Wowowee
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|February 2006|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.
| Wowowee | |
|---|---|
| File:Wowowee.JPG | |
| Created by | ABS-CBN |
| Starring | Willie Revillame Iya Villania Kat Alano Janelle Jamer |
| Country of origin | Philippines |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 hour and 45 minutes - 2 hours |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABS-CBN |
| Release | 2005 – 2006 |
Wowowee was a noontime game show of the Philippines. It was aired Monday to Saturday at 1 PM GMT+8 on ABS-CBN and hosted by Willie Revillame. It became popular all over the Philippines, after airing with Pilipinas, Game KNB?, and was popular all over the world on the TFC network. It was cancelled after a stampede at a taping of the show killed 74 people and injured around 400.
Show format
This was how the show was presented:
- Interaction with the Audience members. Willie goes around the audience greeting them and allowing the TFC Subscribers to greet whoever they want to. Guests donate money to the show during this time.
- Willie of Fortune. (See the portion for it below).
- Isang Talon, Isang Sagot. (See the portion for it below).
- Bigat 10. (See the portion for it below).
- Sigurado o Doblado. (See the portion for it below).
- Pera o Bayong (Money or the Basket). The prizes may vary in this game. 100 contestants struggle it out in a question and answer portion choosing either red, green, or yellow. 1 person will emerge from this and will choose 3 bayong from 10 different colors which within contains 2 PHP1,000,000 prizes or a house and lot or a motor-tricycle. Only 1 bayong is chosen from the selected 3 and Willie will then start to barter the bayong for an amount of money.
Willie of Fortune format
The first season's format started with Willie of Fortune, a pun to Wheel of Fortune. The pun is irrelevant to the real title. At this point, two people at a time answer questions and advance.
The Contestants are pre-chosen. Sometimes from local businesses, like all hairdressers, or all cooks, or all gardeners. Other times they ask celebrities to be on the show, like all actors or actresses, or beauty queens, singers, etc. This way the people doing the same type job are matched with each other.
Current Game: Questune. Willie calls for a Questune and the pianist plays a song. The Contestant that recognizes the song may press a button on a signal device. The first to press a button must guess the title of the song within a few seconds. If they get it right they get 1 point. Then if they can sing it they get another point for 2 points and advance to the next level. If they can't sing it, the other contestant has a chance to sing it to get the point. If the first contestant answers wrong, the song is played again for the second contestant and they are given a chance to answer it. Once one contestant gets 2 points they advance and the other gets some corn and a seat in the audience.
Current game formats
Game 1: Isang Talon, Isang Sagot (One Jump, One Answer). A type of question and answer game, the 3 contestants remaining stands in front of panels that you need to stomp via jumping to answer. The first person to score 5 points proceeds to game 2.
Game 2: Biga10 (Heavy hitter). This is where the earlier 10 random audience members are used for. The winning contestant from the first game is given PHP50,000, he/she will be pitted on a one on one question and answer part against 1 of the Biga10 's. If the contestant from Game 1 gets the right answer another person from the Biga10 's is pitted against him/her, otherwise he/she loses PHP3,000 from the PHP50,000 given. If the contestant from Game 1 is able to beat all of the Biga10 's, the PHP50,000 given is doubled.
Game 3: Sigurado o Doblado (Sure or Double). If the contestant from game 1 wasn't able to defeat the Biga10 's perfectly he/she will be allowed to choose from Sigurado or Doblado. If the game 1 contestant chooses Sigurado Willie of Fortune stops right thereand the contestant keeps the remaining money from facing the Biga10 's. However if he/she chooses Doblado he will be asked to choose a combination from chips that alternate as black and white that will be shown to him/her. After choosing, the chips will be put in a box which will be thrown all around the audience and back to the center. Willie will then open the box and reveal wether the player gets the right combination, if he/she does.. the money he/she earned from game 2 is doubled if not he/she goes home with the money he/she acquired before Game 1.
Edit: Recently another chip was added to the selection, this is a chip for a motorcycle unit... it has a side with a picture of a motorcyle on it and the other side has none. It will be included in the box making the chips contained in the box to 6. If the face that turns is the one with the picture of the motorcycle.. the player gets it add to that the result of the combination of the other 5 black/white chips.
Old game formats
No Longer Played
The beginning was the same but the Willie of Fortune uses Questunes. Two points are needed to win. One point is scored by identifying the song and another if sung correctly.
