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Willing Willie episode sparks criticisms ranging from "poor taste" to "child abuse"

by Mark Angelo Ching posted on March 28, 2011  STATS: 257905 Views | 367 Comments

 

Willie Revillame interviews a six-year-old contestant during the March 12 episode of Willing Willie. This particular segment of the TV5 variety primetime program prompted varied reactions from viewers who perceived it as no less than "child abuse."

Photo By: Screen grab from YouTube

A live episode of TV5's Willing Willie has sparked outrage and re-ignited a hate campaign against the program's host, Willie Revillame.

The March 12 episode of the primetime variety and game show featured a six-year-old boy performing a sexy dance multiple times, to the amusement of the studio audience. (CLICK HERE to watch the video.)

In Willie's words, the kid is acting like a "macho dancer"—or in local parlance, a male prostitute.

The name of the kid is Jan-Jan. His aunt, Jocelyn, accompanied him to Willing Willie's Novaliches studio.

This segment of the episode has been uploaded on YouTube, a video-sharing website, where it attracted a number of viewers. At press time, the video has been viewed 291,889 times.

Many video viewers have posted comments. The majority have commented that the segment was "done in poor taste." A number of others have gone so far as to call it "child abuse." There have been many posts of hurtful name-calling. The viewers who placed blame zeroed in on Willie and the boy's parents.

A few entertainment personalities have already weighed in with their opinions—including Lea Salonga, Jim Paredes, Bianca Gonzales, and Kat de Castro. All of them have said that the incident is nothing short of "child abuse."

TALENT PORTION. Willing Willie is a primetime variety and game show on TV5, aired Mondays to Saturdays. It carries a number of games that aims to amuse the audience and to send them home with attractive amounts of cash.

The main segment is called "Wiltime Bigtime." It pits six contestants with each other, each fitting a chosen theme for the day. The themes determine the set of contestants for the day, and can range from housewives to kids to soldiers to jobless men.

"Wiltime Bigtime" has two rounds: the elimination round "Kantanong" and the jackpot round "Spin a Wil."

Willie introduces the contestants one-by-one during "Kantanong." He also interviews all of them, with the end goal of having them reveal the story of their lives. The contestants are quite willing to share a great deal, too.

The contestants are also asked to show off a talent, which will earn them a cash reward. Willie decides how much money he will give a contestant, depending on the talent shown, crowd approval, and the host's own taste. Talents to be demonstrated can be anything: singing, dancing, acting, or even reciting a poem.

WILTIME BIGTIME. A boy called Jan-Jan was one of the contestants in the March 12 edition of "Wiltime Bigtime." All of the six contestants were children.

[Under this subhead, PEP summarizes the contents of the video from YouTube. The ten-minute video has been edited to include only segments featuring Jan-Jan.]

The small boy carried a blank face when he was called to the microphone. This prompted Willie to call Bonel Balingit, a formal basketball player, from the audience. The tall Bonel then stood beside the short Jan-Jan while Willie said, "Ano Jan? Suntukan, gusto mo? Parang naghahamon ka ng away!"

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367 Comments

  • 167  constantine

    03/29/2011 | 08:37 AM
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  • 166  0210bonie

    03/29/2011 | 08:33 AM
    anu kayat apo ni willy ang sumayaw ng ganyan sa tv habang umiiyak, what do you think would willy feel???im sorry , but i am just stating a point... that willy is irresponsible and insensitive to the feelings of a child... or he is just plain stup1d...
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  • 165  lilac0808

    03/29/2011 | 08:33 AM
    john, ganyan naman kayo mga haters di kayo marunong mag exchange ng kurot kuro, binabato niyo kaagad ng mga foul words ang sino man na nagtatanggol sa show ni Willie. Mas masahol pa nga mga haters ni Willie kay Willie kung tabas din lang ng dila pag uusapan.
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  • 164  lilac0808

    03/29/2011 | 08:30 AM
    manangdi, di kayo kasi nanonood kaya di niyo maiintindihan ang show ni Willie. Malinaw naman na gusto nang bata ang exposure sa tv. At malinaw ang sabi ng mga magulang na gustong mag artista ng bata kaya ganun at the age of 3 yan na ang panlaban niya na sayaw. At di naman siya naghuhubad , na masasabi mong malaswa na sayaw, katuwaan lang talaga iyong sa kanya at madami naman nag rerequest na sayawin niya yan.
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  • 163  LeightonMeisterrr

    03/29/2011 | 08:13 AM
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  • 162  manangdi

