Pinoy Idol

In Showbiz Inquirer, Gretchen says that Talent, not connections, got me here

MANILA, Philippines—“The viewers chose me as their idol. I hope everyone would respect their decision,” declared Gretchen Espina, a 20-year-old Biliran native and winner of “Pinoy Idol,” the talent search co-produced by GMA 7 and FreeMantle, which is behind the hit reality show “American Idol.”

The Philippine Daily Inquirer sought the reaction of Espina because of comments she bagged the title with her father’s “political connections” and not because she deserved to win. She is the daughter of Governor Rogelio Espina of Biliran, one of the smallest provinces in eastern Visayas.

“I have the talent,” said the former member of the UP Singing Ambassadors. “I probably would not have lasted long in the competition if people were not impressed with how I performed. I knew this issue would come up before I joined the contest, but I assure everyone that I fought fairly. Anyway, I was able to prove that I deserved to be here.” ….

“Show biz can be really nasty. I’m ready for it. It’s not any different from politics,” Espina told the Inquirer on Sunday shortly after the final results show at SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City. She admitted that her parents were against her joining the contest. “They wanted me to finish my studies first,” said the European language student at the University of the Philippines…

Espina added: “I will share a portion of my winnings with the two other finalists. Napagkasunduan na namin ito (We agreed on this).” Bautista and Chaves will each receive P100,000 from her.

There you heard it from her. She won the Pinoy Idol because of talent!

Please answer the Poll to the right navigation bar if you agree or disagree that Gretchen Espina deserves to be called the Pinoy Idol. It also means if Gretchen Espina deserves the 5.7 million worth of prizes. Note that registered uses can only vote to prevent double voting.

Watch some of the videos during Results Night so you can vote wisely

Songs from the final performance

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I refuse to call it the First Pinoy Idol because Mau Marcelo is the First Idol winner in the Philippines even though she is called Philippine Idol.

The winner of the Pinoy Idol is Gretchen Espina

Do you think Gretchen deserves to be called a Pinoy Idol? As you can see in the polls I held for this blog since the start, Jayann deserves to be the winner. I wish they gave her prizes too.

I don’t think Gretchen deserves to be a Pinoy idol. But thanks to lots of text votes, she made it.

Let’s see when it comes to CD sales and again, she could improve. I won’t be surprised.

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I have been running a poll for the last few weeks. Based on the current poll, look at the results

1. Jayann Bautista (255 Votes)
2. Ram Chaves (176 Votes)
3. Daryl Celis ( 137 Votes)
4. Kid Camaya (119 Votes)
5. Gretchen Espina 91 Votes)

Clearly, Pinoy Idol blog readers like Jayann, Ram and Daryl to win. Gretchen Espina is in the bottom at number 5. But Gretchen has never been in the bottom 3 for a long time now.

I have my theories why Gretchen is in the bottom in this blog.

1. Her supporters do not read this blog.
2. She is just not good enough to be in the Top 3. Look at some of the comments about Gretchen in the past entries which reached over 120 comments. Let’s start…

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What is shocking about Penelope leaving is that there are other finalists who should have left before her. Like Gretchen Espina and Warren Antig. The political forces behind Gretchen is definitely behind the consistent results. Gretchen has never been in the Bottom 3 for a long time now despite her weak performances.

Bye Penelope. Just know that you didn’t get the much needed votes but it doesn’t mean you won’t make it.

Now only 6 finalists are left with 2 female and 4 male finalists.

Jayann Bautista
Warren Antig
Gretchen Espina
Kid Camaya
Daryl Celis
Ram Chaves

Goodbye Toffer Rei! Finally a male finalist is eliminated. Still I am not satisfied with the results. Why is Gretchen Espina still there?

I lost my enthusiasm to watch the Pinoy Idol Live. Maybe when it’s down to the final 6, I will watch it live again.

Now only 7 finalists are left.

