Dream chasers

REGINE Velasquez and Alden Richards were contest regulars.

The two hosts of GMA 7’s latest talent search “Bet ng Bayan,” singer Regine Velasquez and actor Alden Richards, know only too well what’s it like to be a starry-eyed wannabe.

Richards tells the Inquirer: “That was the reason why the network got me to host this show. I actually experienced lining up for hours, trying my luck in auditions, only to get rejected.”

Apart from joining reality talent quests like “StarStruck” and “Pinoy Big Brother,” he joined male pageants like Ginoong Sta. Rosa in his home province of Laguna as a teenager.

He recalls that he had to perform a tribal dance when he competed in Ginoong Laguna. “I wasn’t that confident that time.”

Disappointment didn’t dissuade him.

“I took everything positively,” he says. “Those auditions and contests helped boost my self-confidence. You can’t win all the time. Experiencing rejection 10,000 times helps build character.”

Velasquez, for her part, is a product of a nationwide singing tilt in the 1980s, “Ang Bagong Kampeon.”

If she were a neophyte now, Velasquez still wouldn’t think twice about joining a competition like “Bet ng Bayan,” even though it’s more difficult to stand out these days because of the sheer number of singing discoveries.

“When I hosted the program’s regional showdowns in Naga, Camarines Sur, and Angeles, Pampanga, I saw several good singers,” she recalls. “Contests are still the best way to get discovered, especially if these shows are backed by a major studio.”

Whenever she would hear the contestants in “Bet ng Bayan,” she is reminded of her own humble beginnings

She can’t help getting nostalgic because she got to “bond” with her late father, Mang Gerry, in the countless amateur singing contests she had joined in various town fiestas as a kid.

“He accompanied me everywhere. We went as far as Arayat (in Pampanga),” she recounts. “Contests were my training ground.”

She started joining contests at age 6 and eventually emerged as grand champion of “Bagong Kampeon” at 13.

She concedes, however, that newcomers have it easier now, since they can easily get discovered in video-sharing sites like YouTube and social media sites like Facebook. “They are luckier in that sense,” she says.

More sympathetic

She explains that she is more sympathetic and patient because she is aware that the contestants had to go through the eye of a needle.

“Good thing I am not a judge because it would be tough for me to choose a winner,” she said. “Even the dancers were astig (fierce).”

Dancers and other gifted newbies (like magicians, acrobats, etc.) also vie for top prizes in separate categories in the new show that holds competitions in different provinces all over the archipelago.

Richards admires the contestants in the show. “They are determined to win.” His advice: “Go for it. Don’t give up.”

He is reminded of his own start in the biz whenever he hears stories of the aspirants’ struggles, he admits.

“I joined contests to fulfill the dream of my late mom,” he relates. “I took part in Linggo ng Wika elocution competitions in school, too.”

Now, the network showers Richards with high-profile projects like the primetime historical series “Ilustrado” and Adolfo Alix Jr.’s drama film “Cain at Abel.”