Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus
Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus is the second teen season of the Philippine ABS-CBN reality television series "Pinoy Big Brother" and the sixth season overall. It premiered on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008, and ran for eleven weeks, ending on June 7 of the same year. Toni Gonzaga returned as primetime host; this was also the first Teen Edition that she would be hosting. Mariel Rodriguez, the previous Teen Edition primetime host, also returned to host the late afternoon edition, "Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition Plus Über". Bianca Gonzalez once again hosted  the show's Update skits after being the regular host of "Über" in the ; she once hosted the Update slot back in the second regular season. Luis Manzano made his return to the show as Gonzaga's alternate host/co-host in the primetime edition; he appeared previously as co-host in a live airing of . This time, the prizes offered for the winner were a laptop, an LCD TV set, kitchen appliances, a business showcase, a condominium, and one million pesos. On March 4, 2008, local news on ABS-CBN reported that Big Brother had already sent 30 Dream  Keys along with special instructions in a sealed envelope. The instructions told the receiver that they must go to the final casting call in Manila without public information. From these thirty who answered the casting call, fourteen were chosen to enter the house. A special primer called "The BIGginning" was aired on March 16, 2008. It showed the selection process used to choose the fourteen official housemates. While their faces were blurred to withhold their identities, a few of them were eventually shown and their names revealed as Big Brother told them of their rejection through his Big Red Phone . There are several reasons the word "Plus" was added to the edition name. One, as had been already stated, was Luis's return to the show. The second reason was the two housemates added to the announced twelve, both connected to the storied Ateneo-La Salle rivalry. The third was the secret area Luis revealed during the opening night of the edition. These rooms were occupied by the Housemates' Guardians, who were also the fourth reason. The fifth reason was the two House Players, whose function was similar to America's Player in the eighth season of the American version . Unlike "Pinoy Ako" and "Sikat ang Pinoy", both of which were rehashed, the original "Kabataang Pinoy" by Itchyworms was used for this season without any alterations. A remixed version of the song (which combines its beat with those of "Crank That" and "Smack That" to name a few) was used throughout the opening night. Another deviation from past editions was overseas SMS voting in which viewers in the United Arab Emirates could vote the same way those in the Philippines do through network provider Etisalat. Ejay Falcon of Oriental Mindoro emerged as the season's winner. Overview. House Theme. The  primer also revealed the new look of the House interior, which Manzano described as having a "funky, modern Moroccan" design with more elegant and colorful furnishings. Also, the "garden" was dominated by a large swimming pool. Furthermore, the new housemates entered the House area through the facade instead of the Eviction Hall as housemates in the second regular edition and the second Celebrity Edition did. Also, what used to be the activity area was a part of the House called a "Plus Base." It had additional bedrooms, a garden, and a jacuzzi; it was occupied by the Guardians. Conversely, part  of the Eviction Hall was renovated into the new activity area. Housemates. A total of fourteen housemates entered the house on Day 1, which was March 23, 2008. Twelve were announced to come in, but two were added because of the connection of their schools. The housemates are ordered here according to their entry into the House. The ages indicated were the ages of the said housemate upon entrance to the house. Origin indicates where the housemates were born or based before joining the program. Guardians. On Day 7, fourteen adults entered the House and, in a similar rein to  the Big Mother concept of the Greek version, these "Guardians" (as the program calls them) are in the House to watch over the Housemates. Their entry also aims to have viewers know the Housemates better through the Guardians. These Guardians will be in the House for a limited time; but if one Housemate's Guardian willingly decides to leave the House or is forced out of the House, a Forced Eviction will be imposed on that Housemate. If the Housemate is evicted, the Housemate's Guardian also gets evicted. Also, in a similar rein, the Housemate will undergo a punishment  for whatever violation the Housemate's Guardian has committed. Of the fourteen Guardians, twelve are parents, one is a close relative and another is a good acquaintance. They are listed below in order of their introduction: On Day 27 (April 18, 2008), Big Brother revealed to the Guardians that the top four Guardians would also receive cash prizes; each cash prize is valued at half of the counterpart Big 4 Teen Housemate would receive as well as other prizes. The Guardian Big Four's prizes are separate from those of their wards. On Day 57, through a viewer poll, Erning  was proclaimed the Guardian Big Winner, garnering 65.16% of the vote. He and the last three Guardians exited the House on that day, leaving the House once again to the teen housemates. House Players. Similar to America's Player featured in Big Brother 8 (U.S.), the House Players each attempted a series of tasks for two weeks each based on the results of an SMS viewer poll. The House Players were rewarded