The Pinoy Big Brother (PBB): Collab will immediately be followed by another edition before the year ends, the franchise announced, but can it sustain the magic of the historic first Celebrity edition?
“Pinaghahandaan na ni Kuya ang susunod na PBB: Collab this year,” main host Bianca Gonzalez announced during the Big Night on Saturday, July 5. (Big Brother is already preparing for the next PBB: Collab this year.)
The ex-housemates of the PBB: Celebrity Collab edition have had no rest from engagements since the big night on Saturday, with one-half of the duo winner Mika Salamanca of GMA saying on Monday, July 7, she has gotten only three hours of sleep since then.
Mika and her big winner duo Brent Manalo of ABS-CBN hopped from ABS-CBN noontime show Showtime to GMA News primetime newscast 24 Oras on Monday, and went straight to an after party with the rest of the ex-housemates and PBB crew.
All of these activities were shared in many snippets that have gone viral in less than 24 hours — from TikTok trends to paparazzi footage, and even a CCTV-type livestream of the house where only sounds of the housemates singing karaoke can be heard. It is indicative of the high demand to consume more of them in the outside world, setting high expectations for the next edition.
This edition was already no easy task. ABS-CBN and GMA had to experiment how to level up their collaboration, and innovate ways to bring content to an already saturated space. The show also had to secure its earnings to make an expensive 24-hour reality production a wise business decision.
They had to do all that under the scrutinizing watch of a smarter — and harsher — audience.
The result was media magic that pulled in casual viewers. “Very wonderful season, one of our most successful,” Marcus Vinuya, the business unit head behind PBB, said over Gonzalez’s online show Paano Ba ‘To? streamed Monday night.
Duo magic
PBB is now running for 20 years, with a total of 18 editions, 17 of which were exclusively under ABS-CBN, the franchise holder of Big Brother.
While a duo edition has been done in other countries, for example in Spain where the franchise brought in lovers or ex lovers, the Philippine edition experimented with duos that have no connection to each other.
“I also honestly had like my reservations na parang (like), oh my gosh, how’s it gonna work? Kasi parang hindi naman sila magkaano-ano (because they are not related to each other), and then the shift, but it brought such an unexpected flavor that I personally love,” said Gonzalez.
This duo experiment was tried first for a celebrity edition where 10 housemates are Kapamilya (ABS-CBN) celebrities and the other 10 are Kapuso (GMA). It ensured equal chance for both networks, whose fans — or some of them — still bicker online over which is the better star-maker, despite partnering up years ago due to ABS-CBN’s shutdown. The edition was aired on both networks’ channels, whether on air or online.
“It could not have been the most perfect time to do the duo would be this season [because] it made sense,” said Vinuya.
The format gave birth to viral pairings, whether they are of friendships like GMA’s new artist Shuvee Etrata and ABS-CBN’s veteran singer Klarisse de Guzman or “Shukla” for example, or of loveteams like the reel-to-real tropes of Kapamilya artist Bianca de Vera and her two Kapuso men Will Ashley and Dustin Yu (“Willca” and “Dustbia”).
Big winners Brent and Mika, also known as “BreKa,” had a cult following pining for them to become an item. They broke their fans’ hearts by saying before the big night that they were “platonic” friends who even “cringe when we become sweet to each other,” but they have since learned to embrace their duo’s charm.
On Fast Talk with Boy Abunda on Monday, Mika and Brent said they were both not ready to fall in love, but gestured that they were keeping each other at “arms’ length,” still far but close enough, when it comes to the prospect of dating each other.
Fandoms: Their love and rage
The decision to bring in celebrities for a first duo edition had its many pros and cons. On the good side, these celebrities and influencers were bringing in their fans to the show. Some of them, like content creator Esnyr, already had millions of following before joining PBB.
They were also bringing in their baggage, and the haters they gained along the way. Mika, for example, had been a constant target of bashing as a YouTuber. Klarisse, a product of singing competition The Voice, said she was used to always losing, as she’d been told she has no mass appeal.
This edition aired in the era of para-social relationships of fans with their idols, and that played up so intensely in the most ugly ways in the almost four months that it aired. Even personalities like Kapamilya superstar Vice Ganda, and Kapuso journalist Kara David, were not spared of bashing whenever they publicly expressed their preferences.
PBB had to constantly put out statements that “we do not tolerate any actions that harm the safety of our Housemates.”
“[It’s harder] for even the loved ones, kasi ‘di ba I would think ‘nung mga season niyo hindi pa siyempre hindi expose ‘yung mga pamilya niyo sa hate,” Vinuya told Gonzalez. “Pero ngayon kasi, like even like we have to also think about the loved ones of the housemates, kasi they are the ones na nasa labas eh. At sila yung for sure nakakabasa and even sila minsan na naapektuhan at tinitira ng bashing. So yeah, it’s really complicated now to manage that.“
(It’s harder even for the loved ones, because I would think in your season, your families were not exposed to hate. But now, we have to also think about the loved ones of the housemates, because they’re the ones who are outside. They are the ones who, for sure, can read those and they are the ones affected and become the target of bashing. So yeah, it’s really complicated now to manage that.)
