Nadine replaces Sunshine

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Dream Factory

GMA Management has decided to fire Sunshine Dizon from her soap, "Tinik Sa Dibdib," for her absence from its tapings. It's good if she were really sick, but we heard someone from GMA saw her driving around with her boyfriend, said to be the brother of actress Tanya Garcia. It's said Sunshine is requesting that the 40 to 50 sequences she tapes a day be lessened as she finds her heavy load too stressful now that she's going through a severe depression phase. She also resigned from being a member of the "Starstruck 5" council. As for her being pregnant and going to the States to hide it, she swears she just had a checkup at Cardinal Santos Hospital and those who're interested can check her true condition there.

In "Tinik Sa Dibdib," she will be replaced by Nadine Samonte, last seen in "Darna" as Babaeng Impakta. How they will portray the switch from one actress to another would be interesting to find out. You know how it is in soaps, everything is possible. This only proves that no one is indispensable.

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Marian Rivera is not part of "Stairway to Heaven" as she has her own show, "Darna," but she's always being dragged in the writeups about "Stairway" claiming she's jealous of Dingdong Dantes' leading lady, Rhian Ramos.

"Kawawa nga siya, but I think alam niyang hindi maiiwasan yun kasi identified kami sa isa't isa kaya lagi siyang pinagre-react about me and Rhian," says Dingdong when we visited him at the taping of "Stairway" at SM The Block where they're shooting a fashion show for Rhian's wedding collection. "It's not true that she snubs Rhian. I was there noong magkita sila at binati naman niya ito. And we trust eachother kaya there's no need to feel jealous about anything, in the same way that I trust her ngayong may kissing scenes daw sila ni Mark Anthony Fernandez in 'Darna.' But it's true that I now feel closer to Rhian kasi lagi kaming magkasama so we're now more comfortable with each other."

Does he find Rhian sexy?

"Well, she definitely knows how to carry herself, lalo na when she walks and moves. And I enjoy working with her kasi committed siya sa trabaho, just like me. At first, you'd think intimidating siya, kasi snobbish ang dating, but she's really nice to everyone."

Rhian said if he's not taken, she'd fall for him.

"Did she really say that? Well, she has to think twice kasi may pagka-tarantado ako," he laughs. "But I'm really glad tinanggap ng viewers ang tandem namin. Okay raw ang chemistry namin as Cholo and Jodi. We're all happy sa show as our ratings really went up and we now reach 30% plus. Lalo namang gumaganda ang show kasi we got to know our characters better and we're really into it. At ngayon, medyo lighter ang mood ng show unlike when we started na heavy drama agad. I even get to dance in the fashion show we're taping here."

Did he really give Rhian her favorite chocolate cake for her birthday when she turned 19 recently?

"I wasn't there on her actual birthday, siya lang kasi ang may taping, but sa next taping namin, we gave her the cake, not just from me but the whole staff. She really appreciated it."

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We got an early invite from Annabelle Rama for her birthday party on October 27 (but her actual birthday is on October 31 yet), the night before "Patient X," the movie of her son Richard Gutierrez opens in theaters. This will be held at an exclusive restaurant in Greenhills. Will she be serving seafoods? At the recent debut of Aila Reyes, daughter of Aster Amoyo, she had some soup without knowing it contained seafood and she immediately had an allergic reaction. "Naku, kinati na agad ang mga kamay at braso ko," she says. "I knew na-allergy na naman ako like what happened to me when a friend told me to take aspirin dahil good for the heart daw, pero may allergy pala ako kaya lumobo ang mukha ko. Ang ending, dinala ako ni Eduardo (Eddie Gutierrez, her husband) sa Cardinal Santos na malapit lang sa venue ng debut at hindi na ako naka-participate sa 18 treasures. Pagka-injection sa akin, nakatulog agad ako. Buti na lang, naagapan ang allergy ko."

She's also forbidden to eat pork but she can't help herself when it comes to lechon Cebu.

"Kinagagalitan nga ako ni Richard dahil kahit bawal sa'kin kinakain ko. So ang prayer ko sa birthday, bukod sa maging blockbuster sana ang 'Patient X,' sana bigyan ako ni Lord lagi ng good health at mawala na ang allergies ko."

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"Pinoy Big Brother: Double Up" started with 14 housemates. Four were out after a week, the two sets of twins, and ten new housemates were introduced:

Johann, 22, "Cutie Server ng QC," a working student and breadwinner; Cathy, 22, "Charming Babe of Bohol," the youngest of 7 kids left by their parents at an early age and a nursing board passer; Tibo, 33, "Dad of Steel of Cagayan de Oro City," married and is a champion target shooter; and Hermes, 23, "Reluctant Amboy of Pampanga" who lived in San Diego, California but didn't like it there. Hermes joined PBB as he was encouraged by the message he found ina fortune cookie.

