TV host digging his own grave?

This item will be as vague as vague can be, so you just have to read carefully between the lines for clues.

Yes, a TV host is, so to speak, digging his own grave and, if he doesn't watch out, his family (actress-wife and children) and not so much his career might end up as the poor victim. All because of his indiscretion of having a potentially-scandalous/controversial affair with his co-host (female, of course!).

"Pare, okey lang mambabae," another co-host told the philandering guy, "pero huwag 'yung kasambahay natin."

That's true: Charity may begin at home but not, that's it, a "sexcapade."

But the guy must be so in love with his lady co-host that he has thrown caution -- and decency -- to the wind, not minding being seen checking into a hotel with the girl for presumably a "quickie" or, horrors, going out of town on a holiday!

Here's the rub: The guy's wife has already got wind of the affair and, in fact, has threatened only last week to confront the "other girl" right at the studio. Imagine what a big scandal it could have been if the guy wasn't able to pacify the scorned wife!

It's already affecting the guy's hosting job. Pressured maybe or perhaps feeling guilty, the guy sometimes turns cranky and nasty toward the show's female contestants, making uncalled-for comments about their facial features. Many people are wondering if the station's bigwigs are tolerating this kind of indiscretion by the TV host -- or is he that indispensable?

"The guy is in love with the girl," said the Funfare DPA. "He has already invested so much on her in terms of emotion and money (spent on jewelry, etc.). He's hooked."

If you stay tuned to the show, you might wake up one noontime and find the lady co-host gone. Oh, well, the usual "sacrificial lamb," as usual!

Our bet in the ongoing 2000 Miss Universe Pageant in Nicosia, Cyprus, the stunning Nina Ricci Alagao, has been getting favorable reviews and looks like a big favorite of the press and the public in that mythology-rich island. We'll know on Saturday, May 13, how Nina will fare (among the 80-plus candidates) when RPN 9 beams "live" to us the Miss U grand finals.

Meanwhile, here's a Miss U update from reader Celso de Guzman Caparas (of Saudi Aramco, P.O. Box 0391, Udhailiyah 31311, Saudi Arabia):

This year, there will be two sets of dresses during the opening number, a white and a colorful one. The white dress will be worn for the opening number to fit the Mediterranean Aphrodite's theme. The colorful dress will be used when the top 10 delegates are named and during the semi-final interview portion.

The Miss Universe 2000 set design was flown in from the USA on April 19 and was unveiled the next day. It was designed in Los Angeles by husband and wife team and veteran Miss U designers, Gerry Hariton and Vicki Baral.

The center of the set is a recreation of the Curium Amphi-theater. On each side of the arena, there are stone walls fashioned with windows, archways and portals. During the three main events, lights will shine through the windows.

The painted back-drop will be a chameleon sunset and night sky. The floor will be tiled in a resplendent mosaic -- the central motif of which is Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love, and the theme of Miss U 2000. The curve of the stage will fan out into a series of angular platforms, which will thrust forward into a central cat-walk.

For the final night, it will be an evening of spectacular special effects, which will see the entire stage shrouded in fog and performers flying through the air. The overall effect will be extremely magical and will express the mythology of Cyprus.

Ron Moss, from the soap opera The Bold and the Beau-tiful, will host the Miss Universe Millennium presentation at the Eleftheria Stadium in Nicosia.

Funfare readers have been asking what the "development" is on the romantic "quadrangle" involving Alvin Patrimonio, his estranged wife Cindy Conwi and his two girlfriends Kris Aquino (romance, interrupted) and Bacolod-based Maila Koelman.

The roving Fun-fare DPA reports that Alvin and Cindy "seem to have reconciled" and are now staying under one roof with their children. Well and good. Funfare is happy for them.

Has he broken up with Maila?

"He just told Maila to be patient, to wait for the tsismis to die down, assuring her that they're only into a 'cooling off' period," said the Funfare DPA. "When Maila sort of tested Alvin and asked him for a break-up, Alvin protested. He told her to stay on because he just needed space to settle things out and to deal with things that needed immediate attention, including his kids and his (ball) game. Obviously, it was Alvin's typical way of telling a girl that she's not anymore his top priority."

But Maila is deadset on fighting for her "rights," convinced as she is that she and Alvin are genuinely in love with each other.

Added the Fun-fare DPA, "Reacting to Phillip Salvador's statement that Alvin is a 'Reyna ng Bas-etbolista,' Maila only shrugged her shoulders, certain as she is that, as she said, 'I made a man out of Alvin'." Whatever that means.

Funfare is happy that Kris is out of the mess -- almost! She was, yes, saved in the nick of time. Kris should turn her sight on somebody better, somebody sure of himself, somebody who can and will love and care for her and her alone -- with no kahati, that is.