Kapamilya talent show may have first non-singer champ

“Pilipinas Got Talent” is one of the few reality talent searches in the country today where you’ll see acrobats, magicians, dance troupes, vocal groups, impersonators and a whole bunch of acts that will make you either scream or squirm. But for some reason, the voting public seems to prefer singers, as evidenced by past “PGT” winners.

So far, all grand champions had been singers, and all male at that. The pocket-sized rocker Jovit Baldivino took season 1. Marcelito Pomoy, who seamlessly shifts between a baritone and a high-pitched female voice, won season 2.

Season 3, on the other hand, went to the singing group Maasinhon Trio, whose victory surprised not a few social networking site netizens, who believed that shadow theater group El Gamma Penumbra should have won instead. The result even prompted one of the show’s hosts Luis Manzano to tweet after the finals: “My grand winner will always be El

Gamma.”

Also, 21 out of the 38 finalists (including the winners) in the past three seasons were vocalists, rappers and musical groups.

“PGT” judges Kris Aquino, Ai-Ai de las Alas and Freddie Garcia are very well aware of this trend. And so for the fourth season this year, Garcia said that he and his fellow judges tried, as much as possible, to get a wider variety of acts for the audience to choose from.

“There have been a lot of singers and not enough circus or magic acts, or something unique that we all have been looking for. We really combed the country for crazy, wonderful acts. And I’m sure you’ll be able to see some great performances,” Garcia said at a recent press con.

For this season, “PGT” not only held preliminary screenings in key cities around the country, but also in the United States, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, Guam, the Middle East and Europe. The best acts from each territory flew to the Philippines to face the three judges.

Garcia clarified there was no directive for them to prioritize other acts over singers. He added that they asked the producers of the “Got Talent” franchise, Fremantle Media, if it was possible to give the judges’ opinions some weight in determining who will be the grand winner.

“We discussed this issue with the franchise owners, but they didn’t want to allow it. They maintained that the winner should be determined through voting,” he said.

The judges’ opinions only hold weight in narrowing the field to 36 contestants. From thereon, the voting public takes over in choosing what acts they want to advance to the finals.

Some interesting acts seen after four episodes (as of March 1) were Vertigo (a pair who does acrobatic moves while on a climbing wall), the Tahanang Walang Hagdan Wheelchair Dancesport and BMG Dancers (a dance group which includes wheelchair-bound members), and Lateral Drift (a pair of daredevil car drifters).

While these three acts impressed the judges with their wares, it will still be up to the viewers whether or not they’ll proceed to the succeeding rounds, or eventually win.