WOWOWWEEeeeew

Okay, so this happened a few weeks ago. .

I sometimes have lunch in the cantina near our office. Their TV set is always tuned to WOWOWEE . For those who don’t know about this (count your blessings) – it’s a Filipino lunchtime show. People line up for hours to get in and to get picked to participate in the games.

The host, Willie Revillame is some kind of mass hero. He’s been involved in all sorts of very public court cases but that doesn’t seem to have affected his popularity .

Anyway, the contestants are taken from different groups every day. One day, it’s people who work in funeral parlors (more than I thought), another day its returning Overseas Filipino Workers. The day I'm writing about, it was grade school students who had won a prize for something or the other (you had to bring your medal or trophy to prove it).

The contestants are interviewed by Willie before each game.(the following dialogue is from memory and translated from Filipino)

This boy comes up and Willie asks – “what do you want to be when you grow up?”

The boy goes, “I want to be an engineer”

Willie goes, “What, you want to be an engineer? Do you know how difficult that is?”

Willie goes on and on about how difficult it is to be an engineer. Then he asks the boy again – “So, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

The boy goes, “I think I’ll just be a teacher”.

Willie goes, “What, you want to be a teacher? Do you know how difficult that is?”

Willie goes on about teachers not getting paid enough or on time, Finally, he asks the boy again, “So really what do you want to be when you grow up”.

The boy goes, “I think I just want to drive a tricycle”.

Willie goes, “That’s right! You better! That's what's best suited for you. At least , you’ll have money”.

He then gives the boy a prize. The audience laps it up.

Millions of people are supposed to be watching this everyday.

No additional commentary needed.

-end-