ABS-CBN's Head of TV Production Lauren Dyogi shared how the idea of collaborating with GMA for Pinoy Big Brother came about.
In an interview with Rico Hizon on ANC’s Beyond the Exchange, Lauren explained that the concept of partnerships first began during the pandemic.
"We started this actually during the pandemic that we were starting to have partners to keep the format afloat," he recalled. "And we had the livestreaming platform at that time that we partnered with so that we can put it on air because we had limitation of financial resources and at the same time we didn't have a strong platform. So sinubukan nating gawin ito on digital so dun nagsimula 'yun. Eventually nalaman natin pwede palang mag-partner."
ABS-CBN already previously forged collaborations with GMA Network for two programs before finally expanding the tie-up to Pinoy Big Brother for the "Celebrity Collab Edition."
"We were having collaboration naman with GMA and this is actually the third collaboration already from Showtime to a teleserye we did, and now we have Big Brother and it proved to be very strong even on their platform," he said.
Lauren also emphasized that, as in every season, casting remains key behind PBB's success.
"For Celebrity Edition there is a thorough immersion, there is a thorough interview, background check, all the tests that we do before we come up with the final list of housemates," he explained.
He went on: "Malaking parte ng PBB 'yung search for the right mix of housemates. There's no 100 percent proof na who we cast will be the perfect mix. We just work on gut feel, on what we've known through the two decades that we've been doing Big Brother, what may work on television. But then again when they live together, hindi natin alam kung ano talaga 'yung mangyayari."
PBB: Celebrity Collab Edition concluded in July wherein Brent Manalo and Mika Salamanca, known as the BreKa duo, were crowned as the first-ever Big Winner Duo.
"Hindi po sapat ang salitang masaya at mahal ko kayo at salamat dahil hindi po nu’n ma-e-explain ang nararamdaman ko ngayon," Mika shared during her winning speech at the Big Night back in July.
Brent added: "Basta puso ang panlaban, anything is possible."