"Every single day without fail, dump truck ang sinasakyan namin! Aam mo yun sa umpisa parang fun and, after a while, sobrang sanay na, nakaupo sa dump truck ‘tapos uulan ng malakas, wala namang bubong ‘yon! We survived the storms.
"We survived eating just three small meals a day. Na-survive namin yung gutom, malayong lakad... Alam mo there are times that we have to walk about a kilometer from the shore or to get to the shore kasi ang baba ng tide, buhat-buhat mo yung equipment... It was just a group effort.
"There were times naman in the early part na I was testing all the challenges to make sure na safe sila [castaways]. I had to because responsibility ko rin as a host to make sure that... Although hindi mo tinatanggal yung lahat ng mga danger aspects of a challenge, kailangan masasagot mo yung question na, ‘What if?' There are so many things that are going on in your head habang ginagawa mo yung whole thing, e.
"Of course, nandun din yung every Sunday, nagba-Bible study kami dun. Mahalagang-mahalaga yun because you're in a foreign land, you're in an island na, you know, kailangan you have to cling into something, e. A lot of us became more prayerful when we were there, a lot of us became more open to one another. I would lead the group, I would read scriptures," narrates Paolo.
A SIMPLE LIFE. Personally, Paolo considers his experiences in Survivor Philippines priceless.
"It did me a lot of good for me, personally," he says. "As an individual, dun ko na-realize na sobrang simple ng buhay and if I could share this experience with as many people as possible, I would. For them to realize na sobrang simple ng buhay.
"Oo, may mga problema tayo. Oo, may mga problema ako. I call it as force stillness, e, na you're there 45 days, you have no choice. You have issues to handle here in the country, but you cannot take care of it there. So you're forced na pause muna ang buhay, let's finish Survivor."
VERY PROUD OF SURVIVOR PHILIPPINES. Needless to say, epectations for Survivor Philippines is so huge because the Survivor franchise is very popular in different parts of the world. But will Survivor Philippines be at par with Survivor U.S.?
"In terms of budget, no," admits Paolo. "But the castaways did not let us down. The unpredictability of the game is there. The stickiness factor is there, yung parang you wanna know what happened, e. Ito yung tipo ng show na yung sa water cooler na nag-uusap-usap yung mga officemates, ito yun. There's a little something for everybody."
He adds, "Alam mo, ang pinaka-proud kami, aside from the short preparation time na na-pull off namin ito lahat-lahat, nung pumunta yung Castaway Productions doon sa Thailand at nakita kung paano kami magtrabaho.
"Number one, sobra siyang happy with how smoothly things are going. Number two, ‘No question about the second season, you have our vote,' parang ganun. Number three, there are innovations that we introduced to the show that they want to introduce worldwide. Number four, sabi niya to me personally na compared to the other [Survivor] hosts worldwide, ako yung pinakamalapit kay Jeff [Probst of Survivor U.S.] in terms of I'm on top of everything, I wanna know each and every nuance of the game, of the show. For that, sobrang lahat ng pagod na mararamdaman, lahat ng insect bites, sulit lahat!"
Is he a fan of Survivor?
"I've been a fan ever since," replies Paolo. "Lalong-lalo na when I found out I got this job, kasi parang ito yung dream role mo, e, ito yung dream job mo, e. After Extra Challenge, where else will you go, di ba? Here's something that was given to me that's much, much bigger than that. So much bigger talaga."
Survivor Philippines will start airing on September 15 in GMA-7 after Ako Si Kim Samsoon.
