Three Girls Battle for the Big Break on PROTÉGÉ Grand Finals

POTATO ON THE GO (TV):

We never run out of reality singing search programs.  It's either there are too many talented Filipinos or this type of show is really a hit among us.  Well, even the before the arrival of Reality TV, Pinoys are already followers of singing contests, not just on TV but on across all barangays in the country!  :) 

GMA was among the firsts to introduce reality singing search programs but for a while it took a back seat in this genre.  'But a few months back, it returned to the competition via PROTÉGÉ: The Battle for the Big Break.

PROTÉGÉ tapped 10 professional singers in the Philippines  to look for their respective proteges and become mentors to them.  A province was assigned to each singer.  From three proteges per mentor, one remained to be his or her talent.  And the final 10 stayed in a quarter where they prepared to compete for weekly live performances.  Each week, one protege and mentor gets eliminated. 

After weeks of live performances and nerve-wracking elimination nights, Krizza Neri of Cagayan de Oro (mentored by Aiza Seguerra, Lirah Bermudez of Iloilo (mentored by Janno Gibbs) and Lovely Embuscado of Davao (mentored by Jaya) are now headed for the Grand Finals of GMA’s hit reality singing search, PROTÉGÉ!

Following the elimination of Jensen Teñoso of Batangas (mentored by Claire de la Fuente) and Nomer Limatog, Jr. of Cebu (mentored by Rachel Ann Go and Arnel Pineda), the competition is now down to the Top 3 finalists who will compete to clinch the much coveted prizes in the program’s finale on December 18 to be held at the Centerstage of SM Mall of Asia.


It’s an all-female finals competition and Krizza, Lirah and Lovely are all set to showcase their best performances in front of the judges and televiewers in the Final Battle at the live results show. This is their final chance to deliver a winning act along with their respective celebrity mentors as the public and the judges will decide who deserves to take home the crown.

From the time when Protégé started, the three female finalists have emerged as strong and popular contenders armed with active and staunch supporters who have cheered for them throughout the entire run of the competition.

 

Actually, I was happy to know that the top five were Krizza, Lirah, Lovely, Jensen and Nomer.  For me, I think they are the bests among the 10 finalists.  Any of them are worthy to be part of the finalists.  Krizza has a crystal clear voice (like Juris), Lovely is a powerful singer (like Bituin Escalante), Lirah offers something new and refreshing, Nomer is a child wonder and Jensen  has a wide range of voice.  The things I noticed though are Lovely sometimes, sometimes only, goes flat or out of tune (perhaps when she's nervous), Lirah previously sang the usual songs (she needs to keep the guitar with her), Jensen needs to be a little more creative to unleash her x-factor, and Krizza needs to discover the right look for her.  Unfortunately or fortunately, I can't seen anything to improve on with Nomer, he's just ready for the big thing. 

Well that's water under the bridge since we already have the final three!  I'll reserve my reviews on other matters after the grand finals. 

On the finals, only one mentor-protégé tandem will be proclaimed champion and it will definitely be a thrilling and extreme battle. So who will shine the most in the final performance night?  Here's my fearless forecast.  Any of the three is deserving but my personal choice is Krizza (mentored by Aiza) since I just love her voice and GMA needs someone like her in their pool of talents but I think, Lovely (mentored by Jaya) will win.  They are both deserving but the latter got the people's affection.  Lovely's story is what the Filipinos' love, a poor girl from the province who will belt her way out to stardom (and I think she has the most humbling story among the ten).  She's a singing Cinderella indeed (and will forever hold the trademark of singing with her pigs like Regine singing at the sea).  'But I also consider Lirah (mentored by Janno) as the dark horse.  Lirah is deserving as well and she offers something different, and she sings well too. 

How about you, who's your choice?  To vote for your favorite Protégé, just text PROTÉGÉ (space) NAME OF PROTÉGÉ and send to 2344 for Globe, TM and Sun subscribers, and 367 for Smart and Talk N' Text users.

Catch the grand showdown of the Top 3 finalists in Protégé: The Final Battle this coming Sunday, December 18 right after Kap’s Amazing Stories on GMA.