and other characters played by Ogie Alcasid also factored into the show’s loss of audience. While Michael V. tried to make things interesting with his ‘Tata Lino’ and ‘Mr. Assimo’ skits, it is apparent that ‘Bubble Gang’ is past its prime, and with its placement on the late night Friday slot opposite ABS-CBN and TV5’s newscasts, audiences seem more interested in watching the news than a gag show like ‘Bubble Gang’.

‘Bubble Gang’ needs to get out of its so-called ‘group of death’ if they want to extend the show’s proven longevity. A move to Saturday nights is a logical move; GMA can place the program in the more favorable 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. slot where the program once enjoyed its peak of popularity. And it should benefit the program, considering that ABS-CBN’s ‘Banana Split’ and the aforementioned ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ airs on Saturdays, thus giving ‘Bubble Gang’ some much-needed competition. The revival of the popular ‘Ba’t Ganun?’ and the creation of more interesting and relative characters is what the program desperately need.

With the popularity and social media trending that ‘Tropa Moko Unli’ has enjoyed so far, they may have the potential to oust ‘Bubble Gang’ as the most popular gag show in the Philippines. And they seem poised to do so, just as ‘Bubble Gang’ did with ‘Tropang Trumpo’ back in its heyday.

Billboard Hot 100 – October 5, 2013

Here are the Top 10 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of October 5, 2013.

1. Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball. No. 1 last week.

2. Katy Perry – Roar. No. 2 last week.

3. Lorde – Royals. No. 3 last week.

4. Avicii – Wake Me Up!. No. 5 last week.

5. Robin Thicke feat. T.I. & Pharrell  – Blurred Lines. No. 4 last week.

6. Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail. No. 6 last week.

7. Drake feat. Majid Jordan – Hold On, We’re Going Home. No. 9 last week.

8. Lady Gaga – Applause. No. 7 last week.

9. Lana Del Rey & Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness. No. 10 last week.

10. Capital Cities – Safe And Sound. No. 12 last week.

All videos of the Top 10 songs can be viewed above. Our thanks to Billboard for this week’s Hot 100 Top 10.

Third Survivor Season in the Philippines

Survivor: Blood vs. Water was taped in the Palaui Island in Cagayan, marking the third consecutive Survivor season taped in the Philippines.

For the third consecutive season, the hit American reality series ‘Survivor‘ was taped in the Philippines. The new season was dubbed ‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’, and it featured returning castaways pitting against their relatives or their loved ones.

While the last two seasons of ‘Survivor’ were taped in Caramoan, Camarines Sur (‘Survivor: Philippines‘, ‘Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites’), the new season of ‘Survivor’ was taped in Palaui Island, Cagayan. The new season will mark the return of the popular ‘Redemption Island’, albeit in a different format where any of the remaining contestants may choose to switch with their partner if he/she is at Redemption Island. The duration of the series is expected to last 39 1/2 days, thanks to the addition of ‘Day Zero’, where the pairs spend the night in an undisclosed location before they were divided into two tribes named ‘Galang’ and ‘Tadhana’.

The returning castaways in the game include four-time Survivor veteran Rupert Boneham, previous winner Aras Baskauskas, Tina Wesson, Gervase Peterson, Candice Cody, Tyson Apostol, Laura Morett, and three ‘Survivor: One World‘ castaways in Kat Edorsson, Monica Culpepper and Colton Crumbie. Joining them are their immediate family members, who will experience first-hand the harsh life in a deserted island, only relying on survival instincts to stay in the game.

The new season of ‘Survivor’ is being aired in the Philippines on the cable network Jack TV every Thursday afternoon, beginning with an airing of the previous episode before the airing of the latest episode. As with every season, expect a whole lot of alliances, mind games, betrayals and tears throughout every episode.