Filipino celebrities grabbed the “Amazing Race” title for the very first time after basketball player Richard Hardin and model Richard Herrera bested 9 other teams in the competition.

Known as “The Riches”, Hardin and Herrera are now $100,000 richer after finishing at first rank a race across 15 cities in 8 countries during the reality show’s fourth season.

Rebel pals Claire Goh and Michelle Ng from Singapore came in second place, followed by father-daughter tandem Hussein Baron and Natasha Sutadisastra of Indonesia.

The other Philippine team, party girls Jacinta James and Lani Pillinger, landed in fourth place.
The Amazing Race Asia, hosted by Allan Wu, is exclusively aired on AXN.

It is confirmed that the 3rd season of Pinoy Big Brother will open its doors to fresh new housemates this coming October 4. For now, ABS_CBN team were still busy to choose who will be the potential housemates as they have already revealed that they had a shortlist of aspiring contestants who passed the auditions held all over the country. The first Big winner of is 1st Season,Nene Tamayo, is now a proud mother and a good dancer too, while the 2nd Season winner Bea Saw, is now doing her acting stints in different Star Cinema movies. This season also marks a new twist and turns to the show as they were putting up some changes within its previous seasons. Let’s see who will emerged as the new Pinoy Big Brother Season 3 Double Up Grand Winner, October 4, on ABS-CBN.

Award-winning talk show host of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will be the 4th judge of the upcoming Season 9 of the American Idol replacing Paula Abdul who resigned from the reality singing competition in the U.S. The confirmation was made by the Fox television executives and the producers as the American Idol Season 9 opens this coming January 2010. DeGeneres will take her seat at the judge’s table after the audition rounds starts. Let’s all wait as Ellen conquers the Idol seat and mold the newest American Idol next year.

Third Castoff Maya Segovia took her final journey as she was the second castaway to be voted out from Survivor Philippines Palau after teacher Carol did not make it to beat Justine Ferrer at the Isla Purgatoryo. Maya is a 32-year-old Lady Pilot of the Military Air Force and a member of the Airai Tribe, it was the tribe’s first cast off since Koror has 2. Find out more exciting twist and turns and the challenges that the castaways will face as they take their survival journey in Survivor Philippines Palau, weeknights after Adik Sa’Yo.

Pinoy Big Brother takes another journey as it opens new opportunities for almost 57,824 auditioners aspiring to be the new housemate of this year’s Pinoy Big Brother Double-up. Big Brother has already chosen 50 possible housemates for this season as they came all the way from different parts of the country. This would be very exciting as this season has a lot of surprises and twists. Mariel Rodriguez, Toni Gonzaga and Bianca Gonzales reprises their role as the hosts of this show. For updates, just log on to http://pbbdoubleup.blogspot.com. Pinoy Big Brother Double Up premieres this coming October. Watch out for it!

September 5 episode of Talentadong Pinoy will have Richard Gutierrez as their guest Talent Scout. He will be joined by actress Alessandra de Rossi for the said reality talent show. Goma has been guesting in different TV5 shows as he played in Who Wants to be a Millionaire and guested in Everybody Happy as he reunites with his friend John Estrada. See more of Richard Gomez as he choose the best among the performers tomorrow night in Talentadong Pinoy, 7:30 pm, after Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on TV5.

For those who have missed the first leg of auditions at the GMA Network Drive last August 30, Here’s the official list of audition dates and venues for Starstruck Season 5.

August 31 to September 6 – GMA Souvenir Shop – Daily Auditions
September 5 and 6 – SM Cebu, CSI Dagupan, SM pampanga (batch 1)
September 12 and 13 – SM Davao, SM Cebu, Iloilo (batch 2)
September 19 and 21 – SM Cagayan de oro, SM Bacolod, SM Molino (batch 3)
September 25,26 and 27 – SM Naga
September 26 – SM Davao (davao , cdo finals)
September 27 – SM Cebu (cebu finals)
October 3 – SM Iloilo (bacolod and iloilo finals)

October 4 – CSI Dagupan (dagupan finals)
October 5 to 10 – deliberations (CSI Dagupan)

October 12 to 17 – Studio 5 (first call back manila and regional)
October 19 to 21 (deliberations)
October 23 to 24 (second call back manila and regional)
You can now go to this venues and be the next Kapuso Star!

Comedian Ryan Yllana, co-host of Joey’s Quirky World and brother of Jomari and Anjo auditioned for ” The Biggest Loser ” Asian Edition. Ryan officially weighed 357 pounds during the audition, felt nervous and even threatened by other bigger would-be contestants. Produced by Imagine Omnimedia for Hallmark Channel, “The Biggest Loser” auditions were held at four selected countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. According to Fitness First Phils. country manager Mark Ellis, only 30 would be chosen to be a part of the Asian debut of the reality show where shooting and a diet-and-exercise program will be from October to January next year.

Auditions for the reality show Starstruck, now on its 5th season will have a new host as Jolina Magdangal will be replaced by Carla Abellana. The reality artista search was launched yesterday in SOP and in selected SM Malls nationwide where former Starstruck avengers performed. Auditions were also held at the GMA Network Center where thousands of aspiring stars fled for audition. Starstruck will also be the first hosting challenge for Carla since she was launched as Rosalinda this year.

Another castaway was voted out for the second time as teacher Carol Gementiza made her final journey to the competition on the second Tribal Council meeting of the Koror Tribe. She has been the target to be voted out from the game since the beginning of the competition, but through the immunity bracelet she got from the Airai tribe, she was not voted out to the 1st Tribal Council. The decision was made because she can’t actively participated at the previous physical challenges because of her age as the oldest castaway. See more of this action-filled adventure as they fight for immunity in the next challenges of Survivor Philippines Palau, weeknights after Adik Sa’yo.

Nonito ” The Filipino Flash ” Donaire Jr. makes a lot of preparation for the upcoming episodes of Celebrity Duets, now on its 3rd Season. He was about to have another fight this coming December 12 according to Mr. Bob Arum, Top Rank Promoter. He will be fighting a Mexican or a Japanese. But first, he wants to focus first to the competition as he also wants to help the less fortunate children. Let’s see if Donaire will make it to the finals and emerge as the next Celebrity Duets winner as it premieres this coming August 29, replacing Are you the Next Big Star? after Pinoy Records.

It was a short journey for Survivor Philippines Palau castaway Justine Ferrer as she was voted out of the competition. Justine was a 29 year-old businesswoman from Caloocan and belonged to the Koror Tribe. It was also revealed that she was a post-op transexual that shocked all of the castaways and the viewers.