“Kapamilya, Deal or No deal” Fever hits cebu

A medtech student, a teacher, a mayor, a soon-to-be-married guy and a senior citizen made up the five Cebuanos selected to play in ABS-CBN’s game show “Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal.” In a two-day taping held at SM City Cebu, which covered this week’s five episodes, it was the first time the game show went out-of-town. The fortunate five were chosen from among 1,000 Cebu-based texters who were jointly screened last November 25.

Last Friday and Saturday, a mammoth outdoor stage was mounted at SM City Cebu’s parking area which by dusk, transformed into an imposing simulated studio. The mega-production, which was jampacked from start to finish, was estimated to have cost millions of pesos. “[It cost] millions considering that everything and everybody were brought to Cebu (except for the studio stage, sounds and barricades),” said Donna Ocampo, entertainment head of ABS-CBN Cebu.    

Prior to the taping proper, the 26K girls were also introduced to the audience, most of whom already lined up several hours before gates were formally opened. Drawing the most cheers was Charmel de Asis, a Bisaya from Butuan, whom zealous viewers of the program consider as the most notorious for having carried quite often in the past the briefcase bearing the P2 million or P3 million amount.

Incidentally, it was Charmel’s briefcase that Mayor Arlene Zambo of Toledo City picked during the third episode taped last Saturday. The very game lady mayor, who said that she joined “Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal” because she wanted to have fun and do something completely out of character, stood her ground as briefcase after briefcase was unraveled and faced the offers of the ever-mysterious Banker, who alighted from a “helicopter,” with a “no deal” until the end of the show. Find out if Mayor Zambo went home to her constituents as the newest millionaire of “Kapamilya, Deal Or No Deal” with the taped episode scheduled for airing tomorrow, 6PM. 

Garbed in rich red, host Kris Aquino lived up to her tag as “Queen of Game Shows” with her riveting presence and flawless delivery amid minor technical glitches. Adding some sparkle to the third episode was the guest appearance of Aquino’s husband, James Yap. The PBA star, who hails from San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, specially thanked the audience for supporting his wife in the Cebuano dialect. (NMT)