Basking in Eat, Bulaga!'s glory

When Eat, Bulaga! premiered at noon of July 30, 1979, it only had four mainstays: Tito, Vic & Joey and Chiqui Hollmann. After 31 years, the number of on-cam talents who went in and out of the show must now be by the hundreds if you do a head count. Some had been with the show for 22 years: Jimmy Santos and Ruby Rodriguez. There are others, however, who stayed only for a while (like now-TOYM awardee Illac Diaz), but are nevertheless considered part of the Dabarkads, a term coined by the late Francis Magalona.

Yes, I envy them because they will carry that tag with them forever. If it’s some consolation for me, I also had my share of special moments with the program — even if only in guest appearances. Here, bear with me as I recall the instances when I basked in Eat, Bulaga!’s glory:

When I joined ABS-CBN as host of Showbiz Lingo on Aug. 16, 1992, Eat, Bulaga! was still airing on Channel 2 (its second home after RPN-9).

In 1994, I was invited to sit as judge in the grand finals of one of the noontime program’s beauty searches.

I remember this one contestant who was not very tall and not exactly among the fairest in that batch. I knew she wasn’t going to make it to the Top 5, except that she exuded so much charm and I wanted to reward her for it by pushing for her to win at least one of the special awards.

She did get a special prize and it was a mere coincidence that I was asked to come up on stage and hand her the award. I had quite a load in both hands: The sash, a bunch of flowers and a delicate glass trophy.

When her name was called, she was at the very top level of the stage and she had to walk down several steps to claim her prizes from me. Maybe out of sheer excitement, she missed a step and came tumbling down the multi-tiered stage.

Everything happened so fast and nobody was able to come to her rescue. Maybe I could have done something, except that I was several meters away from her. Perhaps I should have just dropped everything in my hands to the floor, break the glass trophy and be made to pay for it — and leap to where she was and catch her in my arms. But then, that only happens in the movies.

For weeks, I felt guilty not having done anything. I merely consoled myself in the fact that, well, at least there was this girl “who fell for me.”

In 1995, Eat, Bulaga!’s contract with Channel 2 was not renewed and the show moved to GMA 7, which is still its present home. Sometime that year, Eat, Bulaga! lady boss Malou Choa-Fagar invited me to be a guest co-host for a week and I got excited because that was my chance to be part of the gang, no matter how temporary. Of course, ABS-CBN put its foot down because the network had its own noontime show, ‘Sang Linggo nAPO Sila.

When I moved to GMA 7 to do Startalk, Eat, Bulaga! became a sister show to us because of that seamless portion that connects both shows every Saturday afternoon.

I was also invited on many occasions to the lunchtime show to judge competitions and be part of the DOH — short for Department of Help. I was there to help the studio participant give the correct answers and win the one million-peso jackpot. Modesty aside, on the two instances I was there, I was able to deliver the pot and made an instant millionaire out of two people.

No, it wasn’t because I was bright — I barely made it out of the grades (and my parents and siblings will testify). I was just lucky that the questions asked in those episodes when I was there were right up my alley. The first time around, the question was: What does the L stand for in the film Sister Stella L.? Answer: Legaspi. Maybe Eat, Bulaga! invited me that time because they wanted the contestant to win and they knew I was familiar with the movie and would know the answer.

The second time I helped a contestant win one million pesos, the question was: In which Broadway musical did this song come from — I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair? Answer: South Pacific. I had not seen the musical, but I knew it came from there — and I was so sure of it that I encouraged the contestant to proceed with the game.

On another occasion, it was I who was made to sit as a contestant, but I was playing for a home partner, who was on the phone. We only reached half a million because I told the home partner to just content herself with that amount since I wasn’t sure about the answer to this most difficult question: What was the most popular girl’s name in the US in 2001? I was about to blurt out Nicole (it was one of the choices) since that was the peak of Nicole Kidman’s popularity. Good thing I didn’t become so daring and stopped being greedy — otherwise, the home partner wouldn’t have earned a cent in that proceed and win or proceed, but lose everything you’ve gained if you give the wrong answer. The most popular girl’s name in America in 2001? Emily. Whew! At least, the home partner still won half a million.

And then there was that time Startalk hosts Lorna Tolentino, Lolit Solis and this writer — plus Ricky Lo (then still with Showbiz Stripped) — were invited to play Bulagaan. I was confined in the hospital then (from extreme fatigue) and got out of the hospital only through a special permission from my doctor.

Play Bulagaan we did. It was fun — until we got doused with water at the end and I came back to the hospital crawling with a 40-degree fever. 

 Lately, I had been politely declining invitations to play in Eat, Bulaga! because my sleeping pattern had been drastically changed by a heavy workload and noontime had become dawn for me. I’m still a basket case around lunch and can never make it to anything that begins at 12 noon.

But I’m confident that I’d still get another crack at it. Eat, Bulaga! has lasted so long that there may await another 31 years for me. To the Eat, Bulaga! family, Happy anniversary!