Your Face Sounds Familiar (season 1)

The cast of Your Face Sounds Familiar Season 1

The **first season** of *Your Face Sounds Familiar* was a singing and impersonation competition for celebrities and was based on the Spanish version of the same name. It aired on March 14, 2015 in ABS-CBN and ended on June 7, 2015. It was hosted by Billy Crawford; Jed Madela, Gary Valenciano, and Sharon Cuneta served as the show's judges.

After 13 weeks, Melai Cantiveros emerged as the winner after garnering 51.93% of the public's votes.

## Development

The Philippine version was first announced by ABS-CBN in its trade show for advertisers in Rockwell Tent, Makati. In this show, 8 celebrities will compete in a sing and dance number while impersonating iconic singers. Each week, the "Iconizer" (called the "Randomizer" in other franchises) will assign the artists of whom they will impersonate.

The show replaced the time slot of the second season of *The Voice of the Philippines* which ended on March 1, 2015.

On March 9, 2015, Sharon Cuneta made a comeback in ABS-CBN; one of her first projects would be to sit as a judge in the show with Madela and Valenciano. In earlier announcements, Toni Gonzaga was reported as one of the judges; however, she was replaced by Cuneta. Every week, the performers would be guided by Teacher Annie Quintos of The Company and Teacher Georcelle of the G-Force for vocals and choreography respectively.

On April 5, 2015, due to Holy Week, the show only had duets, as Black Saturday pre-empts all non-cable shows. However, the eight celebrity contestants were scored individually.

On April 18–19, 2015, Gary Valenciano temporarily left the show to fulfill his commitment of performing in a series of concerts in Papua New Guinea, Spain and Qatar. He was substituted by Boy Abunda. The same instance happened on May 16–17, 2015, and he was substituted by Vice Ganda.

### Prize

Every week the winner will win a cash prize of 100,000 pesos, half will be given to his or her chosen charity. The grand prize is 2 million pesos.

## Host and Judges

### Host

Billy Crawford serves as the host of the local version of *Your Face Sounds Familiar*.

### Judges

The judges, dubbed as "The Jury" in the show:

The Jury
* Sharon Cuneta
* Gary Valenciano
* Jed Madela

Guest judges
* Boy Abunda (Valenciano's replacement judge for Week 6)
* Vice Ganda (Valenciano's replacement judge for Week 10)

## Performers

The following are the participating performers in the show's season:

* Edgar Allan Guzman – actor (Prince of Indie)
* Jolina Magdangal – actress, singer (Pop Icon)
* Jay R – singer-songwriter (King of R&B)
* Karla Estrada – actress, singer (Queen Mother)
* Melai Cantiveros – actress, comedian (Prinsesa ng Masa)
* Maxene Magalona – actress (Showbiz Royalty)
* Nyoy Volante – singer-songwriter (King of Acoustic)
* Tutti Caringal – band frontman (Chief Rockstar)

## Performances

### Week 1 (March 14 & 15)

Non-competition performances
* Gary Valenciano as Bruno Mars – "Uptown Funk"
* Jed Madela as Elvis Presley – "Teddy Bear"
* Sharon Cuneta as Adele – "Someone Like You"

### Week 2 (March 21 & 22)

Non-competition performance
* Billy Crawford as Boy George of Culture Club – "Karma Chameleon"

### Week 4 (April 5)

Due to Holy Week pre-empting regular programming from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday, the Easter Sunday episode featured duets instead of solo performances. The contestants were still scored individually.

### Week 6 (April 18 & 19)

Guest juror
* Boy Abunda (replacement for Gary Valenciano)

### Week 10 (May 16 & 17)

Guest juror
* Vice Ganda (replacement for Gary Valenciano)

### The Grand Showdown: Week 13 (June 6 & 7)

The Grand Showdown was held in Resorts World Manila. Unlike the previous weeks where each of the contestants were assigned a music icon by the iconizer, the top 4 contestants in the finals had a chance to personally handpick the one they are going to impersonate.

Non-competition performances
June 6
* Billy Crawford and Sharon Cuneta – "I Want You To Know" by Zedd featuring Selena Gomez
* Jed Madela and Gary Valenciano – "Good Time" by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen

June 7
* Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano – "Kiss You" by One Direction
* Jolina Magdangal as Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters – "I Won't Last a Day Without You"
* Maxene Magalona as Nicki Minaj – "Super Bass"
* Tutti Caringal as Bryan Adams – "Heaven"
* Karla Estrada as Gloria Gaynor – "I Will Survive"

## References

1. ↑ 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' coming to ABS-CBN
2. ↑ Meet 8 celebs joining 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'
3. ↑ For Sharon, there's no place like home
4. ↑ Gary V leaving 'Your Face'
5. ↑ 'Your Face Sounds Familiar,' ipapalit sa 'The Voice of the Philippines'
6. ↑ Sharon Kapamilya again
7. ↑ Meet jury of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'
8. ↑ Your Face Sounds Familiar - Jury
9. ↑ Your Face Sounds Familiar - Performers
10. ↑ WATCH: Sharon back on TV, performs Adele
11. ↑ 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' debuts, trends worldwide
12. ↑ REPLAY: All 8 'Your Face Sounds Familiar' performances
13. ↑ Jay-R takes Week 1 of 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'
14. ↑ 'Your Face Sounds Familiar's' premiere wins ratings race
15. ↑ RECAP: 5 performances from 'Your Face Sounds Familiar'
16. ↑ Ratings: 'Your Face' soars, hits season-high

## External links

* *Your Face Sounds Familiar* on ABS-CBN
* *Your Face Sounds Familiar* on Facebook
* *Your Face Sounds Familiar* on Twitter
* *Your Face Sounds Familiar* on Instagram