Bukod sa exciting set of celebrity contenders sa second season ng Celebrity Duets, na magsisimula na sa August 23 (Saturday), magdadagdag din ng kulay ang tatlong judges na may kanya-kanya ring character: veteran concert and theater director Freddie Santos, renowned composer and arranger Danny Tan, and Celebrity Duets first grand winner Tessa Prieto-Valdes.
Sa press launch ng Celebrity Duets kagabi, August 20, sa 17th floor ng GMA Network ay ipinakilala rin sa entertainment press ang tatlong judges. Si Ogie Alcasid, na co-host ng Celebrity Duets kasama si Regine Velasquez, ang nagpakilala sa kanila.
Una na rito si Freddie, na nagsalita sa kanyang very distinguished deep voice na parang nananakot. Aniya, "I don't judge; I assess, I analyze, I criticize, I internalize, and then I materialize. And I'd have been very serious about this craft for about 30 years. Ten thousand hair follicles were lost when I was training Lea Salonga, another 15,000 follicles were lost when I was training Regine Velasquez. But you can see from the way they turned out, it was worth every strand of hair.
"And now, we have to deal with you [celebrity contenders]... geisha, socca, the singa... You know nung tumawag ang Celebrity Duets... Kasi, I work with GMA-7 naman, e. I'm their training expert, I train their contestants, I don't judge. But when they called and said Celebrity Duets and I remembered the adventure of this woman [Tessa Prieto-Valdes who was just beside him], whom her entire high-school class texted me every Saturday evening, without fail! To the point of collapse of cell phone! Paano ko matatanggihan ‘to?
"And then when I saw the list [of contenders], anak ng kwek-kwek, ‘Sino ba ang mga taong ‘to? May hinihingi ako kay Mr. [Bayani] Fernando for my orphanage. I'm hoping Melanie [Marquez] will do another one of my show. And then I'm planning to talk to Joey [Marquez] about the hospital... Puwede nating pag-usapan ‘to.' More than happy to be a judge, thank you!"
Sundot ni Ogie, "Parang nakakatakot, ‘no? Kung contestant ako, afraid. I really have to unleash the geisha in me!" na hinalaw niya sa linya ng isa pang contender na si JC Buendia.
Ayon naman kay Danny Tan, "Hindi ko po dream ito! Ang dream ko mag-judge ng singers. Veteran ako ng mga singing competitions—Finland, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong. So, magiging challenge ito sa akin kung paano ko kayo [celebrity contenders] idya-judge. Tatawagin ko lahat ng mga kaalaman ko kung paano ko kayo idya-judge. Rest assured, I will try my very best to be very nice and to be very understanding."
Pinakakuwela siyempre sa lahat si Tessa Prieto-Valdes, na kasing-makulay ng kanyang extravagant gowns.
"Since I'm the judge, walang kuwentang judge ako... I'm here for the costume!" bulalas ni Tessa. "My category, not the voice—it's presentation, it's audience impact...lahat, di ba? At believe me, vote-buying!" hiyawan ang lahat sa sinabi niya.
"It's all for charity, di ba?" hirit niya. "Like I said, I have absolutely no talent in singing, but I won. So as a judge, I'm not gonna judge you in your singing, I'm not going to judge your partner. My tip to you is get a duet, a person that sings. And just pretend, open your mouth, they have back-up singers and if you're kind to them, they'll arrange you, you'll just have to sing one line. Talaga!
"In the end, alam mo, after I won, the week after, lahat nagsabi malungkot na sila kasi wala nang manood, di ba? This is showbiz, this is entertainment. In the end, if you're not having fun, makikita ng mga tao. But I'm telling you also, it's just a fun-fun thing... Oh my God, we had so much fun, lalo na when we were... No, I'm just kidding."
Nambuking din si Tessa sa mga kaganapan sa loob ng studio kung saan ginawa ang unang Celebrity Duets.
"There's more fun backstage. You can actually make palakas with their...they're called ‘scenario,' okay? Sila yung in-charge ng mga placement ng mga fans ninyo. Yeah, hello! I was always kawawa. My fans or my family was always there in a corner! Can I complain? We were only put in the middle nung wala na si ano...but anyway..." bitin na pambubuking niya.
Pero kinantiyawan siya ng entertainment press na sabihin kung sino ang tinutukoy niya.
Palusot naman ni Tessa, "Alam n'yo na! Kung hindi ninyo alam, hindi kayo nanood!"
Dugtong niya, "I'd like to thank GMA because they gave me the one-million tax free ‘cause I gave it away to charity."
Pagkatapos nito ay in-encourage ulit ni Tessa ang mga celebrity contenders na bumili ng cell cards para gamitin nila sa pagboto sa kanilang mga sarili. "So, vote buy!" ulit niya.
Inamin din ni Tessa kung gaano kasama ang boses niya. "If you see YouTube, oh my God! If you're really malungkot and sad, please go to Celebrity Duets/Tessa, you'll super be happy after. Grabe, ang sama ng boses ko! All in all, it was really bad. From bad to bad to worse.
"Ballad, forget it. Don't do ballads. If you can't sing, please, no ballads. Just dance, dance, dance!" advice niya sa celebrity contenders.
Ikinuwento ni Tessa na last year ay nagpunta rin siya sa manghuhula at sinabi niyang sasali nga siya sa Celebrity Duets. Nang tanungin daw ng manghuhula kung sino ang mga kalaban niya, binanggit ni Tessa ang pangalan ni Chairman Fernando. Last year kasi ay kasali na raw dapat si Chairman Fernando, pero nag-backout ito dahil sa kanyang schedule.
Sinabi ng manghuhula kay Tessa na si Chairman Fernando ang mananalo. So, nalungkot daw si Tessa nang marinig niya ‘yon.
"So if he joined last year, he could've won. But this year, I don't know... He really can sing! So since he cancelled, I asked him [the manghuhula] again, ‘Will I win?' He didn't say anything," nakakatuwang kuwento ni Tessa.