PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal) and other select members of the entertainment press were invited by GMA-7 to personally witness the 8th leg of the auditions for the second season of the hit reality show Survivor Philippines. The auditions were held yesterday, March 28, at SM North EDSA in Quezon City.
After an exotic lunch at The Banana Leaf restaurant, we were escorted to the 5th level parking area in The Block where the first level of auditions was being held. A long line of hopefuls patiently awaited their turn for the first interview.
Those who made it in the first level were asked to proceed to the Entertainment Center of SM North EDSA for the second-level audition, where a panel—composed of SP host Paolo Bediones, program manager Neil Gumban; former castaways Charise Yacapin, Veronica Domingo, Jace Flores, and first Pinoy Sole Survivor JC Tiuseco—would interview them. Each batch was composed of 10 hopefuls.
Those who passed the second level will then be asked to return for the third level until they reach the fifth and final level. Four hundred hopefuls will be chosen among the thousands who auditioned nationwide. Out of 400 hopefuls, only 16 or 18 will compose the castaways of the second season of Survivor Philippines.
The second Pinoy Sole Survivor will win three-million pesos in cash, tax-free.
NEW CASTAWAYS. During the lunch break at Banana Leaf resto, PEP was able to talk to Paolo Bediones about the audition process and the second season of Survivor Philippines.
Paolo stressed that what they are looking for this season are not copycats of the castaways from Season 1.
He said, "Ang lagi naming sinasabi sa auditions, 'We're not looking for another Zita, another JC, another Chris, another Marlon. We are looking for [new people]... Ganun yung dapat, na yung sarili mo. Yung importante is that yung peg na meron, hiwalay tayo do'n. Tapos na yung first season peg, e. Yun na 'yon. Second-season peg, show me new people, show me new personality, show me more people interested in strategy."
Were there any standouts among those who auditioned so far this second season?
"Bilang na bilang," Paolo admitted. "This season, we're expecting less people to audition. Because now, they've seen kung anong hirap, e.
"Some of them [the standouts] are at a certain age na. They're not exactly young but they're not too old. Personality-wise, all those standouts, you can put them in one corner and ask them to talk and they won't stop talking. That's what we need, e, kasi auditory-visual medium 'to, e. Kung hindi ka magsasalita, paano ka makikipag-alyansa?
"Although there are others naman na standout in terms of, kunyari sobrang moody, susungitan kami sa audition, 'Puwede 'to.' Pero kung yun lang ang ipapakita mo... For example, there are a lot of gays, pero how are you gonna be different from the stereotypical, scream, whatever, or kikay gay? Dapat ganun ka, ganyan ang outright personality mo, what more can you add in terms of strategy, in terms of how the game will be played, in terms of your environment? Are you gonna shake it up? Kung ganun ang personality mo, maiirita yung mga lalake sa camp. Tsugi ka na, tanggal ka na. So dapat, pag may ganyan kang personality, dapat merong come-on sa tribemates mo to keep you there."
Apparently, there are hopefuls who think that the best way to get in is to top or copy the strategy of the first castaways. Paolo shared to PEP this conversation between the aspirant and the SP panel:
"Sabi niya, 'Ako, hihigitan ko yung ginawa ni Marlon!'
"'So, paano mo hihigitan?'
"'Hihigitan ko.'
"'Oo nga, paano mo hihigitan?'
"'Basta yung strategy na ginawa ni Marlon. Yung ginawa niyang pang-iinis at ginawa niyang alyansa, hihigitan ko 'yon.'
"'Specific ka nga, paano mo hihigitan? Ano ang hihigitan mo?'
"'Yung ano, yung pagluto niya!'"
"Naubusan na lang, he has run out of gas, and decided, ' Wala akong maisagot,'" Paolo said with a laugh.
THE PRESSURE IS ON. The Season 1 of Survivor Philippines was so successful that barely three months after the finale of the hit reality show, the audition for the second season has already begun. This is why, according to Paolo, the pressure this second season is greater than the first.
"Kasi in the first one, the pressure was to make it work, to make something that the people said was impossible, to show na it's possible. Now that we've shown that it's possible and that we can rate, itong second season, not only that we have to bring it, we have to like really let it all out in terms of choosing the castaways na dapat very... Yung mga choices namin, very risky, e. There is a conscious effort to veer away from personalities of the first season," explained Paolo.
Also proof of the success of the Philippine franchise of Survivor was the go signal of Castaway Productions, creator of Survivor, for a second season.