Gonzalez, who was a housemate herself in the first celebrity edition of PBB way back in 2005, said she would not have gone in to the house if social media was as big then as it is now.
“Thank God wala pang social media nung naging housemate ako. So I think definitely harder for the housemate because again grabe nga yung bashing. Grabe din yung pagmamahal and fandom and show of support pero grabe yung hate. And I would say actually it’s a bit, hindi naman easier, but it helps the show because so many people are promoting the show on their social media,” said Gonzalez.
(Thank God there was no social media when I was a housemate. So I think definitely harder for the housemate, because the bashing is so intense. But the love and fandom and show of support is also as intense as the hate. And I would say actually it’s a bit, not easier, but it helps the show because so many people are promoting the show on their social media.)
Kuya and Maya are the winner
The biggest criticism against the show this edition is its voting mechanics. They partnered up with Maya where fans can vote through the app’s wallet. Each account can vote a total of 30 times per day, but the amount of money they can spend with per vote varies a lot — from P10 to P500.
This brought out heated discussions of whether wealthy housemates, their families, or their fans can buy their way into the big night. Imagine, a duo with a million of fans who can only vote the minimum amount, will lose to a duo with only 100,000 fans who can vote the maximum amount.
“I think it’s Maya,” Klarisse joked in one interview, when asked who the winner should be. Klarisse and Shuvee made it to the final duo stage, but were evicted on June 14, upsetting many of their fans.
Suddenly, a reality show of celebrities became the center of class discussions online. PBB responded by suspending voting and letting the housemates complete a task to become part of the Big 4. But when it came to choosing the big winner out of the four duos, PBB made the voting unlimited, both to save and evict.
“Definitely we listen [to opinions on social media]. Siguro in the 20 years, we were able na to discern ano comments that we will listen to and those talaga na parang ano talagang hindi-hindi natin to pwedeng gawin,” said Vinuya.
(Definitely we listen. Maybe in the 20 years, we were able to discern which comments we will listen to and which are the ones that we really cannot do.)
Apart from the earnings through votings, each night’s episode also devoted segment buys where housemates do a task specifically for that brand. Commercials aired within episodes more than the sly product placements — these were explicit and in-your-face promotions.
ABS-CBN, since being shut down and put off the air by the Duterte government, has to work double time to recover its earnings, otherwise it would be cornered to make painful decisions like retrenchment and buy-outs.
Asked if PBB would ever do away with the voting, and let the housemates strategize their way to winning, Vinuya said it’s not in the Filipinos’ culture to scheme. PBB does not allow housemates to discuss nominations.
“Culture kasi siguro ng Pilipino na hindi tayo ganon, na like siguro the moment that we bank on scheming, strategy, and like backstabbing that’s really Western that’s really BBUS (Big Brother US} or like Survivor USA. Dito, it might not work,” said Vinuya.
(Filipinos’ culture is not like that, that maybe the moment that we bank on scheming, strategy and backstabbing, that’s really Western, that’s really Big Brother US or like Survivor USA. Here, it might not work.)
What happens next?
The media culture around this edition follows an already tested formula of letting personalities become unhinged on their social media channels. This is the age of livestreaming and vlogging, and ensuring that the subsequent edits of those are not only flattering to you, but puts you on as many peoples’ algorithm for as long as possible.
While that is a nightmare to news media, it opened many opportunities for entertainment media. The cult following also translated to profit opportunities. While news media is very limited with models such as paywalls and subscriptions, entertainers can nurture followers who have purchasing power — those who can buy their merchandise, ticket to their shows in-person or online, and even those who can spend for TikTok gifts.
Gone are the days of overtly manufactured image of celebrities. Even the superstars have their own vlog channels now.
That’s what the housemates and their managements will navigate in the outside world. For the extroverts, it’s gonna be more fun. We’re already seeing Will Ashley pining for a hangout with P-Pop girl group BINI, and when it happens, that’s gonna provide weeks’ worth of content for their combined fans.
For the introverts, they have a lot to adjust to. Brent, a self-proclaimed introvert, said he needs to debrief with Mika. But winning despite often isolating himself inside the house, Brent proves that “there’s power in silence.”
Mika, who has previously spoken publicly about her bouts with depression, said her victory was unexpected and that she’s just thankful to be able to “reintroduce myself.”
Vinuya said that each successful edition is due in large to an excellent cast. Gonzalez said the efforts of everyone in the production team are “a huge part of the 20 years of magic.” Can they sustain it? – Rappler.com
Content shared from www.rappler.com.