Finally, a PBB big male winner!

There was not a moment in the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 that can approximate the pathos of Rustom Padilla’s heartbreaking confession in the reality show’s First Celebrity Edition but then what makes the PBB finals night at the Araneta Coliseum Saturday night memorable is the fact that for the first time, a male was adjudged the big winner by the text-voting audience.

Ruben Gonzaga, a comedian from Davao City, garnered a total of 506,402 votes or 32.17 percent of the total votes cast. He brought home a Sony Bravia, a Goodah business franchise package, a condominium unit at Chateau Valenzuela and P2 million. Fil-Canadian beauty queen Riza Santos was second placer with 430,135 votes (27.33 percent) and won P1,000,000.

Race driver Gaby dela Merced came in third with 406,892 text votes (25.5 percent) with a P600,000 prize while model turned actor Will Devaughn finished fourth with 230,509 votes (14.65 percent) and took home P400,000.

The show was supposed to run for 70 days but then the ever-mercurial Big Brother announced that he was extending this edition for a few more days. Hence, the remaining tenants found themselves spending the long holidays (both Christmas and New Year) inside the tightly-monitored house.

Innovations such as the two-in-one housemates and the inclusion of the show’s hosts (Mariel Rodriguez and Toni Gonzaga) were introduced in this edition. Two celebrity housemates related in one way or the other were considered as one unit or HM. For this edition, the two-in-one housemates are brothers Donnie and Baron Geisler (the latter was given forced eviction for continually breaking some house rules – foremost of which was his drinking bouts) and 24-K girls Marylaine Viernes and Jen Da Silva. In the case of the two-in-one housemates, nominations for, text votes for, and eviction of one housemate applied to the other as well.

PBB Second Season winner Beatrice Saw also made her hosting debut in this edition and proved herself quite competent.

Gonzaga was overwhelmed with his victory. “Pangarap ng bayan, natupad na po! (The people’s dream has come true!)” an ecstatic Gonzaga hollered before going falling on his knees as a sign of deep gratitude to the Araneta audience and viewers glued to their TV screens at home.

The First Celebrity Edition winner Keanna Reeves has become notorious for her “pasaway” ways after her PBB stint but has since changed her ways or so she claimed. The other winners of PBB’s past incarnations like PBB Teen Edition Big Winner Kim Chiu has gone on to a successful TV career as one half of the Kim-Gerald Anderson loveteam while Nene Tamayo (First Edition winner) has since opted for domesticity.

The big question is: What’s in store for Gonzaga and his court? Well, we gathered from a very reliable source that Gonzaga, along with Devaughn, will be part of the huge cast of the upcoming Judy Ann Santos-Derek Ramsay soap Habang May Buhay. As for the two girls who were part of the Big Four (Santos and dela Merced), the future is pretty much what they decide to make of it.