The Face Off: TV hosting no laughing matter

TV hosting is, quite simply put, no laughing matter. Coming up with fast, quirky spiels on the spot is not that easy. In fact, spontaneity is so important that if a Concorde jet happens to crash into the side of your studio mid-shoot, you’ll have to come up with something funny and relevant to tie it into your show. Not that there’s any likeliness of that happening. Or of Concordes actually being airborne, for that matter. And then there’s your life span. How quickly is this particular host switched over for that one? Studios will relatively pawn you off for the Next Big Thing. Don’t forget the lovely population of stalkers and critics you’ll slowly build throughout your short-lived career.

Yes, hosting is not an easy job. But our subjects of the day have decided (and through a grueling process of elimination, been selected) to take up the mantle: Jonathan Sibulo, a.k.a. Sib, and Sam Oh, the new faces of etc and uSa, respectively. Pumped forcibly through harsh auditions, several challenges patterned after Solar’s most popular shows, much public criticism, and personal campaigning, the two survived the sieving process to emerge the happy winners of Solar Entertainment’s biggest event yet, The Face Off.

Sib wasn’t even too certain about his chances of winning. "I was being pressured by my parents to go find a job for the longest time, it being a little bit more than two years since I graduated from college. One morning I was watching television when I saw a commercial on uSa. There was this host search called the Face Off and they were looking for new faces. Probably out of boredom and curiosity, I sent my resumé that same morning."

Undoubtedly the black sheep of the 10 uSa finalists, Sib initially wasn’t the most popular choice, being considered a little too "rock and roll" and dark for television. His performance in the challenges and the frightening influx of SMS messages voting for him proved otherwise.

Sam, however, was a favorite from the get-go. Her friends, knowing that she was into the whole spotlight and entertainment deal, pressured her to pass on her resumé. "I was so nervous before going into the audition room. I was at the brink of retardation. Seriously, I thought I was gonna go crazy. I’ve never felt that retarded in my life. But I’m really like that. I’d be nervous as hell prior to a gig, but when I’m actually up there, I’m fine." Her audition seemed to wow the judges sufficiently, leaving them thinking: "We like the Korean, we bring her back."

The part of The Face Off that initially seemed to have the most bearing for its contestants would have to be the implemented system of SMS and on-line voting– which allowed viewers to pick who they liked best, and vote for them–but in the end, their individual performances still, naturally, proved to be the back breaker.

Really. Would it have mattered if everyone wanted you on television, if all your spiels were little more than strung-together simian grunts? "I made flyers and had this whole Internet campaign in my network of friends. It was unbelievably stressful, though it was fun after a while," says Sib. To introduce an additional element of stress, The Face Off began allowing viewers to vote against people. A very lovely, albeit vindictive way of thinning out the herd.

This is all counterbalanced by a couple of interesting quirks, however. All 20 finalists, for example, had their pick of Mossimo clothing, using the brand’s relatively basic pieces to create utterly unique looks for themselves. Considering The Face Off happened in under two months (less than one fashion season, shock and horror), that in itself became a challenge. Seriously. How do you make sure that the other nine people shoveling through Mossimo’s racks aren’t picking the exact same garment you want?

Sib and Sam faced quite a lot of criticism throughout The Face Off. "For some reason, I got the most hate posts. Dealing with them was very difficult in the beginning," Sam shares. "As in nag-kulong ako, thinking I was the biggest loser in the world! But with the help of my friends and family, I realized that hate posts are not entirely bad things. I mean, I’d rather be hated than ignored. So I just started being diplomatic with the haters, and it even got to a point where I was enjoying them." A very tidy way of demonstrating that any publicity is, for the greater part, good publicity. And for the sake of clarification, Sib and Sam are hosts, not VJs… which means they both get their own shows, and won’t be popping up for little spoiler spiels before Queer Eye or your favorite wrestling show.

Winning has, obviously, made Sib and Sam infinitely happy. "I can’t think something bigger than this, honest! This has been a dream come true for me and wishing for something more already seems selfish. I’m just really excited for everything that this will open doors to and I’m just gonna take it as it comes, all the while making sure that I’m having fun," Sam says. Sib, on the other hand, hopes to make a career out of hosting. "By the time I’m 30, I’ll probably have outgrown my hosting spot on uSa. I’d be old, boring, and corny by then. Hopefully I’ll still be working in television then. And when I hit 50, I want to be a respected opinion leader. Showbiz is the new politics, baby." Stay tuned.