    03/29/2011 | 08:12 AM
    itatanong ko lang,bakit kaya sumali yong bata?dahil gusto nyang mag-artista or gusto nyang mapanalunan yong isinasabit ni Willie na premyo?is there a promise he will be acting?if you want to compare him to the young actors and actresses, yong mga yon, gusto nilang umarte,eh etong batang nagsayaw ng parang macho dancer, obviously di nya gusto ginagawa nya, i bet you,sinabi sa kanya bibigyan sya ng pera,it is the responsibility of the program director to decide if pinilit yong bata,at age appropriate yong talent ng bata bago isalang sa TV, ang hirap sa inyo,you have been desentisized that it is natural for children to work,it is not!tayo ang matatanda, tayo pa ang pasimuno,nakakatuwa ba yon?gumigiling yong bata?para bang tanong ng adult sa bata,anong gusto mong maging pag laki mo? macho dancer po,yon lang ba ang pangarap ng magulang at ni Willie Revillame sa lahat ng Filipino children?
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  • 161  JohnnyThor

    03/29/2011 | 08:12 AM
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  • 160  JohnnyThor

    03/29/2011 | 08:08 AM
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  • 159  JohnnyThor

    03/29/2011 | 08:06 AM
    lilaco808 kurtado din siguro ang utak mo tulad ng idol mo
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  • 158  lilac0808

    03/29/2011 | 07:54 AM
    tinapon? hahaha kaya pala naghahabol ang ABS kasi nagtapon sila ng ginto.
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  • 157  JohnnyThor

    03/29/2011 | 07:50 AM
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  • 156  chejhie

    03/29/2011 | 07:43 AM
    typo error... TALENT hindi taleng.
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  • 155  chejhie

    03/29/2011 | 07:42 AM
    hindi nman masama ung portion na un ng willing-willie. i saw it in youtube, wala nman akong nakitang masama. in fact, nakakatuwa pa nga tlaga ung bata kasi at that tender age eh ang galing niyang sumayaw. the blame shld be on the parents, kasi bkit nila tinuruan ng ganong sayaw. yung mga tao naman kaya nagtatawanan is natutuwa tlaga dun sa bata. walang masama dun sa portion, tlagang for entertainment lang tlaga. wala nman tayo magagawa kung un ung taleng nung bata. which he did real good nman.
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  • 154  lilac0808

    03/29/2011 | 07:23 AM
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  • 153  malaya2007

    03/29/2011 | 07:12 AM
    there is no happiness knowing that it is from others expense. Ok naman sana kung nagsayaw yung bata once kasi syempre di naman alam ng host ang sasayawin, but paulit ulitin me problema dyan.Umiiyak yung bata while dancing, nakakatawa ba para ipaulit? We can assume that the child is aware na medyo nakakahiya yung dance nya kaya sya umiiyak pero kelangan eh me pera pagkatapos. Kung talagang gustong tulungan e di sa unang sayaw pa lang tinulungan na si na pinaulit ulit. Kung indi child abuse yan e di child exploitation.
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  • 152  edsa2008

    03/29/2011 | 07:02 AM
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  • 151  Darlings

    03/29/2011 | 07:01 AM
    THIS IS SERIOUS CASE OF EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE OF A CHILD ON TV!!! ONLY TWISTED MORALLY BANKRUPT PEOPLE WILL EVER DEFEND THIS PERVERTED MONSTER FOR THIS SICKENING BEHAVIOR!!!!I HOPE THE CHILD GETS THE JUSTICE HE RIGHTFULLY DESERVES!!!!
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  • 150  popstar

    03/29/2011 | 07:00 AM
    The boy was crying because he was not happy! As simple as that. Give this innocent child his dignity back!! The adults are supposed to lead, not exploit innocent children. Willy and the relatives who allowed this boy to be placed in this situation for the sake of money should REALLY be ashamed of their behavior and condemned by all. Just because the audience laughed does not mean it is acceptable. I am sorry to say that Willy's viewers are all ignorant and without scruples.SHAME to anyone who thought this was entertaining. Sick!
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  • 149  prettydoc

    03/29/2011 | 06:30 AM
    Willie was the one who put a lot of malice in this boy's dance, he even compared him to a burlesk dancer who would do everything to make money for the family. He noticed him crying and he made fun of him too. Asking him to dance 5x to get more ridicule was the lowest point especially at the end of the show where he asked him to dance in a raise pedestal with sexy women and gays acting like they are watching a macho dancer with his gyrations. That is malicious and pure exploitation
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  • 148  jj4f

    03/29/2011 | 06:20 AM
    hala USAGURL, people read the article and the youtube video, kaya people are reacting, so how can you say that these people who leaves comments are watching the show? Negative comments about the host and the show are merely reactions for what is uploaded and written. Lots of youtube viewers and Pep readers saw that there's something wrong, mali ba ang pumuna at tawagin ang attention ng TV5 and the host? This is a lesson that each station should learn, ang pangalagaan ang kapakanan ng mga bata.
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