Last Sunday, July 8, the five mentors of GMA 7’s upcoming artista search, “Protege: The Battle for the Big Artista Break” held their final selection of proteges from among those shortlisted during a series of nationwide auditions held in 15 cities all over the country and online via GMANetwork.com/protege.
After several weeks of scouring Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao for potential stars, the five mentors in the search – Roderick Paulate, Gina Alajar, Jolina Magdangal, Ricky Davao and Phillip Salvador – finally trimmed down their lists of potential proteges to just four: two male and two female proteges.
In an interview with mentor Gina Alajar, she said that she was a little bit nervous considering that she will be competing with fellow high-caliber actor/mentors.
Director Bert de Leon, comedian Joey de Leon, seasoned actress Cherie Gil and GMA top honcho Anna Teresa Gozon-Abrogar are the judges who will scrutinize the performance of each protege (and mentor) during the live galas.
“Protege: The Battle for the Big Artista Break” officially begins on July 23 with a daily update dubbed “Inside Protege” hosted by Jennylyn Mercado, with webisodes hosted by Maxene Magalona. The first weekly gala night of the search will air on August 5 (Sunday), hosted by Dingdong Dantes and Carla Abellana.
