Everybody wins

ABS-CBN’S “Game ng Bayan” with Robin Padilla (left) and Alex Gonzaga

THE FIRST salvo of ABS-CBN’s new afternoon game show, “Game ng Bayan,” was an exceedingly loud and hyper-energetic launch, with host Robin Padilla predictably still mistaking volume for excitement, and “hecticism” for dynamism.

Not to be outdone and outshouted, Alex Gonzaga, Eric Nicolas, Negi and MJ Lastimosa were similarly shrill and not chill.

In addition, the Navotas barangay residents whose locality was chosen as the site of the show’s first telecast were also encouraged to be at their loudest and most voluble, so the decibels were really going hell’s-bells that day!

Viewers are therefore advised to keep their TV sets’ volume really low or wear earplugs when they watch “Game ng Bayan.”

As for the show itself, its first game required 15 contestants chosen from the crowd to answer simple questions.

Titled “Ang Dami Mong Alam,” it was made more interesting by the revelation that one of the contenders was, like Robin’s “real-life” wife, named Mariel Rodriguez!

Of course, “Mariel 2” didn’t look at all like the program host’s main squeeze, so the contrast was a source of fun and frolic.

The first round’s survivors went on to the next elimination, “Buksan ang Plato,” which was all about luck, with the first player to get three “happy-face” plates getting into the “jackpot” round, with P50,000 up for grabs each day.

Guess who got to play for the jackpot? Mariel 2! TV shows have their own lucky streak. Go figure!

In any case, a video clip shot where Mariel 2 lived showed that she had to win, because her hubby needed medical help. Local TV shows really dote on the “teleserye ng tunay na buhay” gambit, huh?

This time around, however, it had a good outcome because the “bayan” in the new game show’s title part effectively kicked in, as the barangay’s participation in the final game was finally made evident and relevant:

To win big, Mariel 2 had to play with 100 other barangay residents, who were all required to run a race to the finish line in less than two minutes, with their feet not touching the ground. Huh? Would they have to float or fly all the way?

No, they had to walk or run on a kind of “foot bridge” that they made with many “banyeras“ or big plastic pans, like the ones used at the Navotas fish market—a deftly appropriate local touch!

Well, to fast-track our narrative of the action, everyone did terrifically well, the jackpot was won and the barangay was rewarded with books for its public library—so, everybody wins!

That final game involving the chosen barangay for the day made the show special, and enabled it to end on a rousing, “relevant” high.

So, all told, despite the glitches and all that shouting and screaming, we’ll watch “Game ng Bayan” again—but, with earplugs on!