Meet the new PBB housemates

The Wild Child. The Princess of Charm. The Desirable Diva. The Lonely Dream Boy. The True Lover. The Mom in Distress.

Six, so far. Count ‘em.

In true Big Brother tradition, ABS-CBN last night welcomed with great fanfare six of the 13 new housemates of the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 (the first was won by Keanna Reeves who is slowly but surely self-destructing with her annoying habit of revealing which bagets actor she has gone or is going to bed with, her latest alleged “victim” being Jake Cuenca, the grandnephew of Manoling Morato).

Unlike in the first PBBCE  when the housemates (including Rustom Padilla who “outed” himself inside) arrived in an empty house and were forced to sleep on the floor during the first few days, the PBBCE2 batch will occupy a fully-furnished house in the next 10 weeks. Kuya’s house has a neo-classical-renaissance-inspired design fit for the divas that the 13 occupants are — from the elegant chairs and tables to the crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling to the murals of famous paintings by Boticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo adorning the walls. Bongga!

Some changes: A newly-installed outdoor jacuzzi in the garden will be the silent witness to backstabbing among the housemates and kilig moments...an open prayer area for some introspection and meditation... and a new room for bratty and disobedient housemates.

Meet the first batch of six (with the remaining seven housemates to be introduced one by one daily by Funfare which is the official and duly-accredited medium of the PBBCE2 “revelation”):

• BARON GEISLER, The Wild Child — Why would a guy brought up by a German military father and a disciplinarian Bicolana mother end up wounded in a bar fight and in a detox facility?

Find out for yourselves.

Baron was a little boy when he started his showbiz career in 1994 as a regular of the ABS-CBN kiddie show Ang TV. Soon after, he was launched as one of the network’s Star Circle (Batch 5), cast in such films as Koolits (with John Lloyd Cruz among his co-stars) and Tabing Ilog. He proved his acting mettle by winning the 2005 Best Single Performance by an Actor (given by the Philippine Movie Press Club) for an episode in Maalaala Mo Kaya (MKK). He did a star turn as the son of Vilma Santos in Star Cinema’s Anak.

In 2002, deeply affected by the death of his father (and the tragic fire that gutted the Geisler residence) and the slow progress of his career, Baron tried “to kill the pain” by drinking, leading to his confinement in a detox facility for 10 days. Recently, he landed in the news when he got involved in a brawl he denied having started.

•  MEGAN YOUNG, The Princess of Charm — Discovered by rival network GMA 7’s StarStruck, this statueque “beauty-queen type” is noted for jumping ober da bakod into ABS-CBN which promptly came up with a career plan to erase her initial “bitchy, bad-girl” image (resulting from her roles in GMA shows) by casting her as a “nice girl” in wholesome shows like the Ruffa Gutierrez-topbiller Kokey and Abt Ur Luv (Ur Lyf 2).

•  RIZA SANTOS, The Desirable Diva — Her parents, both engineers are immigrants to Canada, brought up Riza and her siblings the Filipino way — religious, conservative and respectful of the elderly. She confessed to having done “something stupid” only once and that was when, at 16, she sneaked out of the house to join her popular friends and sent her folks frantically looking for her. “My big sister slapped me and that kind of woke me up,” said Riza who represented Canada in the 2006 Miss Earth contest and landed on the cover of this month’s FHM mag issue.

Now the Philippines’ ambassadress to Canada, Riza is an achiever like most members of her family. Back in Canada, she joined the military working as a medic and is involved in charity, community service and other social-consciousness projects. She’s also a counsellor for a crisis pregnancy program. She vows to be chaste until her wedding night and she wears an “engagement ring” to seal her promise. (She has vehemently denied being the girlfriend of Mark Bautista.)

She’s determined to make a name in local showbiz as a singer.

• VICTOR BASA, The Lonely Dream Boy — He’s an artist, a photographer, music enthusiast and a sports man. At age 10, Victor discovered that he’s an illegitimate child (no wonder his father seldom stayed long at home). His family lived a comfortable life until his father died.

At 19, things changed when Victor was discovered in the Mega Designer’s Competition which became the launching pad of his modelling career. After a “debut” at the Cosmo mag’s bachelor’s bash, Victor appeared in TV commercials (Magic Flakes, Tropicana, Greenich, Pink Magazine and Penshoppe of which he’s an image model) and was signed up by the ABS-CBN Star Magic, launched last year as a member of the ASAP Coverboys and part of Star Magic Presents Abt Ur Luv.

•  WILL DEVAUGHN, The True Lover — Born to a pure German mother and a half-Filipino/part-Afro-American military man whom he never met, Will came to the Philippines to follow his Filipina girlfriend with whom he would soon break up. He decided to stay. Tall, dark and handome, Will didn’t find it hard to land in TV commercials (his first was the CloseUp “love train” shot at the MRT, followed by Skin White, Frenzy, Tropicana, Century Tuna, Kawasaki, Starwars Smart, Revicon ION and McDonald’s), magazine print ads and pictorials.

He has also done hosting stints for Men’s Room on Studio 23, White Castle Girl 2007, ION Event 2007 and CloseUp Lovapalooza 2007.

•  YAYO AGUILA, The Mom in Distress — Best remembered for the 1980s Viva landmark movie Bagets, Yayo (who was then 16) dropped out of showbiz when she married William Martinez (21) to devote full time to raising a family. She has stood behind and beside her husband through thick and thin, sticking to him especially during trying times such as when William got involved in a drug-related case. She is the classic “martyr” wife who is not ashamed of it.

Now that their children are fast growing up, Yayo has decided to resurface in showbiz, recently appearing in ABS-CBN shows like Pedro Penduko and Love Spell, and in a Star Cinema movie, Bcuz Of U (2004).

* * *

It’s confirmed: Grammy-nominated superstar Akon is coming for his first-ever concert in Manila on Nov. 29 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Dubbed as Akon – Live in Manila, the live musical experience will feature the superstar’s chart topping hits including Smack That, I Wanna Love You, Don’t Matter, Sorry Blame It On Me, Lonely, Shake Down, Mama Africa, Sweet Escape (duet with Gwen Stefani), and Bartender (collaboration with T-Pain).

These songs reveal a life full of color, controversy and lessons learned. The Senegalese-American R&B singer-songwriter doesn’t hide the fact that his time in detention has made him the man he is today. And that man has graduated from the school of hard knocks with flying colors.

Akon’s second album, Konvicted, following 2004’s Trouble, debuted at No.2 on Billboard 200, selling 286 copied on its first week. After six weeks, the album sold more than one million records in the US and more than 1.3 million copies worldwide. To date, it has sold more than 2.4 million records in the US and 3.8 million worldwide in only 30 weeks. This has also earned him as the only artist to ever hold the No.1 and No.2 spots simultaneously on the Billboard 100 charts twice!

The press has also been raving about Akon’s music.

According to the Los Angeles Times “And with his rich new album Konvicted, this graceful hybrider has solidified his vision, pointing the way for R&B to progress.”

The Dallas Morning Post: “Akon delivers… expect this performer to represent Senegal proudly for years to come.”

The Associated Press: “Akon’s strength: delivering hard-hitting street portraits with and R&B singer’s depth of emotion but with a rapper’s level of credibility.”

And the Boston Globe: “He has developed into an artist of vision and versatility”.

(Note: For ticket reservations and inquiries on the Akon – Live in Manila concert on Nov. 29 at the Araneta Coliseum, call SM TicketNet at 911-5555. For sponsorship interests, call the Akon Concert Hotline at 374-2222 or 374-9999.)

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