The shutdown of ABS-CBN has resulted in most of its shows being unable to go on-air.
With that and the pandemic in mind, Pinoy Big Brother decided to go digital all the way. Following PBB Otso, this will be the ninth season of the show and the 15th overall season.
What makes PBB: Connect different from its predecessors?
Online all the way
On October 18, 2020, ABS-CBN revealed that another season of Pinoy Big Brother will be coming which is Pinoy Big Brother: Connect. However, since most provinces especially Manila are still under heavy quarantine, the producers of the show decided that this season of PBB will be purely on the internet. The casting, as usual, was open for teens and adults and they accepted applicants worldwide.
However, due to the health guidelines because of COVID-19, the age requirements for this year’s PBB have been raised from 13-18 to 16-18 years old while the age limit for the adults remained unchanged.
Unplanned 9th season
Director Lauren Dyogi in a separate interview also stated that PBB: Connect was not included in ABS-CBN’s plans this year.
“Wala po talaga ito sa plano namin this year,” he said.
However, with the partnership that they have with Kumu, they had the opportunity to bring this ‘unplanned’ season of PBB to life. Even the director of the show thinks that it was destiny that opened up the opportunity for them to produce another season of the famous reality game show.
Director Lauren on an interview with TV Patrol said, “This is a very unplanned season. We didn’t plan to have ‘PBB’ now but for some, probably because of fate, and the partnership with Kumu, we were given a chance to have ‘PBB.”
As a result of this unplanned season, their team worked double time on choosing the housemates for the 9th season of PBB.
Hundred thousand auditionees
With the traditional call for auditions being prohibited because of COVID-19 and mass gatherings not being allowed, the audition was done online through Kumu, a Facebook live streaming and video-sharing app. This also marks the very first online audition done by a reality show.
From October 19 until November 11, a total of 177, 524 applicants showed their interest in joining the reality game show by posting a one-minute video using the #PBBkumuaudition.
Out of 177, 524, only 72 were invited for a closed-door video conference and interview with the production executives from ABS-CBN and Banijay. Only 15 were invited to fly to Manila for the final rounds of the casting. This included medical, psychological, and swab testing.
The audition also called for a second-chance casting from which 3 out of 100 shortlisted will be following the first 15 housemates.
The first batch of housemates entering the ‘house’ consisted of 6 from Luzon, 1 from Visayas, 4 from Mindanao, 2 from Metro Manila, and 2 from Overseas.
Final round— Swab testing
With COVID-19 still posing a threat, the production team of PBB: Connect decided to conduct swab testing for all incoming housemates. According to Director Lauren, ABS-CBN is very strict when it comes to health protocols. They even had their set of housemates conduct a 14-day quarantine and isolation. This is to ensure that once they enter the house, everybody is safe from the virus.
For instance, a housemate from Lucena failed to receive a medical clearance and in turn, lost his/her spot to a housemate from Zamboanga.
Hosts not host
For this season of PBB, 9 hosts will join forces as the show will be available on many platforms other than television.
Toni Gonzaga, Robi Domingo, and Bianca Gonzalez, who were the previous hosts of the past editions of Pinoy Big Brother will be joined by 6 other co-hosts. They are Maymay Entrata, Edward Barber, Enchong Dee, Richard Juan, Melai Cantiveros, and Kim Chiu.
Each one of these hosts has different hosting duties so that they can cover all platforms including TV (free TV and cable), Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, the ABS-CBN Entertainment website, streaming platform Kumu, YouTube, and Facebook.
PBB: Connect has started airing its episodes on December 6.
