Ten is as real as it gets

MANILA, Philippines - In Ten, AXN’s upcoming travel show now on its second season, the handsome host is not clad in dapper clothes, straight-faced and perfectly enunciating famous landmarks in the Philippines. Instead, the show’s host Jason Godfrey willingly  loses his poise and is constantly being pranked, mocked and humiliated.

 In the show, Jason is thrown out to the sea while water rafting in Cagayan de Oro. In Ifugao, he was made to wear a bahag (loin cloth or G-string) and strut to a fiery tribal dance number. In Palawan, he was tricked into eating crocodile meat by the crew who said it was pork adobo. Jason said these things clearly strip him of his dignity and humiliate him but he loves it.               

“The experiences that I have in each episode are authentic, not scripted and as real as it gets,” Jason told The STAR during an interview at the launching of AXN’s Top 10 fall shows held at the K-Pub restaurant at The Fort recently.

Ten, which will air on Sept. 26 at 8 p.m., features the best places in the Philippines, from the point of view of Jason, the self-deprecating Filipino-Canadian hunk whose mother hails from Quezon City.

“Yes, humiliation is indeed part of the show. It shows me visiting places, trying things out in a very honest way and I like it that way,” he averred. Last season, Jason was made to swim and pose on a picturesque beach clad in a mermaid’s tail ala Dyesebel. The photo, which made the rounds of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, got thousands of “Likes.” In Panay island, he sat on a giant wok with fire underneath while he scrubbed his body with herbal leaves.

In Ten, Jason does everything the episode requires of him, unmindful whether he looks silly or crazy.

“It’s the only travel show where the host fails 80 percent of the time. I’m constantly being mocked and most of the stuff that they want me to do, I don’t know what to do. Like I don’t know how to wakeboard but they made me do it and I don’t know how to raft but they also made me do it. The crew constantly jokes me and tells me that I scream all the time, it’s because I don’t know what to say and that’s why I scream but as I said, I like it because it’s real,” Jason reiterated.

For the second season, Jason said Ten has become more irreverent and funny.

“We sort of figure that we’re going to make Ten a fun travel show. This season, they let me do whatever I want. I think they’re comfortable with whatever I’m doing now, unlike the first season when I still don’t know what the director wants and I’m straight-faced,” he said.

And Jason takes pride in the authentic camaraderie that has developed between him and the crew while shooting Ten.

“I’m not just a guy who travels alone. I’m with the crew all the time so in the show, we have a great, fun relationship. I can joke with them and they joke with me a lot so I was able to break the fourth wall,” he said.

For this season, Jason shot some of the episodes in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Caramoan in Camarines Sur. They haven’t finished shooting yet but Ten will include destinations like Palawan, etc.

Of the episodes they’ve shot so far, he said the Ifugao episode has been the most memorable to him.

“We haven’t finished shooting yet but I would say the most memorable is Ifugao. You know what they say about the hardest being the best? In Ifugao, we hiked the mountain for two hours in the pouring rain. The crew — they’re carrying luggage and all that. I know they’re not hikers, so it was hard and we endured it,” he said.

In Cagayan de Oro, the hunk did rafting and even got injured.

“I had my shoulder X-rayed but the result was negative and I told the crew it still hurts and they said yeah and laughed at me, that’s how we are in the show on and offscreen,” he said.

In Caramoan, the site for several editions of the reality television show Survivor, Jason spent time on the pristine beach and did some challenges ala Survivor.

“In Bicol, we didn’t hike Mayon but I drove an ATV and I think I’ve screamed my lungs out. In Davao, I had a taste of Durian, it’s kind of mushy, like an onion,” he said.

Although not squeamish to exotic foods, Jason said he ate crickets in Angeles, Pampanga during the first season of Ten. He already ate balut but not on the show. He wasn’t also squeamish about eating crocodile meat but said it was  funny the way the crew tried to trick him into eating it, saying it was pork adobo.

“At first, they told me that we’re going to a restaurant and eat pork adobo and I was already suspecting something. Anyway, I talked to the chef in the comfort room and told him no way the white meat is pork adobo because I know how pork adobo looks like,” Jason said.

They still have to shoot some more episodes but Jason is already excited with Friday’s premiere.

“Watch the show. I hope that they get that we are having fun on the show and I want them to laugh and have fun, too,” he said.