Big Kuya Is Here

Kuya is a Filipino word for an older brother. English does not have an equivalent term for an older brother. Big Brother is not technically equivalent to Kuya since a Kuya can be smaller than you. If that is the case, then it's proper to say small Kuya. Anyway, class, this is not what I would be talking about.

I haven’t seen a single episode of the so-called popular Reality TV game series Big Brother from foreign countries. And now, local TV station ABS-CBN has officially launched its Filipino version (bought rights) of Big Brother yesterday complete with pompous street dancing and a drum and bugle band that could rival any street fiestas.

It’s too early for any assessment as to how successful the show will be, though some people are already dismissing it as will not hold much interest to viewers here (Why? Could it be that the show did not field any popular stars that the masa only watches and idolize?) Only time will tell.

Here’s a drill-down of the participants in the show:

• a bodybuilder who worked as entertainer in Japan


• a sexy vamp


• a Batangueño father *


• a corporate worker cum Corp commander


• an ex-councilor candidate


• a liberated cheerleader


• a bombshell men’s magazine model


• a self-confessed badboy now trying to be good


• a teacher from the province *


• a half-Filipino, half-Israeli contestant


• an ex-OFW, single mother


• a self-confessed jologs father

I marked with asterisks at those contestants who I am rooting for (two to be exact) now. I like underdogs in most Reality contest shows – the way these two presented themselves before the viewers (and during their short video clips) without any air of boastfulness and plain naturalness in the way they talked and acted made big impressions for me to develop an instant affinity towards them. I am not saying that the others are completely negative in character. Those are my initial impressions. Impressions may have lasting effects and yet people can always redeem themselves in the end through display of some hidden good qualities that are not shown initially. As I have said, it’s too early for any true evaluation.

It’s interesting as how things would develop among these complete strangers and how each would interact with one another (interesting to note how our strict MTRCB (Movie and Television Review and classification Board) would handle censorship of scenes deemed too risqué for broadcasting). And just like other Reality contest shows with eventual voting systems for elimination, we would be expecting much backstabbing and friendships/relationships tearing apart. For the contestants, it’s a known and sure-fire way to survive such a contest: form alliances. Think Survivor style here, but this time in a well-kept house environment.

There’s nothing new here, except Filipinos are the contestants. Game n k y sila? (Are they game?)