Penelope
Jayann Bautista
Warren Antig
Gretchen Espina
Kid Camaya
Daryl Celis
Ram Chaves

Who do you think should be out?

Goodbye Robby!

This is unexpected again. The talented 28-year-old Robby Navarro from Pampanga got booted out. I mean comparing Daryl and Robby, I find Robby the better singer. If you see the polls on the right sidebar, Pinoy Idol Blog readers think Robby should be the Pinoy Idol. But oh well, it’s not the talent that makes one stay in Pinoy Idol. It’s text votes. That’s the sad reality of this show!

For once Wyngard Tracy is making sense when he appealed to the voters to be objective. How can our voters be objective? Each finalist have their own text brigade. Pinoy Idol is really a popularity contest and here in the Philippines, it’s who has the most money to spend on text votes.

It’s pathetic to see mediocre singers like Gretchen or Warren never being in the bottom 3. For what reason? Your guess is as good as mine.

Robby

Top 9 Finalists are:

Sue Ellen
Penelope
Jayann Bautista
Warren Antig
Gretchen Espina
Mae Flores
Kid Camaya
Toffer Rei
Daryl Celis
Ram Chaves

There are a lot of improvements to see in the Pinoy Idol top 10 performance.

1. There is Karylle who brings in warmth to the otherwise robotic hosting of Raymond Gutierrez.

2. The Production staff is more at ease with their duties and the taping seemed almost seamless except for one technical difficulty when it was Jayann’s turn and the camera failed to tape.

3. And there is more camera panning towards the energetic fans which was missing in the last performance.

So who did you think brought in the best performance?

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Argh. It’s so shocking. I can’t believe Mae Flores is in the bottom 2. It goes to show that popularity is not enough. One needs text votes to win.

Even more of a shocker was that…

Mae Flores was eliminated. What a disappointment!

Top 10 Finalists are:

Sue Ellen
Penelope
Jayann Bautista
Warren Antig
Gretchen Espina
Mae Flores
Kid Camaya
Toffer Rei
Robby Navarro
Daryl Celis
Ram Chaves

Goodbye Mae Flores.

I thought you would really make it in the Top 3 at the least. Ugh. How sad.

Please participate in the poll, simply called Who will Win Pinoy Idol? (it’s on the right sidebar)

There’s nothing like watching a live telecast of Pinoy Idol. I was fortunate enough to watch the live taping but it was at 3:00 PM this afternoon. The problem is it’s what is called “Taped As Live”.

I was told to be there at 1:00 PM but the taping started at 3:00 PM. While waiting, the production staff distributed balloons to the fans and families of the finalists. The technicians puttered around perfecting the sound system and the audience. Here are some of my observations of the live performance.

It looks like the audience is more revved up this time because a staff encouraged the audience to cheer and shout at the top of their voices. I am disappointed that the fans had little TV exposure. Most of the time, the cameras panned on the guest celebrities. GMA should show the fans rooting for their Idol before and after their performance.

Raymond is busy memorizing his lines for the introduction since 1:00 PM.

The introduction of the 11 finalists took 3 takes only because they couldn’t hear their names being called. The finalists look so much better in person than on TV.

Raymond seems friendly to the finalists but still looks stiff to me at times. Is that why he is not told to go near the Finalists after the judges say their piece? Because the awkwardness shows.

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Some of the Pinoy Idol Finalists should learn to hold their chins up while awaiting their fate and face the results like a sport. Paging Gretchen Espina, just look up at Raymond Gutierrez. It’s not the end of the world.

Sue Ellen and Jeni Rawolle appeared calm as they awaited their results. I bet their hearts were beating like crazy.

Eliminated tonight was Jeni Rawolle.

Top 11 Finalists are:

Sue Ellen
Penelope
Jayann Bautista
Gretchen Espina
Mae Flores
Kid Camaya
Toffer Rei
Warren Antig
Robby Navarro
Daryl Celis
Ram Chaves

Goodbye Jeni Rawolle.