P10,000 each for every task they complete. Farina "Shy" Runkle was the show's first House Player. Aside from the fact that she is a teenager from Pasay  City who was once a poker dealer, not much else is known about her as she always wore a mask to conceal her identity during her first week in the House. She once joined a popular TV contest on GMA 7 but failed to advanced. She won a total of P40,000 for her efforts. She exited on Day 51 due to homesickness and the pressures inside the House. Shy was joined by a second House Player, Andrea "Andi" Eigenmann, daughter of actors Mark Gil and Jaclyn Jose, whom Shy would help for the next five tasks. She exited the House  on Day 53 due to the same reasons as Shy. Because of her short stay and the failure of her first and only task, she did not earn anything. Furthermore, she was excluded from any gatherings for ex-housemates from that point onwards. Due to Shy's early exit, a Third House player, the portly Mikan Ong from Olongapo City, entered the House to take over Shy's role in assisting Andi. He is one of the 16 Dream Key holders who were not chosen as official housemates. Like Shy during her first week and unlike Andi (because of her  showbiz connections), Mikan wore a mask to hide part of his face, but soon took it off. For his efforts, he won P20,000. He was purposely left behind in Palawan on Day 62, signalling the end of his role. Chronology of important events. This section lists important events and occurrences of violations and excluding the usual nomination and eviction nights. In this case, Day 1 is March 23, 2008. House Players tasks. Below are the descriptions of the questions from which the House Players would perform their tasks and the results of those tasks. The first five were performed by  Shy, the sixth by Andi with Mikan's assistance and the succeeding ones by Mikan. The House Players were "not" official housemates as they left the House in the appropriate time and did not participate in the nomination procedure. Weekly tasks. Below is the list of weekly tasks performed by the housemates. Guardians also have weekly tasks; they are not listed here because those tasks determine who would play in the immunity game. Nomination History. The housemate first mentioned in each nomination gets two points, while the second gets one point. Guardians' nominations are independent of the housemates' nominations; the  highest votes from the Guardians would be included in the list of nominees. In case the Guardians' nominee is already among the top two nominees named by housemates, the housemate with the third highest number of nomination points from the housemates' peers will be included. Guardian Eviction. The first two Guardian evictions were held on the second and third weeks, but due to the rapid decrease of the number of Guardians in the House, the show decided that the next Guardian eviction would occur if the last evicted housemate's Guardian is already in the outside world "days" ahead of  that housemate. The Guardian Big Four will also be independent of the Teen Big Four, i.e. the cash prizes to be won by the Guardian Big Four will not be shared by their wards. The Big Night. The finale of the season was held at the Araneta Coliseum. It had an outer space/science fiction theme. In fact, one graphic used showed the House turn into a large rocket that shot off its location at the front of the ABS-CBN studios and landed near the venue. Of course, this was not actually the case (see Day 77 in "Week  11" section above). In line with the theme, the title character of the show "Kokey" appeared in the opening number, which also saw the performances of first housemate John Prats, second regular edition housemate Mickey Perz, and first housemates Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson. The show started with the chronology of events in the House and also featured performances by the superband Project 1, the cast of "My Girl" (which included Chiu and Anderson), and Billy Crawford, as well as an appearance by Jon Avila. The other housemates were also present, as well as House Players Mikan and Shy. Unlike  the finales of the prior two editions (second regular season and second Celebrity Edition), there was no spoof and impersonation segment. After an estimated total of 1.7 million votes cast since May 31, the start of the open voting, Ejay Falcon was declared the winner with 620,924 votes or 36.31%. Robi Domingo came in second with 588,116 votes or 34.39%. Nicole Uysiuseng was a distant third with 314,582 votes or 18.39% while Beauty Gonzalez was last among the "Big 4" with 186,523 votes or 10.91% While Ejay became the second male winner of the franchise after victor Ruben Gonzaga, his  win was the closest ever with 1.92% (32,808 votes) separating him and Robi. The fact that the top two housemates were boys also ensured the emergence of a male winner. Incidentally, his surrogate father, Erning, was proclaimed as the "Guardian Big Winner" twenty days before (see "Guardian Eviction" section above). This table shows the summary of votes as obtained by each of the Teen Big 4 in the Big Night. The Big Reunion. While the season technically ends in the finale on Day 77, the housemates actually returned to the House even after the announcement of winners. They were visited  by Nicole's father, Robi's younger brother, Beauty's father, and Ejay's half-siblings. On the day after Day 77 (June 8, 2008), a "Big Reunion" was held, in which the final four were joined by the hosts and were reunited with the other housemates, House Players Mikan and Shy and the Guardians. All moments that happened during the season were also revisited, such as funny moments, tense and sad moments, and "kilig" (love-inspiring) moments.