Michael Carandang: Proud Pinoy in American TV

Pinoys were beaming with pride when the gorgeous designs of Dubai-based Filipino designer Michael Cinco were featured in a challenge in Cycle 16 of America’s Next Top Model (AMTM). Soon after, LA-based Pinoy designer Oliver Tolentino, retail giant Bench, and locally based Francis Libiran were also featured on the hit reality show.

The very man responsible for introducing Filipino talent to the world via Tyra Banks’ model search is an Emmy Award-winning Pinoy producer who was once an OJT in the now-defunct noontime show MTB.

Here are ten things you should know about Michael Carandang:

1. He got rejected when he initially proposed to feature the designs of Michael Cinco on ANTM, but just had to keep trying until the concept was right for Filipino talent.

“If I’m going to pitch a Filipino designer then it better be an outstanding designer,” Mike says. He started his post as a producer on Cycle 15 of ANTM (taking one step down from his show producer position to associate producer because “It was the only thing open and I wanted that job”) and when he pitched Cinco’s designs, the group said it looked good but it was not fit for the show.

With Bench owner, Ben Chan

and Oying Carandang, holding the Emmy Award I gave them.”

“You don’t give up at the first no; as a producer, you have to think of other ways,” he shares. Until Cycle 16 came and a photo shoot at a dumpsite was lined up. The production was worried that no designer would lend their clothes for fear of smelling, staining, and getting destroyed, and that’s when Mike said, “I bet you I can get somebody who can do couture and eco-friendly or whatever we want to do for the show.” Cinco went on to do the highly anticipated finale show of the 17th Cycle for the ANTM All-Stars.

2. Mike’s first experience of production was when he was an OJT for noontime show MTB, then he went on to work his way up the ranks from production assistant to producer at The Jerry Springer Show.

His family did not have TFC (it was too expensive) but they got to watch local shows like MTB and ASAP by renting VHS tapes at the Filipino store. He came home specifically to experience TV production in Manila, having taken up Telecommunications at Indiana University. When he went back to the US, he sent his resume to The Jerry Springer show (“I would skip school to watch Jerry!”) and in a short span of time went from entry level to producing a whole episode. He says he wasn’t always good in telling stories and speaking publicly, but it was in The Jerry Springer Show that he “learned how to communicate and how to listen.” The most bizarre story they featured? “One woman was married and pregnant, and her husband was sleeping with her mother, and was also sleeping with the sister. The sister had a boyfriend and was pregnant and they didn’t know who the father is. Crazy family story!” He clarifies that none of the stories are made up, they are all real. 

“This is a photo of my parents, Imel and Oying Carandang, holding the Emmy Award I gave them.”

3. On the biggest struggles of young Filipinos growing up abroad: “It’s finding your own identity and being proud of your heritage, and it’s hard because all you want is for people to like you.”

Mike was 13 when his family moved from Tanauan, Batangas to Indiana, USA. He says that back then his only impression of America was what he saw on TV, which for him looked like a Malibu paradise where everybody was beautiful and friendly. “You get there and you forget that they don’t look like you, you think that they’re going to embrace you, they’ll welcome you but they don’t know how to react to you because you’re completely different from them,” he recalls.

He says that he would never admit it at that time, but now he openly shares, “I hated the fact that I wasn’t white, I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone was white. I was treated differently.” He would attend events of the Filipino community but would never really socialize with them, and when out in public places he would rather stand with a group of Americans rather than with a group of Asians because he “didn’t want to stand out that way.” He wanted to fit in but at the same time understand what being Filipino means, and says, “I realized you shouldn’t care what other people think.”

So when was the turning point that he became proud to be Pinoy? “You know what helped me was coming out. I felt what it feels to be loved for who I am.”

4. His advice to those who want to come out about being gay: “Don’t come out just to come out. I came out when I was ready and because I had a purpose, because I felt so complete and happy.”

As soon as he had his first relationship, he decided to tell his family he was gay. He was 17 then. His initial fear was that the only image of gays when he was growing up was that of the parlorista, and he was sure he didn’t want to dress up as a girl. He says that younger Pinoys now are lucky because they have the likes of Boy Abunda and Vice Ganda to look up to, which he didn’t have when he was growing up. He also had this fear that he would live to meet other people’s expectations of him, that he would marry a woman, have kids, but eventually cheat on his wife… with a man. He did not want that. He dated girls but never had any serious girlfriend. When he had his first boyfriend, he says, “It made my future positive, I was ecstatic, I can have a full life!” 

Mike says that you need to be strong enough and prepared to “come out,” because you will need to face all the obstacles that may come your way. “The one thing you cannot have is shame. For me, to come out and for my family to accept me for who I am, hindi pwedeng may kahit isang bahid ng kahihiyan,” he opens up. He says that if the people that surround you love you, they will eventually learn to accept it and be happy for you because you are happy. “If you live in the closet and you live in fear of everyone, you’re only doing injustice to yourself.”

Designer Francis Libiran visiting The Tyra Show office in New York City

5. Mike Carandang in numbers:

3.08: weight in kilograms that their Emmy award weighs. Mike and his The Tyra Show colleagues won the 2008 to 2009 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show. “I felt that all the hard work, late nights in the office, and missed family events paid off.”