The others are Patria, 23, a medical representative who is a motormouth and tagged the "Bibang Probinsiyana ng Siquijor"; Jimson, 25, and Kathleen, 24, a married couple based in Spain known as the "Houseband" and "La Senyora ng Espana"; Rob, 24, Fil-Austrian known as the "Ladies Man from Austria" who speaks fluent Tagalog; Patrick 32, "Charming Banker from Baguio," married for 9 years and has two kids but became unfaithful to his wife; and Rica, 26, a transgender called "Math Goddess from Iloilo" (not Bacolod as earlier announced).

Kathleen is told to pretend that she's married to Patrick, not Jimson. The female housemates of House B quickly doubted if they're really married to each other. Rob is told to pretend that he's the boyfriend of Rica and the guys of House A seem to believe them.

Rob and Hermes are good-looking mestizos, but they're not movie star handsome like Tom from Samar, whose hunky clean-cut good looks remain unrivaled. Rob looks like a cross between Angelica Panganiban and Billy Crawford, with a receding hairline. Patrick looks like an older version of Sherwin Ordonez. As for the girls, finally, there is one who's got star quality, Cathy, the nurse. She's the only who can do starring roles as she's really a stunner, while the others are mere supporting players. Melay, who has very funny facial reactions, is a natural comedian who can be the next Pokwang.

Watch "PBB Uber" in the afternoon with Mariel Rodriguez after "Maria de Jesus," at primetime with Toni Gonzaga after "Dahil May Isang Ikaw," and at midnight with Bianca Gonzalez on "PBB Double Uplate."

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Cesar Apolinario is one of the most competent news reporters of GMA-7. We just saw him covering Typhoon Pepeng in Aurora Province then we got the invite to attend the preview of the new film he directed, "Estasyon," a serious drama that criticizes blind faith and filmmakers who do porno films under the guise of art. The film is told from the point of view a gay porn filmmaker, played by Mon Confiado. By chance, he meets a teenage boy (Christian Galindo) who wants to get to the image of the Nazareno during the annual Quiapo fiesta procession and becomes interested in making a serious documentary about the boy's story.

Cesar says this part of the film is based on a true story when he was covering the procession two years ago. He met a boy who walked all the way from Laguna wanting to touch the Nazareno to pray that his ailing mom be cured, played by Klaudia Koronel in the film. He wanted to play himself in the movie, but GMA News and Public Affairs warned him it's against their rules to be acting like an "artista," so he got Mon instead, who delivers a good job.

"I'm thankful to Klaudia and Mon dahil ginawa nila ito kahit walang talent fee," he says.

"In fairness to Direk Cesar, nagbabayad naman siya pero hindi na lang namin tinanggap as we believe in the project," says Klaudia.

After he has started shooting the film, his producer backed out so Cesar was forced to use his life savings to finish the film. Is he aware that it's not a commercial film and it might not attract enough viewers?

"I am. But I felt I just need to do the film and I'd be so frustrated kundi ko magagawa. And I'm happy with it, kahit na I'm sure may magagalit sa'kin ditong religious people and also those who make sex flicks."

"Estasyon" will open at Robinsons Galleria on November 4. It's alternative viewing fare for those who are tired of shallow romantic and comedy flicks.

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The youngest castaway, Marvin Kiefer, 18, was voted out from "Survival: Palau" by the merged tribe called Sonsorol. He was interviewed in "Showbiz Central" and he says he feels bad he was ousted. "Malakas daw kasi ako sa challenges at baka ako ang mag-win as 'Pinoy Sole Survivor,' so na-threaten sila sa akin," he says.

What makes it more painful is that the girl being linked to him, model Jef Gaitan, also voted him out. "I understand it kasi she has to protect herself against the other castaways."

Before "Survivor," Marvin says he has no idea where Palau is.

"Yun pala, it's in Micronesia and when we got there, napa-wow ako."

Half-Filipino, half-Swiss, he is a ramp and TV commercial model from Cagayan de Oro. "I had to train to be able to meet the physical demands of living in a remote island," he says. "It also helped that sanay talaga ako sa camping."

So he's joining showbiz?

"We'll see what happens after 'Survivor.' Kung kukunin ba ako ng GMA, why not?"

Before he left, host Paolo Bediones asked him to give two pearls to remaining survivors. The black pearl means whoever gets it will get one additional vote in the next Tribal Council, while the white pearl will lessen the votes of its recipient by one. Marvin gave the black pearl to "Sexy Chef" Mika Batchelor and the white pearl to Japino Suzuki Sadatsugu. He'll also be the first jury member who'd decide who'd be the final winner later.

Meantime, transgender castoff Justine Ferrer beat Cris Bolado in Isla Purgatorio and got the chance to return to the game.

Source: Malaya