I was a talent show juror

I found myself in a very unusual situation last week. I was once again in front of the camera (the second time in a span of five days), but this time I wasn't doing any hawking of my polymer clay goods. This time, I became juror for Talentadong Pinoy, a reality show on TV.

Talentadong Pinoy is pretty much like America's Got Talent. Every episode eight contestants perform on stage for 90 seconds. If the three "talent scouts" (shown below) like their act, they move on to the next round. If the act was more of a nuisance than a performance, they get three big Xs, and the curtains close down on them. The jury scores the performances of those who got to round two, and whoever gets the highest score competes with the defending champ. Winner gets big bucks.


Never in my life did I see this coming. When I got the invite, I thought of declining, because frankly, what the heck do I know about judging a talent show? There isn't a single drop of talent on me. Ask the neighbors - they've heard me sing karaoke.

But it turned out that 8 individuals from different fields were being chosen, didn't matter if you were talented or not. I was chosen because I was a bead artist. Ok, maybe I've got that. So I figured, what the hey. I've got nothing to lose. Bring on the jugglers and Kenli singers.


That's me at the jury booth, sneaking a snapshot between takes. The disadvantage to being a cosmetics-dimwit is being at the mercy of the makeup artist. I ended up with weird makeup. Oh well.

I was chosen as foreman/chairman of the jury, so I got to hand the envelope of results from the jury to heartthrob host Ryan Agoncillo. For fear of pre-empting the show (it hasn't aired yet), this is all I'm going to say: choosing who becomes P50,000 (around $1,000) richer is like having your teeth pulled. Agonizing.

But all in all, it was such a fun experience, I'd do it all over again.

Here I am after the taping with talent scouts Arnel Ignacio and Cherry Pie Picache, and host Ryan Agoncillo.



The episode will air on Saturday, January 31 at 7pm on TV5. Thanks Ms. Rachel for inviting me, and for taking the celeb photos!