Bahay ni Kuya under demolition. Screengrab from Instagram / @direklauren
As the Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) house undergoes demolition, ABS-CBN executive Lauren Dyogi turns wistful as he recalled the memories held by the almost two decade-old abode that served as home to several Kapamilya stars and launched the careers of many of them in show business.
In a video that he posted on Instagram, Dyogi shared the progress of the demolition in one part of the PBB House, dubbed as “Bahay ni Kuya,” which he said was built 18 years ago, and which has become a sort of attraction on the network compound in Quezon City before ABS-CBN was shut down by the Duterte administration in 2020.
The part that was being demolished, however, was 17 years old as it was merely an extension of the original structure.
“This afternoon, May 13,2023 I was able to visit the Pinoy Big Brother House because @raymdizon informed me that we will start the demolition of one half of the PBB House which we built at the start of Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) about 17 years ago, in 2006. After 2 seasons of PDA, it became our House B which had our offices, brainstorm space, pantry, hosts’ dressing rooms, mini studio with control room and living quarters specially during the last two “lock-in seasons”. This part of the house has lots of good memories and even scary experiences,” he captioned his post.
Lauren disclosed that the management decided to give up this part of the PBB house as the lease for the “extension” of the house has expired, and they deemed it was not practical to renew it.
“We still have the main PBB house and control room which hopefully we still get to use for the next PBB edition. This original house was built in 2004 and is 18 years old. It has become iconic and a landmark in the area,” he said.
In the end, Lauren thanked the staff , hosts, ex-housemates, and supporters of PBB as they are “all part of this rich history of PBB and of Pinoy pop culture.”
“Special thanks to Ms. Linggit Tan for starting it all. Salamat ng marami lola LT,” he said. “It’s an end of an era but hopefully we move on and find a better home in the future!”
PBB celebrity housemate-turned-presenter Bianca Gonzalez was surprised by the demolition, and asked her fellow former PBB housemates Enchong Dee and Maymay Entrata if they could pay a visit before it was totally demolished for renovation. EDV
