An awesome hunt online

MANILA, Philippines - Celebrity challenges on television seems to be a dime a dozen nowadays. But to have one such competition gather together an exciting line-up of celebrities from the different fields and challenge them to showcase creativity and versatility in documenting their travel experiences is giving this all-too-familiar competition a cool twist.

For one, this is no reality TV but reality online, if you may. The PLDT myDSL’s Awesome Hunt will be streamed live via the PLDT myDSL Watchpad, freely accessible to all subscribers.

The Republiq at Resorts World Manila served as perfect venue for the launch of the contest: In-fashion, high-tech, star-studded. Thus, last March 26, the participants and a host of classy party people came over to celebrate Awesome Hunt, where celebrities are grouped into two to compete with the other tandems by means of showcasing their flair for creativity and sense of fun and adventure and documenting their activities online.

“This should not be confused with contests that send celebrities off to an island to test their patience with jungle survival. There’s newness to our particular challenge for the simple fact that it deals with the lifestyle of a modern person by posting videos, blogging or communicating online,” said Gary Dujali of PLDT myDSL.

For Awesome Hunt, PLDT myDSL partnered with the Department of Tourism to involve eight key Philippine cities covered by the additional 200,000 myDSL lines recently installed to answer to the demands of broadband Internet in certain localities.

Ryza Cenon and MYX VJ Ton Vergel de Dios get down to Dumaguete

A delightful mix of familiar faces and peculiar personalities logged themselves on for the challenge. Divided into twos, eight celebrity duos will be pitted against each other for 17 days starting today. A group is assigned to a city where they will go to for a tour as designed by the organizers. Thus, they will be led to a variety of interesting stops: Landmarks, novelty shops, restaurants, homes with mysterious past or belonging to someone popular, among others.

A select line-up of known actors, TV hosts, bloggers, sports personalities, a chef, and a controversial tour guide are joining the hunt. Marco Alcaraz and Bela Padilla go on a historic trail in Butuan while Ryza Cenon and MYX VJ Ton Vergel de Dios get down to Dumaguete. Mother-and-son tandem Dolly Anne Carvajal and IC Mendoza head to Laguna as Mark Herras and champion car drifter Alex Perez join forces to tackle Cavite. The province of Rizal will be visited by DJ Mojo Jojo and blog writer Jane Chua. 

The three other teams won’t get out of Metro Manila but will take similar fun-filled journeys. Luis Alandy and blogger Jayvee Fernandez are scheduled to travel south, and do their adventure in Las Piñas. Steven Silva and Daiana Menezes are partnered for Marikina, as China Cojuangco and tour guide Carlos Celdran (yes, he’s the now popular scene-stealer having created a scene during a Mass at Manila Cathedral to express his strong feelings about social issues) take Quezon City.

The celebrity participants’ job is to complete specific tasks while in a venue, essentially meaning to document their trip and post it on the PLDT myDSL Watchpad site before they go to the next stop.

Dujali said, “The celebrities we invited, all of them heavy users of online technology, are happy with the concept and are tweeting about this. The travel part alone is exciting. We also feel that because it is not aired on TV, people connected online feel really attached to it.”

Rhian Ramos hosts the event.