More than 10,000 youngsters (ages 16 to 21) applied in the various StarStruck auditions conducted all over the country.
The most northernmost audition was conducted in Dagupan, in the province of Pangasinan. This was where applicants from Baguio, Cagayan and other Ilocos provinces converged.
In Mindanao, people from down south went to the auditions conducted in Davao and Cagayan de Oro.
There was a female applicant from Tawi-Tawi who traveled four days to be able to make it to the auditions.
It was observed that a lot of applicants this year came from the really depressed areas – with these youngsters looking forward to stardom as their way to financial salvation.
There were a lot who went with just exact pocket money. One only had enough for a one-way fare. Heaven knows how he got back home.
There are more half-breeds who joined StarStruck this year. There’s a half-Dutch, half-Israeli and a lot of half-Americans.
Among those born and raised in this country, it’s Cebu that has the biggest delegation this year. This is not surprising because the most number of applicants came from this province.
The most orderly auditions were conducted in SM Cebu.
Singing, dancing and acting are still the usual talents displayed by the applicants.
Other talents/skills displayed were taekwondo, arnis, kickboxing, baton twirling and playing the guitar, saxophone and violin.
There was a Korean girl who joined the audition conducted in GMA 7 EDSA. She rendered a Korean dance wearing her very colorful national costume.
StarStruck lifted this year the ban on applicants who already have managers. Some of them even came from agencies.
There were some who – as usual – didn’t want to join auditions, but were dragged there by stage parents.
Some have already appeared in commercials – with one of them endorsing a toothpaste brand.
There are applicants who are already pasaway this early. They don’t follow requirements and ignore instructions from audition masters.
There are also would-be divas, but like the pasaway, I doubt if they’ll get far in this search. A change in attitude is in order.
There are applicants who are siblings of movie stars. One is the half-sister of Charlene Gonzalez. Then there’s the sister of Dennis da Silva – plus the brother of Katarina Perez.
There is a KC Concepcion look-alike, except that Sharon’s first-born has finer features.
There is a Cristine Reyes look-alike, but more voluptuous and with a fuller-body than the sister of Ara Mina.
Somebody also looks like Gian Carlos, but fairer.
Most interesting is the Sam Milby look-alike because his surname is Gonzaga, the last name of Toni, who is being linked to the popular matinee idol.
There was one who looks like writer-comedian Chito Francisco, who appears as Bro. Jocel in Ang Dating Doon.
It is predicted that this batch will produce quite a number of sex symbols because the age limit was raised to 21.
While there were applicants who – if you’ll ask the audition masters – should never have considered applying at all, this is still considered to be the best batch so far in the four-year history of StarStruck.