Re: To be one of the 100?

Call time: 10AM.

I arrived half an hour early on the site at the ABS-CBN compound. The heavy rains then would have convinced me to cancel my attendance. But then, my friend, who accompanied me to the screening, was eager to help me get over my second thought. It was just too bad he wasn't allowed to go inside the compound as only invited persons were permitted.

Going inside the entrance gate, a security guard, slash event marshal, asked for the invitation SMS. Checking it was valid, he let me pass through.

Around 40 people were there, under the covered area for 1 vs. 100 applicants. I queued to get a Basic Application form. When I reached the counter, the man asked for the SMS invitation and a valid ID. I turned in my phone and my Social Security System ID card. After he searched for my long name, he let me sign my record entry on the applicant's list, to make sure my slot was filled, and handed over the Basic Application form.

10 AM came in and I wasn't yet finished filling up the queries on the form. One of the event marshals instructed the participants to follow him towards the studio where the tests would be given. I just completed the form when I took my seat inside the cold studio room.

The Test

I only expected an exam paper, filled with anything-under-the-sun questions. Yes, I was given that. But it was not the only test I needed to pass. Before the written examination commenced, all the participants had a dose of some slapstick "mature" comedy. Yes. The cold room was suddenly transformed into a comedy bar. I laughed a few times, for some corny reasons, but most of the time, the host wasn't funny at all. Or probably it was the other way around -it was just me who wasn't getting the hang of his raunchy humor.

According to the host, he needed to do his comic routine in order to see who among us could handle seemingly ridiculing or abashing antics. Was he bluffing or not, that I did not know.

After almost an hour of "torturing" the conservative minds of some grandmothers inside the studio, the test papers came in.

The exam lasted for only 6 minutes. The number of questions? Thirty.

Items in the tests were pulled from various topics: from World History to Greek Mythology, to Sciences, to Calendar Events, to Showbiz, to Pinoy Common Knowledge, etcetera, etcetera. The questions are literally a combination of sorts. On the first minute of the exam, I was actually quite awestruck as I wasn't able to answer quite surely on my first run on the papers. Probably because my brain was lagging from two years of suspension to such examination. Fortunately, I was able to drive my brain cells to work and answered the best I could.

The Test Result

When all the papers were checked, they were turned over back to the host to announce which ones qualified. As he was announcing the names of those who passed, I waited patiently, hoping my answers were good enough to make me qualify. 5... 10... 15 names were called... I did not hear my name. Then out of nowhere, I heard a very familiar phrase... MY NAME WAS CALLED!

I went out of the studio to queue for the qualifier's list. When it was my turn on the booth, a lady facilitator took a picture of me, and had my finger marks digitally recorded, so as not to bring any identification cards if told to come back. She then told me to get a form and come back after an hour for the interview. What? A new form to fill-up and an interview? I thought I only needed to pass the test to become a player. Err...

The Interview

Not all the passers got an instruction to wait for immediate interview. Only 10 (more or less) waited. I wondered why.... My suspicion was that one of us remaining were still under consideration for the "1" spot (the main contestant's spot in the game). When it was my turn to be interviewed, I wasn't nervous at all. That was so unlikely because interviews had always been nerve-wrecking to me (I am just good in hiding the tension from the interviewer). On second thought, maybe I've changed. Hehe.

My interview elapsed for like 10-15 minutes. It was a casual conversation involving some slam-book questions. Everything went well - I answered all questions confidently, except for one, which made me stammer a bit. I did not see the question coming. So when I heard it, it was a bit mind-blocking. The question was: "Straight or gay?"

Whew!