As an entertaining noontime show, ‘Eat Bulaga!’ has a record of having three hosting powerhouses. These hosting trios are often dubbed using a wordplay of their names by viewers and fans.
Previously, before their internal dispute with TAPE Inc., ‘Eat Bulaga!’ had the iconic trio TVJ which stands for Tito Sotto, Vic Sotto, and Joey de Leon. TVJ has been known for its comedic antics in film and television since 1972.
‘Eat Bulaga!’ had another comedic trio consisting of Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola, and Paolo Ballesteros, which the fans thought would succeed the noontime show after TVJ’s retirement in the field. The viewers dubbed them ‘JoWaPao’, which is a combination of their first syllables.
In GMA’s ‘Eat Bulaga’ with its new set of hosts after TVJ and JoWaPao’s departure from their production company, viewers are again looking for the main three hosts of the show.
A picture of the show’s newly appointed hosts Paolo Contis, Betong Sumaya, and Buboy Villar, is making its rounds on social media. This is after the public called them the new trio of Eat Bulaga!
Netizens named the trio. However, because of the public’s negative view of the newly appointed hosts, most of the coined names were derogatory and created laughter on social media.
One of the netizens said that ‘PBB’ would be an ideal name to use the trio’s initials, but it is already owned by ABS-CBN’s reality TV show, ‘Pinoy Big Brother’.
Another user claimed that ‘PaBeBu’ was the right name for the trio, coining it from the first syllable of their names. It uses a play-on-word as it sounds similar to the Filipino slang, “Pabibo”, which means “a person who wants to show off”.
The public also named them “BuLoTong” using the “Bu” from Buboy, “Lo” from Paulo, and “Tong” from Betong. Out of the three coined names, this became the most popular on social media. The trio’s dubbed name is a reference to the Filipino translation of Chickenpox, “Bulutong-tubig”.
The trio of @PaoloContis6, @BuboyVillar1 and @amazingbetong could be BuLoTong or PaBeBu.#EatBulaga https://t.co/2EWLfYTFyk
— Arz (@ArzzielMarcena) June 7, 2023
Many netizens used the word “BuLoTong” to compare the upcoming trio with Eat Bulaga‘s previous main three in their posts.
One user captioned, “JoWaPao VERSUS BuLoTong.””
Another netizen posted, “TVJ noon, BuLoTong ngayon.”
https://twitter.com/jomayxxiv/status/1665629754198827011?s=20
There is still no official announcement from the show’s production company of what to call their up-and-coming comedic trio.
The controversial TV show replaced its hosts and crew after TVJ resigned from TAPE Inc. on May 31. The other hosts and crew followed suit. The hosts allegedly had internal strife with their production company until they were no longer permitted to air the show live last May 31.