Game 1: Kol a Kolokoy. This time, the Contestant competes with two other Kolokoys. To win, you must score three points.
Game 2: Rockboard. The drawing contestant draws on two boards, one scrolling board and the rocky board. He/she has 30 seconds each to describe it. The other contestants must guess what is drawn on the boards. If the other contestants cannot guess, they have 5 seconds afterward to answer.
Game 3: Touch Ako. The rules bend often in this segment. He/she/they have 30 seconds to complete a task by throwing velcro balls into the arena, while the others try to avoid the balls. Some rules are:
- Get ten balls to stick
- If they stick, they are out.
- Get all members out and they win.
Previous Game: A Phillipine celebrity comes out and does a little charade game. The contestant must guess two within 60 seconds.
Previous Game: Guess Who? TVs surround the Contestant and that very same celebrity tries to describe what is on the screen. The contestant cannot see the character described and must guess two to win.
Previous Bonus Game: Kol a Kolokoy. The Contestant chooses someone from the studio audience to play against him/her (the Kolokoy.) The kolokoy must guess two to win and the Contestant must guess three to win PHP5,000.
Wowowee Girls
The Wowowee Girls were the original game assistants for the show. The group was formed in late January 2005 for the premier of WOWOWEE on February 5, 2005. The members were recruited from the Flawless Girls, The GoG!rls, Sexbomb and other sources. Host Willie started calling the girls "Bump Girls", but the name eventually was shortened to just "The Bump."
Later there was a second generation of Wowowee Girls. They were no longer called "The Bump," that name being dropped with the controversial resignation of a group of original members. They were then known as the "Wowowee Girls."
The next development was a shock to the many fans of the group. Without saying a word, the group was completely dropped from the show. No explanation was given. In fact, it was not even acknowledged. On November 2, 2005 the ASF Dancers began appearing in their place.
A significant sub-group of the original girls have formed a new group known as "Secret!" or "The Secret Girls." The fate of the others was never known.
Wowowee Tragedy
At around 6 a.m. on February 4, 2006, at least 74 people were trampled to death and more than 300 were injured when a stampede broke out at ULTRA stadium in Pasig City, where the first anniversary celebration of Wowowee would be held at noon. The crush began when the organizers of the show began handing out tickets to people in the crowd, many of whom had been camping outside the stadium for days.
Some sources indicate that the thousands of people lining up at the stadium's entrance panicked when someone shouted that there was a bomb [1]. Pasig City Mayor Vicente Eusebio said that the producers and organizers may be at fault for exceeding the stadium's capacity limit, especially with the number of people who were present in the area to watch the game show. Philippine National Red Cross Chairman and Senator Richard Gordon blamed poor organization of the event for the tragedy.
As a result of the tragedy, ABS-CBN has decided to cancel the show indefinitely. Eugenio "Gabby" Lopez III, the company's chairman of the board, and Luis Alejandro, president and chief operating officer, has also promised to provide aid and financial assistance to the victims and their families. Movie and television personalities affiliated with the ABS-CBN Entertainment Group have also pledged assistance.
National Capital Region Police Office Director General Vidal Querol also established Task Force ULTRA, which conducted a preliminary investigation into the cause of the tragedy, at the behest of the Office of the President. However, the report became controversial as its credibility was compromised by personal statements made by the fact-finding team's head, DILG Undersecretary Marius Corpus. Corpus had likened the February 4 crowd to a "pack of hungry wolves", who were "exploited and manipulated" by ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN chair Eugenio Lopez III and the network in general, publicly condemned Corpus' statements, with the latter apologizing in a press conference a day later.
Task Force ULTRA submitted its preliminary findings to the Department of Justice, which has found the report to be riddled with loopholes, lacking the necessary documents such as death certificates and sworn statements. Moreover, questions have arisen as to the composition of Task Force ULTRA, which included the Pasig City police force and the Pasig City Mayor's Office, two other entities who many believe should have been included among those being investigated, since the tragedy occured within their area of jurisdiction. The DOJ has since handed over the report to the National Bureau of Investigation for further evidence-gathering, even as ABS-CBN called for a more impartial probe into the incident.
ABS-CBN Alay sa Kapamilya Special
The ABS-CBN Alay sa Kapamilya is a one-week special program organized by ABS-CBN for the victims of the PSC Stampede. It will be pinch-sitting "Wowowee" for one week until the network decides over the fate of the show. This is not a telethon as previously stated here.