Robi back to PBB stage for the third time

MANILA, Philippines - “It feels like I’m going back home,” says Robi Domingo of his third return to the ABS-CBN Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) reality show as host of its All In edition premiering on April 27. Along with PBB graduate-hosts John Prats and Bianca Gonzalez, Robi knows the joys and the challenges of living inside Kuya’s house.

“Be ready,” he warns both the housemates and the viewers. “It will be a big riot. Unexpected moments will happen.”

This is true since “all in” means a mix of teens and adults, aged 15 to 35, as housemates. This twist is a first in the Big Brother franchise. Given the age gap, televiewers can only expect personality clashes and individual-group challenges to go a notch higher. Around 15 housemates, who, according to Robi, are strangers to each other, will be named in the pilot episode. The housemates will live in the most popular house for 100 days. Robi, John, Bianca, Toni and Alex Gonzaga will host PBB primetime, Uber, Updates and eviction nights.

Robi says, “Like what Toni said, we’re the last ones to know,” as far as the identity of the housemates is concerned.

What are Robi’s memorable PBB experiences?

“I would have to say my reveal inside the house, the big night and my first-ever spiel in the Pinoy Big Brother Unlimited (which I hosted),” he answers. “In the big reveal, I was introduced as a true-blue Atenean. And there was already a stereotype. I had to abide by that moniker — and what the Jesuits taught me. On the big night, your name was called and you saw a sea of people in the Araneta cheering your name, and shouting everywhere. Nakaka-tense. I was literally smiling, laughing and crying at the same time,” he adds.

Having mixed emotions is common among housemates who will be seeing their family and friends for the first time since they stepped into the PBB house. What makes the moment emotionally charged is the completion of the challenges they have survived and surpassed.   

“Paglilipat ng bigas,” says Robi of the toughest challenge. “You had one sack of rice and you had to transfer it (to bags) using chopsticks. You couldn’t even cheat because cameras were everywhere.”

As a housemate, Robi recalls he was careful “because I was like that outside the house. The word they used for me was cerebral.”

In 2008, Robi was one of those aspiring housemates who trooped to audition venues. After five screenings of doing VTR and interviews, the host-actor joined the Pinoy Big Brother Teen Edition Plus. Robi was runner-up to Big Winner Ejay Falcon. And the next five years saw Robi acting in soaps and movies and hosting shows such as I Dare You, Sarah G. Live, Myx, The Biggest Loser: Doubles and other PBB editions (PBB: Teen Edition 4 in 2012, Pinoy Big Brother Unlimited, 2011-2012 and Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Clash 2010 Updates, 2011).

Hosting, hands down, is the chinito guy’s comfort zone.      

“There were certain workshops,” says Robi. “He (Tito Boy Abunda) told me that you can never learn inside the classroom. You need to go out to the field and learn it for yourself.”

Although touted as the next Luis Manzano, Robi is never spared from hosting jitters. “If you give me a mic, whether there’s a camera or not, my hands get cold,” he says. “But it’s a good sign because there’s adrenalin rush. You need to have jitters because if you don’t do this right, patay ka. (You need it) to perform (or deliver). There is confidence. There is too much confidence. The kaba will lessen the too much in your system.”

Is Pinoy Big Brother scripted or not?

“I would say it is and it is not,” replies Robi. “It is not because the people, the players, the stakeholders inside the house are real. The scripted part is when (for instance) I will not give you food for one day. The scripted part is the food. The non-scripted part is the reaction.”

(Pinoy Big Brother All In will air weeknights.)