"Dun pa lang sa Koh Tarutao [location of the first season]... Second season, there's no doubt about it. You know, we didn't even have to talk about that. So, the ball's in your network's court, parang ganun. They saw how smooth it was, e.
"What impressed them was what usually takes nine months of preparation, we did in four [months]. And we did it again this time... Everything's more or less set na, we're just waiting for the castaways to be chosen, check out their passports kung ready na, and we fly out first week, second week of May... So, kung bibilangin mo, technically in a year, you can have two seasons."
A MEANER PAOLO. In the first season of Survivor Philippines, the viewers saw a very serious and somewhat mean Paolo. Does he plan to change his style of hosting this second season?
"For the second season, I'm gonna change it," he said. "I'm gonna become a little more mean. I'm gonna add more humor. Kasi parang feeling ko sa first, they wanted... Julia [Dick, consultant of Castaway Productions] wanted to see muna if I can do the job bago ko ipasok yung humor. And when she saw naman that during Tribal Council may mga in-inject akong patawa, dun niya na nakita iba pala yung Pinoy audience, they actually appreciate that kind of humor.
"Sa akin, there's a little sarcasm, but there's more of Pinoy humor na parang.... Di naman kengkoy na hindi ka na seseryosohin. Like yung time na nakalublob yung [castaways] for the challenge, yung patagalan sa ilalim ng tubig? Tapos may umahon and I said something like, 'O, sino 'yon?' You know, it's a simple statement but they found it really funny. You know, it's very candid, very natural.
"I think that's what they appreciate na you call out things that there are right there, and they get to react. So it's more conducive na ilabas mo yung personality mo, not only on my part but also on their [castaways] part. Kasi, they're looking for a stress reliever, e. Sobra silang gutom and everything, tapos magpatawa ka, makakalimutan nila sandali. And that's very Pinoy, na humor is used to mask hunger, pain, inis, loneliness..."
THE INNOVATIONS. What are the innovations that they will introduce this second season?
Paolo said, "Without being too specific, some of the innovations, we'll make camp life harder for them. Because they have a more or less idea of, 'Ay, ito yung gagawin namin.'
"Excited ako sa challenges kasi the ones they did were tried and tested worldwide. The second season batch would do the ones we came up with. We conceptualized our own challenges... All of them, except may mga standards—storytelling, auction, second chances which is actually the combination of the previous ones, tapos yung car challenge.
"During JC's time," he continued, "yung car challenge, dapat... At a certain point, yung budget namin flew out the window like, 'Oh my God!' Dapat may car, e, dapat mamimigay kami ng kotse. Endanger pa 'yon nawala."
Pinoy Sole Survivor JC Tiuseco won a Honda Civic in one of the challenges, after choosing a car over Immunity.
THE LOCATION. Without mentioning exactly where, Paolo said that the location of the second season of Survivor Philippines would be somewhere between South America and South Africa.
Is it farther than Thailand?
"Hindi ko alam yung distance," Paolo answered. "This one, where we're going, pagdating dun, konting travel na lang. Not like Thailand, my golly! Ang haba ng biyahe namin! We land in Bangkok, you take a plane ride to Phuket, then you take a five-six hours ride to Pakbara. From Pakbara, you take a long ride to the island.
Who chooses the location?
"There's a team in charge of the ocular and negotiating with a local film partner."
Can they use locations already used by other Survivor franchises?
"Oo," Paolo answered. "Like Koh Tarutao, where we were in Thailand, that was the exact same island that they used [in Survivor Thailand]. Except like yung Jarakay camp was actually a challenge area. Yung challenge area sa amin, it was a camp for one of their tribes. Same island, iba-iba yung gamit lang."
Paolo reiterated that they cannot use an island here in the Philippines as location since it is in the Survivor agreement that any Survivor franchise has to shoot in other countries. This is despite the many ideal beaches around the Philippines. But other Survivor franchise actually used some of the islands in the Philippines as their location—like Caramoan Island for Survivor France, Turkey, etc.; and Palawan for Survivor France.
"That's good for the local industry," he quipped. "Not so much for the Philippines in general, in the long term maybe, yeah. Hopefully a lot of these areas will learn from that, e. Hopefully, a lot of government units will learn from that CamSur experience na puwede pala, campaign-campaign na lang 'yan—Philippines to be a hub for Survivor."
Survivor Philippines Season 2 is slated to start airing in July on GMA-7.