Why Kuya Kim left Showtime

It’s 12 noon and the hosts of the Kapamilya noontime sizzler are all accounted for, yelling, “It’s Showtime!”

But wait. Where, oh where, is Kim “Kuya Kim” Atienza?

While followers of rival show have stopped asking why Jose Manalo has been absent for weeks from Eat, Bulaga! and is reported to be in the States for a well-deserved vacation (to visit, ehem, somebody special? Just asking!), viewers of Showtime have been wondering whatever happened to Kuya Kim who has been missing from the show since January.

Was he unceremoniously axed? Was he sore with any of his co-hosts and left in a huff? Or did he bump heads with the bosses who must have dropped him like a hot potato?

So many unanswered questions until yesterday when Funfare talked to Kim.

“I quit,” Kim said matter-of-factly. “I wasn’t fired. I didn’t have problems with the management. I love the show, my (co-hosts) are still my friends and I’m still in touch with all of them.”

In December last year, Kim recalled that he asked permission from ABS-CBN COO for Broadcast Cory Vidanes to leave the show so he could focus on his trivia/knowledge equity.

“Knowledge and trivia are what ‘Kuya Kim’ is all about,” explained Kim who was in Showtime for seven years. “I just decided to concentrate on my real purpose on TV.”

How come on his last appearance on the show he didn’t even say goodbye?

“That was what Cory and I agreed upon, in case I decided to go back daw.”

No need to worry. You can still catch Kuya Kim in his Weather Weather Lang segment on TV Patrol and Matanglawin, his other Kapamilya (Sunday) show.

* * *

Did Winwyn & Mark marry in Japan?

When Winwyn Marquez and Mark Herras were spending Valentine’s Day last February in Osaka, Mark sent mild shock wave on social media (#wynmark0414) by hinting that they got married.

Winwyn’s parents, Joey Marquez and Alma Moreno, were alarmed when people, especially movie writers, started asking them about it.

“My dad got mad and my mom frantically called me long distance,” Winwyn said. “They were relieved when I assured them that it was not true, that if ever Mark and I decided to get married, which will be long from now, they will be the first ones to know,” adding with a laugh, “Mark just wanted to post that we were married…married without papers, hehehe!!!”

Funfare talked to the sweethearts last Saturday night during a wine dinner hosted by newly-married Rudy Ngo and Marie Antoinette Nisce at the Boracay Room of Sofitel. Also at the well-heeled affair were Rafael Rosell and his girlfriend Valerie Chia, a fashion designer who runs her own VC Atelier at her home in New Manila, Quezon City, and whom Rafael met last year. “I was single for more than a year,” admitted Rafael, “and then I met her.”

Like Winwyn and Mark (who had to leave earlier than Winwyn did because he wasn’t feeling well), Rafael and Valerie were a beautiful couple that night.

“It’s my first time to be at a wine dinner and I have no idea what it is,” said Winwyn. Same here, Jojo Gabinete and I told her. “I’m not much of a wine person but I can tell if a wine is dry or if it is wet,” confessed Rafael while shaking his glass and smelling its content.

A wine lover since way back, Rudy told us that during a “wine dinner,” guests are requested to taste wines and during that occasion three kinds were introduced (sorry, didn’t get the names, me not being a wine drinker), all of which will be sold in Rudy’s wine store in Binondo, Manila, and another outlet.

One of the wines is named Marie Antoinette which was first served during the couple’s wedding reception last year. That and the two other wines are imported from France through a wine supplier that Rudy met in Hong Kong last year during a…what else? …a wine-tasting event.

As the night grew older, Winwyn (now without Mark), and Rafael and Valerie tasted more of the three wines.

The affair might as well have been a “toast” to Rafael and Valerie for having (finally?) found their “right ones.”

“I’m happy to be with someone who can understand my profession,” said Rafael. “After what I’ve been through, pagkatapos ng lahat ng pinagdaanan ko, I’m finally at peace. I’m glad that Valerie knows the two sides of showbiz. She doesn’t get in the way of showbiz issues. She’s non-showbiz and she avoids the showbiz spotlight.”  

In fact, Funfare had to cajole Valerie before she agreed to pose for pictures, albeit reluctantly.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)