What more ‘bombs’ will they explode?

During the show’s first six-episode season, Richard Gutierrez exploded a “bomb” about his being a father to Zion with his girlfriend Sarah Lahbati, with the aftershocks felt ‘round the world since the show aired on the E! Channel. It was talked about and it catapulted the show to the top of the channel’s ratings, scoring its highest viewership ever.

The topic of that debut show was “Revelations.”

On Sunday, Oct. 5, Season 2 of It Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez will start airing still on the same channel, starting at 9 p.m., with a new director, Australian Karen Appathurai Wiggins (replacing Michael Carandang who begged off due to a previous commitment), and with the Gutierrezes themselves now as producers.

Brace yourselves as the gutsy family reveals more of themselves in full force. Welcome back: Eddie Gutierrez and Annabelle Rama, and children Ruffa, twins Raymond and Richard (with Sarah and Zion who turned a year old last April 29), and Elvis (with long-time girlfriend Alexandra Uichico, a Consumer Science & Merchandising graduate from the University of Houston, Texas, who is a financial planner and consultant while managing a bed-and-breakfast hotel in Cebu City).

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” said Annabelle who — surprise, surprise! — now speaks good English because she doesn’t have a choice and she has to.

Now composed of 10 episodes, ITGTBAG Season 2 delves deeper into the lives of the family as if they haven’t bared themselves enough on its first season.

The show will revolve around “Relationships,” so what more “bombs” will the Gutierrezes explode?

• Will Ruffa surprise (rather, shock!) Mom Annabelle (always the last to know) by revealing the name of her current squeeze (clue: a dashing foreigner who looks somewhat like her ex-husband Yilmaz Bektas)?

• Will Richard and Sarah announce the date and venue of their much-speculated-about wedding?

• Will Raymond be forced to confess who he’s having a (personal) relationship with?

• Will, heaven forbid, the very much pregnant Alexandra give birth to her and Elvis’ baby (already known to be a girl named Aria)?

You can never guess what the family is up to.

“As you all know,” Annabelle admitted in jest, “ang aming pamilya ay tanggap nang mga sira ang ulo…sometimes lang naman. Marami kami talagang pasabog and you will see them all because there will be cameras all over our home.” Just like what happens in Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) or what happens to Jim Carrey in the movie The Truman Show.

The exclusive press conference for the show, hosted by Robi Domingo, was held at the posh R Space Events (in Bel-Air Village, Makati City) which reflected the new look for the second season with stylish black and a pop of pink — a refined new feel, up-market styling yet relatable images of the family we (admit it) love to watch.

NBCUniversal vice-president for Channels in Asia Pacific, Scott Mackenzie, opened the program by saying, “This family is showbiz royalty in the Philippines, yet many of the situations they face resemble everyday families’ challenges and this is what has made them popular with audiences in the Asian region. We share in their laughter, feel their pain and watch how they grow as individuals. Our viewers wanted more and now we are happy to usher in the second season of the show.”

In addition to a refreshed look for the second season, NBCUniversal together with the Gutierrez family have invested in increasing the production value of the show — that is, including hiring Wiggins who is recognized for her amazing work in various international franchises of reality TV shows. Wiggins promises to deliver more with challenging the family members to talk about their most pressing issues.

(E! Channel airs on Channel 57 for Sky Cable and Destiny Digital, Channel 25 for Cignal and Channel 33 on Cable Link. #GutzOnE is the official hashtag of It Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez.)

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