Footballer Graham Caygill goes intimate on Inquirer ShowbizLIVE

Graham Caygill

Former Loyola Meralco Sparks player Graham Caygill has kicked the ball to a different direction as he has moved to doing hosting. On Wednesday, he talked about it and more on ShowbizLIVE, which is hosted by Inquirer Bandera’s entertainment editor Ervin Santiago and Inquirer.net’s entertainment reporter Izel Abanilla.

Cygill was exhuberant as he did a non-sports interview for the first time. Growing up in England, this half-English hottie, despite being born to a Filipino mother, could barely understand Tagalog. Nonetheless, his short stay in the country has taught him a few Tagalog sentences and phrases.

“Gusto mo ba ng manok?” Caygill laughingly asked during his guesting on Inquirer ShowbizLIVE on July 19. He then followed it up with yet another “weird” phrase, “’Wag po, ‘wag po,” said in a hilarious way.

The 25-year-old bachelor started his professional career in the Philippines in 2014 as a striker for the Loyola Meralco Sparks. He stayed with the team for 18 months after playing semi-professional football back in England.

“I came here two years ago to play football (for) Meralco Sparks. I was playing semi-pro in England and then I came here for a family vacation and I needed to train so I trained with one of the local teams, went back to England and they offered me (here) a contract so I just packed my bags and came, that’s why I’m here,” Caygill shared.

Despite loving football all his life, Caygill has decided to end playing professionally for several reasons.

“I just finished my contract for a variety of reasons. I have an injury, I have hernia, it’s kinda bad. I was advised to rest for a while. That came up and I got offered a hosting job for Gameplan. I just thought maybe I’ll give it a rest and do some other projects,” he told the hosts of ShowbizLIVE.

Entry to hosting

Growing up as a shy kid, he never thought he would end up hosting a show. Caygill is one of the hosts of sports and lifestyle show Gameplan.

“It’s my first ever hosting really. I went to a meeting one of my other friends, he’s an Azkal, Anton Del Rosario, I was having a meeting with his manager so I came him with and she was like, Oh I think you can do some hosting, so I was like, okay. A week later she called me up, we have a potential show if you want to audition so I went along, did the audition–the three steps to the audition like an interview, a field audition, we filmed an episode, luckily I got the job, so I’ve been doing that since December,” the hunky model said.

The first-time host has already passed one camera requirement, good looks. But making it in television commands not only good looks but talent and confidence as well, and Caygill admits to having a hard time in this at first.

“(Camera-shy) kind of, yeah. I’m kind of used to doing interviews and people ask me about football and things like that, I’m confident in talking like that but when I’m having to host and talk to an actual camera, that’s when it gets difficult, it’s a slightly different thing to do,” Caygill admits.

Caygill never imagined he would be what he is does now. But he is a firm believer that anything is possible if you aim for something and work for it.

“Even four years ago I didn’t think I was gonna be a professional footballer and definitely one year ago I would never believe I was gonna be a host.  What I like about the Philippines is there’s so many opportunities, people give you a chance,” he said.

Growing up in a foreign land did not deprive Caygill of the chance to get accustomed to the Filipino culture, thanks to his mother. His exposure to the Filipino ways has indeed made him love the country including the Filipinas.

“I love Filipinas, my mom’s a Filipina, I love her, Hi if you’re watching. My mom is from Nasipit in Butuan. It’s like 20 minutes’ drive from Butuan City,” he said.

He recalled, “When I was growing up, we used to come to the Philippines for a family vacation but mainly Cebu and Butuan and then Nasipit. I never really came to Manila until recently.”

Because of his strikingly foreign looks, he has attracted attention even if he doesn’t want to, and this is true in the case of his his English dad.

“When I was a kid, my dad also, coz my dad’s English, he’s a white guy (we got everybody’s attention) and he hated the attention. There was one time I was getting my haircut in Nasipit, and all the kids were like peeping through the window, I wasn’t used to the attention,” he recalled.

Although Caygill hasn’t had much exposure, he’s had a taste of intrigues as some people remember him as the guy who gave 400 pieces of red roses to actress/comedienne K Brosas on the now-defunct daily morning magazine show of show biz’s Queen of all Media, Kris Aquino.

Caygill was then quick to clarify what really happened.

“I watched one of the Azkals game, I was supporting Phil and James and the rest of the team. I watched it with Kris, she wanted someone to explain the rules so I helped explain the rules and then she needed someone, maybe a few weeks later, to deliver roses for K Brosas for her birthday present. I was like, yeah, I just came along, I didn’t really know what to expect so I just up and there was literally a massive, huge bouquet of flowers, that was the only time I met K Brosas, for just like 10 minutes on TV,” Caygill explained.

Officially in a relationship

So, does he have a love life? many swooning ladies may want to know. Those who watched ShowbizLIVE’s July 19 episode got the answer. Yes, he’s taken, and he and his ladylove “have been together just over one year now. She’s half-Filipino and half-Bruneian.”

Slambook segment

Caygill maintained his enthusiasm in answering the show’s last segment called “Slambook,” wherein guests answer questions as quickly and honestly as they can.

Boxers or briefs? “Boxers”

Filipina or foreigner = “Filipina”

Kiss or hug = “Both”

Boobs or butt = “Boobs”

Virgin or non-virgin = “Any”

Hair down there or all bare = “All bare”

Sex or football = “Football”

Any show-biz crush? Caygill initially refused to answer as at this point, his girlfriend had just arrived and was watching from a safe distance. Finally, he answered in jest, “Phil Younghusband.”

I feel sexy when? “I’m playing football and the adrenalin is rushing and I’m sweating, Pawis Hilton.”

Your last passionate kiss was? “Today, before my girlfriend said goodbye when she went to the airport.”

Sexiest part of my body is? “Legs”

Have you ever kissed a girl in Philippine show biz? “No, coz when I came I was really focused on football, I wasn’t interested in dating or I didn’t really meet any girls, I was really concentrating on football, and then one of my teammates introduced me to my current girlfriend, never really messed around or did that kind of rubbish.”

Number of girlfriends you’ve had? “Only one serious one before this one. I was brought up by a Filipino mom, she really brought me up in good values and brought me up conservative kind of guy.”

Before the show ended, he was asked to give his first thoughts on the following personalities:

Wurtzbach = Beauty

Duterte = Strong

K Brosas = Nice

Kris Aquino = Friendly

Ex-president Aquino = Friendliest brother

Queen Elizabeth = My leader

Beatles = Amazing

Harry Potter = My favorite

James Bond = Dude

Caygill is not only a bankable athlete with a face fit for show biz and a blossoming game show host, he is a writer as well.

“Gameplan is on rappler.com, it shows every weekend, (and) I’m writing for Cluster.ph, one its many contributors, I’m writing for men’s interests,” he ended.

ShowbizLIVE can be viewed every Wednesday 8-9 p.m. on Radyo Inquirer, Inquirer 990 Television and on Inquirer.net website, Facebook, Youtube and Periscope.