A search for the fiercest of them all

MANILA, Philippines - “When we stumbled on the idea of integrating a fantasy sub-story, it was really for the audience,” said director Martin Rey Aviles of The Fiercest of Them All, a new show premiering on March 5 at 9 p.m. and airing Sundays thereafter over GMA News TV.

Genre-wise, it breaks new ground as fantasy and “hyperreal” (fake “real” or something artificial as defined by others) interweaved with the unique concepts of America’s Next Top Model and Survivor (which belong to the reality TV category). Thus, The Fiercest of Them All doesn’t look for the fairest of them all, but for the fiercest of them all.

“The competition is for the girls and they go through it and they win and all that,” added Martin. “But what’s for the audience? So we decided to create a story around it that makes the audience even more excited or even makes their imagination work while they’re watching.”

In a recent presscon, the director enthusiastically gave everyone a heads-up on what to expect from the genre-busting show.

“(Host) Daiana (Menezes) plays a character of a queen, who is searching for the fiercest of them all,” said Martin. “There is a story. It just makes it more fun also for the audience, especially for the kids. We want not only to show this to grown-ups, we also want kids to be excited about it, (making them think) why is Daiana making them (the ladies) go through these challenges?”

Although the real interacts with the reel, Martin said the demarcation line between the two is clear. The audience can still follow the sometimes overlapping storylines.

“The story happens in Daiana’s world, the fantasy story,” shared Martin. “When she does the challenges with the girls, she’s like in their real world. She crosses worlds.”

At its core, The Fiercest of Them All is entertainment content but goes beyond its bounds, reflecting some Pinoy cultural realities.

“I think when I try to understand our reality, the Philippines, I try to represent it (in) the show,” Martin said. “So we know that as a culture, we’re very close to the mystical, we’re very close to our beliefs to the things that we believe in our minds. That’s what the show has. It’s not just all about the career of modeling and glamour and all that, but there’s two sides of the same coin.”

What will excite the televiewers is the surprise element in the story itself. “There’s a hidden narrative — hidden to the girls. Even the girls don’t know about it,” said Martin. 

The Fiercest of Them All is the director’s commentary on the reality TV genre.

“I think reality shows kind of lost that magic of reality,” he said. “I began as a documentary filmmaker. And (with that) I see drama all the time. But it’s not being presented in the TV shows well. So sayang because (it is) real. These people really go through (that).” According to him, it is the function of the filmmaker to tell it — to capture “truth” in the lenses of his camera from the lenses of his perspective.

“I’m trying to tell their story of what they are going through,” said Martin, who wanted to tell the wherefores of these women in entering the modeling world. “I bring out the drama, I bring out why they want the prize so bad. The way to do that is to try to keep everything as real and as surprising and as raw and capture it. What worked for us was to isolate these girls (for) long periods of time without them having to worry about taping days or other things. They had to block out their schedules. That’s why in the reality shows that we’ve seen, especially when you have celebrities, it’s difficult to have the same effect. Another thing that I think helps it is that we were not constrained to modeling only, ramp modeling like in the other shows, ang lawak ng mga challenges you can really target… You can test them emotionally, physically.”

As a host, Daiana Menezes joins the seven ladies of The Fiercest of Them All in the various challenges that pit them against each other and test their character. Eyeing the title are Betsy Ang Babaeng Maraming Mukha, Krisha Ang Mareng Nagiging Pareng Nagiging Bakla, Christine Beautiful with Heart, Aya Ang Hugotera, Peru Ang Animal, Tanya Push Lang Nang Push and Candice Ang Bidang Kontrabida. They are expected to bring their A game to win the nod of Matthias Rhoads, fitness trainer and model, Bea Jocom (stylist and fashion writer) and Doggficher (fashion designer), who make up The Fiercest of Them All’s squad of judges. The cast members went through auditions before making the final cut and casting.     

Direk Martin is bringing his experience in doing behind the scenes as well as his interest in people. “I got into advertising and also into the movies and TV shows like prank shows, which by the way should be defined as reality shows,” he said.

So a TV buff can’t wait how Martin and the rest of The Fiercest of Them All team will challenge the existing definition of reality TV — and the concept of being fierce.