Is Donita back for good?

MANILA, Philippines - Just when you thought Donita Rose won’t be appearing anymore on TV to do hosting chores, GMA 7’s Basta Every Day Happy comes along and swings her back to the limelight.

“This is a very special moment for me because I’ve been away for a long time. So, to see familiar faces again and seeing that a lot of you are excited to see me back, I feel very welcome and I’m overwhelmed with joy,” Donita says.

It was in the latter part of 2011, and still at the height of her career, when Donita felt that she wanted to reinvent herself. She then decided to bid goodbye to the morning show she was co-hosting in another network in January of 2012 to fully concentrate on her studies at AICA (Academy for International Culinary Arts). As soon as she finished her thesis, Donita flew to Las Vegas with her husband Eric Villarama and son JP, and started hunting for a job related to cooking. But due to some technicalities, Donita shares, it was tough to find one. “You can’t just easily get in because they give priority to those who actually graduated from there like at Le Cordon Bleu.”

Thus, she quietly came back to Manila and worked at Crowne Plaza Manila and Holiday Inn. After six months, Donita returned to the US and luckily found herself working in an Italian restaurant for three months and applied her culinary know-how in a Japanese restaurant next. She, too, worked as a salad bar and deli manager for eight months. “I’ve learned a lot working from the bottom to the way up. I was able to carry big pots and it’s a real privilege for me because I could say sobrang galing ko na, ‘sing galing ko na siya,” Donita says, referring to Chef Boy Logro who is also one of the four morning show hosts. Alessandra de Rossi and Gladys Reyes complete the line-up.

According to Donita, the hosting task landed on her lap at the right time. “I was actually praying and asking God what’s the next step for me because I really want to work while my son is on vacation and I wasn’t just looking for any job. I wanted something that has culinary in it and this just came in.”

It’s been almost two weeks now since Donita started taping for Basta Every Day Happy which is set to air beginning May 12 at 11 a.m. “I found out that the focus of the show is not just culinary, it’s actually like a variety or talk show with some cooking in it and then I realized na kinuha lang pala ako para sa aking ganda. That is one of the biggest frustrations for me, na puro ganda na lang,” she jokes.

Kidding aside, Donita sees the show as a blessing, knowing how the production team has been working hard to give the viewers something truly worth watching every weekday morning. The format itself fits her to a T, aside from the fact that she is a morning person and “I feel that one of my greatest goals in the entertainment industry is to give love and joy through the little things that I do and I’m hoping I will be able to express that on the show.”

In a press statement, Basta Every Day Happy encourages everyone to take an active step in making one’s self happy through life’s simple pleasures such as amazing food discoveries or hilarious social media posts. It will feature guest celebrities and ordinary people who will share fun-filled conversations with the hosts.

“The show is all about being happy that we don’t need to stick with the script. Not everyone knows that I’m makulit so it will come out on the show kasi nakakatuwa talaga, especially when you are with Chef Boy, Gladys and Alessandra. Though we have different personalities, we click together, yung tawa ko dito di mahinhin, talagang all-out,” Donita says.

Asked if she’s back in the country for good, Donita says there are no concrete plans yet. Her mind has been set to staying in the country for a limited time only. Truth is, she has opted to stay in her bestfriend’s house in White Plains. “We’ll see if in the initial plan of (staying for) six weeks, things will gonna do well then baka maging six years. I think I’ll stay but I might need to go back to the States to spend weeks there, come back and figure out what will happen.”

Did she regret leaving her showbiz career behind for her culinary passion?

“No because I was able to accomplish things that made me a better person. You could say that I sacrificed my career but for me, everything turned out well. I got to spend time with my husband and son. And another best thing, my mom and I have become sweeter to each other.”

(Basta Every Day Happy is directed by Louie Ignacio. It is created by the GMA Entertainment TV Group under the supervision of SVP for Entertainment TV Lilybeth Rasonable, AVP for Talk, Magazines, Musical and TV Productions Darling de Jesus, program manager Jenny Cordova-Reyes and executive producer Gladys Hernando.)