168: hours it takes to prepare for one episode of The Tyra Show. “And I need every minute of it.”

5: number of magazines in a collection he recently started: signed copies of covers that he values.

12: times he has been home to the Philippines since he moved to the US in 1993.

18: hours of television he watches when he has no work and is just home. 

6. People have told Mike that he is an inspiration and that his family must be so proud, but the real hero for him is his brother Ace, the soldier. 

Mike is the eldest of three siblings, his sister Michelle is a nurse and his brother Aurelio Jr. a Purple Heart hero. His brother went through difficult times in his life and “needed something to save him,” which was when he signed up for the military. “Obviously, we never expected that we were going to war,” he says of probably the toughest time his family had to go through. He remembers how the war brought his family closer together: praying every night, that feeling of not knowing when he was going to call, and being clueless of what was happening in Iraq. Ace was shot in his behind, but luckily he came home safe. “What’s really inspirational is what he’s done with his life. I’ve never reached the bottom, and he has. And he lived through that and survived. He’s a better person now, he’s a father and husband, and he’s the pride of our family.”

7. His secret to getting the job you want: “You have to show up. They have to fall in love with you.”

When I asked Mike what it is in his resume that gets him hired all the time, he humbly but assertively says, “It wasn’t the resume, it was my interview.” He doesn’t believe in phone interviews because he says that you have to sell your personality to the employer so that they would want to work with you. For The Tyra Show job, he flew himself to LA because as he says, “why would they fly me if they have thousands of aspiring producers in LA?” And for America’s Next Top Model, he also flew himself to New York just to do the interview. “The guy they were interviewing before me was the one they were going to hire,” he shares about his supposed five-minute interview that turned into 45 minutes. “I ended up getting the job because I showed up.”

With Tyson Beckford in Greece during the Modelland shoot for ANTM Cycle 17

8. On Tyra, Naomi, Andre, Nigel, and the big ANTM rumble:

Tyra Banks: “Its unfortunate that when you are a woman in power, things that you demand or things you expect out of people become a bitchy thing or become negative.” He says Tyra is genuinely nice, appreciates drive and passion, and once gave Mike a men’s jewelry case that was even personalized with his name. 

Andre Leon Talley: “Andre is funny! He’s larger than life. He is full of stories. He loves fashion, he loves beauty, and always says ‘the beauty of this, the beauty of that.’”

Nigel Barker: “Aside from being a good photographer, he’s a really good family man. When he’s with his wife and kids he becomes the real Nigel.”

On the recent ANTM shocker where Barker, along with art director Jay Manuel and runway coach Jay Alexander were let go by the 18-season show: “There would be a need at some point to make the show fresh for the viewers in order for the show to keep going. One way is to bring in new people and revamp the format of the show.”

9. He believes that the Filipino TV viewing audience needs more programs like The Bottomline and that the news ought to be presented in a more empowering way, rather than the shocking, controversial manner it is presented in now.

“The media is also responsible for why the rest of the country feels handicapped when it comes to getting out of poverty, they feel afraid of their own, with so many crimes happening,” he shares. He says that if there is one thing he has learned from working in media, is that whether it is negative or positive, it is the action of the news you put out that people remember. If he were to produce a news program, he would present it from the point of view of justice or of the victim, so that it build empathy and makes the viewer feel that there is something being done to stop the crimes. “Leave people with something they can hold on to that’s going to help them deal with that situation and be better,” he points out.

He holds programs like Boy Abunda’s The Bottomline in high regard for putting both celebrities and non-celebrities into the spotlight and giving inspiration or something that will start a conversation.

Shooting a pilot episode of Food Anatomy in Mexico with director, RD Alba

10. Once he feels he has learned all he could learn in a job is when he decides to move on to the next challenge. 

He plans to stay in Manila until around October (his longest stay ever since he migrated) because he felt that it was time to go for his dream. While others aspire to work in production abroad, he says, “I wanted to fulfill a dream and that is to come home.” He feels that for 10 years, he has produced for mainstream TV to connect to being Filipino, trying to put Filipinos in programs there. “But in my heart I just wanted to work here and to learn here,” he reveals. He did not resign from his producer position at ANTM, instead he said he was not available for Cycle 19. “Every job you have to have a purpose. And I feel like for now, I’ve lived my purpose there.”

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America’s Next Top Model Cycle 16 photo shoot at a dumpsite.

Mike is home because he is working on the Basco Balikbayan Project (a documentary following the accomplished Basco family’s return home), his RSVP talk show (to be aired on GMA Pinoy TV), and the 25 Years of Bench documentary. “I always believe the reason I am where I am now is I always come into a job wanting to learn,” the 32-year-old producer shares. While most dream of making the country proud in the international scene, Mike is going the other way around, with dreams of making the country proud by working here. Winning an Oscar is one of his biggest dreams. “If ever I will have a project to be recognized, I want it to be about the Philippines. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m sure I will find that here.”

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E-mail the author at askiamsuperbianca@yahoo.com and follow her on twitter @iamsuperbianca.