Wowowee, Luningning, Milagring

Tags: Philippines

Wowowee Host Willie Revilliame

Wowowee co-host Mariel Rodriguez

When Willie shouts "Pasok Luninging!"
Its time for her to do her stuff

Luningning and Milagring head the dancers for
the answer Blue (Asul) - "None of the above"

Images courtesy of Manokan

Wowowee is the noon time entertainment and game show aired on The Filipino Channel (TFC) in the Philippines. The show is hosted by Willie Revillame and co-hosts Mariel Rodriguez and Roxanne Guinoo. Until recently Janelle Jamer was a co-host but while I was in the Philippines she left the show in a very emotional segment where Mariel cried out the show's name as she invited viewers to return to Wowowee after the break.

The show is a mix of entertainment and various games and quizzes in which the studio audience take part. In fact audience participation seems central to the show's appeal with lots of dancing, singing and short and often heart warming interviews and messages to family. Named after their manager and choreographer Anna Santos Feliciano, the the stunning ASF Dancers perform throughout, bringing colour and glamour to the show, and some, such as Luningning (aka Lea Carla Santos) and Milagring (aka Danna De Castro) are household names.

Update: checkout the Luningning, Milagring and Mariposa interview video!

The show is almost entirely in the native language of the Philippines, Tagalog (pronouned ta-gar-log), but occasionally some questions are posed asking for English words (or the Tagalog for an English word).

At the beginning of the show the ASF Dancers do their thing as Willie enters and sings the Wowowee theme tune along with the co-hosts and audience. Shortly after some camerardary between Willie and Mariel and Roxanne comes Da Da Da, Do Do Do Do, where Willie picks 10 contestants based on their dancing to the tune. This part is real fun to watch as young and old are asked to do the dance, then repeat it, but 'sexy'. Previously potential contestants were asked to do a another dance, Boom Tarat Tarat, which I have tried on occasion!

The contestants then go on to play a variety of quizzes and games which I understand in part, but could not hope to fully explain.

• Willie of Fortune
• Questune - like Name That Tune
• Sinong Kumanta Ng Kantang 'To? (Who Sang This Song?)
• Bigat 10 (Big 10)
• Pasalog (Pass and Shake)
• The Ultimate Pera o Bayong (Money or Bag)

source of this list: Wikipedia

Sponsorship plays a big part in the show and the ASF Dancers are always at hand, wiggling their bodies while holding or showing the sponsored products.

One of my favourite sections is Pasalog where dancer Luningning brings out a beach ball with compartments containing two dice. The ball is then shaken, often by throwing it into the audience and having it passed around, after which its returned to Luningning who frantically dances while holding it and pounds it down on a plinth with a crashing sound effect. The compartments are then opened revealing the dice and the so the prizes won.

Part 1 of The Ultimate Pera O Bayong is perhaps my favourite part of the show and is great for helping learn some basic tagalog words for some colours. Contestants have to move to an area denoted by colour which corresponds to the possible answer to a question. Its kind of multiple choice. The colours are Berde (Green), Pula (Red), Dilaw (Yellow) and Asul (Blue) which is used for none of the above. A group of the dancers are assigned to each answer, do a quick dance and shout their colour's answer in unison, cutely raising their pitch on the last word.

I'm a little unsure of the rules in part two, except that usually Milagring brings in a prize box which a contestant decides whether to take over a cash prize. Willie shouts Pera O Bayong and the contestant says "Pera", upon which the contestant takes the cash reward - or "Bayong" where Willie may increase the cash reward or reveal the prize.

The whole show is great fun, very glitzy and glamarous, rewarding lucky contestants with prizes that could really change their lives. It also brings together Filipinos across the world watching on various cable and satellite services.

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