The Dukes of Hazzard

Get yourself in a conversation with Marc Nelson and Rovilson Fernandez, and you just might get the ineffable but undeniable feeling that you are in fact, no matter your membership in the fairer sex, facial symmetry, or physical assets, the third wheel. Not because any untoward physical contact and/or an unusual amount of eyelash batting is going on, but just because theirs is a partnership that is relaxed, natural — and most definitely lucrative.

“Match.com really works! It really, really does,” jokes Rovilson on their match made in showbiz heaven. Marc pitches in, “We met through mutual friends many, many years ago. Same industry, same interests, and we both hosted sports shows. But what’s really helped us stay friends this long,” he confides with a sober face, “is that we have very different taste in women.”

Thank God for that, ‘cause as much as they’ve worked together, all that potential sword crossing would probably spell Ragnarok for the rest of us. Shooting for their latest team-up, the Duke, a men’s magazine show on AXN and the first of its kind in Asia, has been nothing but exotic locations, amazing experiences, and “lots of fantastic, gorgeous women,” adds Nelson. “I like to call it edu-tainment. It’s educational and entertaining at the same time,” says Rovilson. “It features anything and everything that men like, such as fashion, cars, sex, relationships, health, wellness … you name it. We also travel around, and not just Asia but the world.” The name speaks for itself, really, as Marc explains, “A duke is someone that every man wants to be and every woman wants to be with. So anything that has to do with what men want to be, how they get there, and what they can enjoy once they get there, is what the Duke is all about.”

Though Nelson laughingly insists they landed the show because “AXN was just desperate to do some serious charity work and they couldn’t think of anybody more deserving than us,” the tall twosome (both from W Talent Management) must’ve impressed someone in the AXN office when they came third in the second season of the Amazing Race Asia a couple of years back. “It’s like backpacking around the world at 100 miles per hour,” Marc shares of the whole Amazing experience. “You’re working on no sleep, no food, constant time pressure … it was fantastic.” And with the Duke dragging the pair all over the world, getting them to work 15-hour days with an international crew, Fernandez explains that “the Amazing Race actually helped train us for the Duke. In fact, sometimes we think the Duke was more Amazing Race than the Amazing Race was.”

Course, one can’t help but wonder if all that quality time has pushed Marc and Rovi to cross the threshold that, once crossed, can never be restored ever again — the threshold of “too much information.” “Nothing new, really. Except now I know that Marc shaves his chest every morning,” quips Rovilson, which brings Marc to comment on Rovilson’s “reputation for punctuality,” which is wanting, to say the least. Hey, what are friends for?

What’s next for the Marc and Rovilson show? Marc fills in the blanks: “You can also look forward to a great show on QTV called Duo, and another show on Max TV called Men’s Seven, both featuring the two of us.” Marc turns to Rovilson for his input, who exclaims in a heartbeat, “We have a new workout video together called Bump and Burn.”

But really, jokes are no laughing matter with these guys. “I would love to do stand-up comedy,” reveals Fernandez. “We really admire stand-up comedians, like Chris Rock, Jamie Fox, Russell Peters, and Pablo Francisco. They’re just realists with a lot of common sense and enough creativity to express it well.”

Whether anyone else will be laughing with these two remains to be seen. But whatever happens, you just know these two will be ragging on each other ‘til TV-dom come. And as for getting caught with their pants down …

Q and A

Marc: I’m addicted to … (Rovilson: Did you say porn?!) (Laughs.) No, adrenaline.

Rovilson: I’m addicted to kettle-cooked potato chips.

Marc: What I love the most about the Philippines   is the people … especially the female people.

Marc: I absolutely cannot stand yabang.

Rovilson: Close-mindedness.

Marc: Rovilson has the biggest crush on anything chinita with bangs.

Rovilson: Marc has the biggest crush on himself. (Laughs.)

Marc: My most embarrassing moment ever was splitting my pants in front of a girl I liked at school.

Both: My secret talent is: We don’t have talents to speak of, never mind secret ones.

Marc: I find cute sexy.

Rovilson: I find a woman’s back sexy.

Rovilson: I’ve got the song Single Ladies on repeat on my iPod (both laugh). Right now it’s single ladies, only because we did a spoof of Justin Timberlake … you’ll just have to watch the show.

Marc: Rovilson has the worst habit of turning up late. He had the taxis as an excuse before but now he drives.

Rovilson: Marc is secretly … well, he’s moved around the world, he’s never stayed in one place, he’s left a trail of beautiful, mostly European women, he loves gadgets, and he dresses well in suits. I think Marc is a secret agent.

Marc: Prunes keep me going.

Rovilson: The fear of failure keeps me going.

Rovilson: Marc’s favorite place in the world is his toilet. Just kidding. I’m still searching. But right now, being in Japan and all, Harajuku!

Rovilson: If I was stuck on a desert island and I could only bring three things, it would be: Lucy Liu, Scarlett Johanssen, and a book on how to build a boat and get out of a deserted island, so I could impress those two.

Rovilson: I wish I’d never made my mom cry. I think I broke her vase. I expected an ass whooping but she cried instead. I would’ve preferred an ass whooping.

A buddy is…

Marc: An acquaintance is someone who will hide you, and a buddy is someone who will hide a body for you.

Rovilson: A friend will bail you out of jail, a buddy will be in the jail cell with you saying, “That was fun, let’s do it again.”

Marc: Most people don’t know this about me, but I once taught English to Bulgarians.

Rovilson: I was a boy scout. A weebalow. Don’t ask.

 Marc: If I ever got caught with my pants down, I would hopefully be with someone of the opposite sex!

Rovilson: I’d say, “I swear she was 18.” That’s my default answer.