Contents

Pinoy Big Brother: Otso

Pinoy Big Brother: Otso
Season 8
Pinoy Big Brother: Otso logo
Presented by	Toni Gonzaga Robi Domingo Alex Gonzaga Kim Chiu Melai Cantiveros Bianca Gonzalez
No. of days	268
No. of housemates	58
Winner	Yamyam Gucong
Runner-up	Kiara Takahashi
Companion shows	Pinoy Big Brother: Otso Gold PBB Bring 8 On! (online)
No. of episodes	265
Release
Original network	ABS-CBN
Original release	November 10, 2018 (2018-11-10) – August 4, 2019 (2019-08-04)
Season chronology
← Previous Lucky Season 7 Next → Connect

The eighth seasonofPinoy Big Brother, subtitled Otso (Spanish for eight), premiered on the ABS-CBN network on November 10, 2018 and ran for 268 days, ending on August 4, 2019, replacing Star Hunt: The Grand Audition Show and The Kids Choice and was replaced by Gangnam Beauty, Encounter, the second seasonofI Can See Your Voice and iWant Originals.

Four batches of housemates, two civilian adults and two teenager groups, compete to be the winner of their respective batches. By the fifth batch, all finalists from each batch return to compete for eight slots in the finale. The show concluded with Yamyam Gucong being declared as the winner of the whole season.^[1][2][3]

This was the longest season of Pinoy Big Brother yet, having reached 268 days—surpassing Lucky 7 by 32. This season is the third longest season of Big Brother worldwide and also had the second highest number of housemates in a season (58), trailing Big Brother Germany’s fifth and sixth seasons, which lasted for 365 and 363 days respectively, and had 59 housemates each.

Development[edit]

Auditions[edit]

Auditions for this season has been part of Star Hunt: The Grand Kapamilya Auditions, ABS-CBN's auditions caravan, which started on April 20, 2018.^[4] 55,373 auditionees took part,^[5] auditioning for other upcoming reality shows like The Voice of the Philippines, Pilipinas Got Talent, and World of Dance Philippines. Several potential housemates have been featured in Star Hunt's companion show.

Other content[edit]

Pinoy Big Brother: Otso Gold returned as a companion show on November 12, 2018, as part of the Kapamilya Gold block. A house livestream also aired on iWant and TFC Online. An additional online companion show called PBB Bring 8 On!, which streamed simultaneously with the primetime TV program, also aired live via show's various social media accounts; it was hosted by Dawn Chang of Pinoy Big Brother: 737, Fifth Solomon of Pinoy Big Brother: All In, and Pamu PamoradaofPinoy Big Brother: Unlimited.^[5]

An online show, YouthTube, which was hosted by Robi Domingo and Bianca Gonzales commenced on November 22, 2018. It talked about the different issues that arose in the house, particularly in the first batch of teen housemates.

Overview[edit]

Logo change and subtitle[edit]

The Otso in the season title is a Filipino language rendering of the Spanish word ocho ("eight"), indicating the season number. This season saw another logo change from the previous season: an eye logo using motifs from the Philippine flag (from which producers customized the new generic eye logo of Big Brother), atop the show's title and enclosed by an outline of a house. The adaption of the new generic franchise logo is the first among all the franchises worldwide.^[6]

Timeslot[edit]

The weekday primetime program of the show aired at 10:15 p.m. on weekdays after the last primetime teleserye in the primetime program block of the network. An afternoon edition titled Pinoy Big Brother: Otso Gold aired at 5:15 p.m. after Los Bastardos.

The weekend primetime program was originally aired at 7:30 p.m. during the batch 1 teens; however, after the first season of I Can See Your Voice ended, Pinoy Big Brother: Otso moved its timeslot to 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays and 9:30 p.m. on Sundays in order to give the timeslot to World of Dance Philippines since the batch 2 adults.

House changes[edit]

This season showed a major revamp in the house layout. On September 7, 2018, Director Laurenti Dyogi made a vlog about the reconstruction of the house.^[7] The new house design was finally unveiled on November 7, 2018 during its house blessing.^[8] Several housemates from previous seasons have visited the house and have taken pictures for their social media accounts. Official house photos were released on their Facebook page on November 10, 2018.^[9] The management opened its doors to 888 visitors to tour the House for 8 minutes on November 10, 2018.

From his livestream, Dyogi has stated that the show has upgraded to using HD PTZ cameras,^[5] making Otso the first season to fully broadcast in high definition and in 16:9 aspect ratio (Lucky 7's Vietnam leg was shown in 16:9, but the show reverted to 4:3 upon the housemates' return to the Philippines). It was worth noting that the one-way mirror system, used in earlier seasons for cameramen to capture events in the house, was no longer present.^[10]

Hosts[edit]

Toni Gonzaga and Robi Domingo reprised their roles as hosts.^[11] Alex Gonzaga, who hosted All In, returned to the show together with former winners Kim Chiu and Melai Cantiveros as new hosts. Bianca Gonzalez reprised her role as host upon the entry of Batch 2 Star Dreamers.^[12]

Prizes[edit]

As revealed during the announcement of the batch winners, each batch winner will receive ₱100,000.^[3] On the other hand, the ultimate winner would take home ₱2,000,000 (₱1,000,000 from Miniso and ₱1,000,000 from the show), a condominium unit Suntrust Asmara from Suntrust Properties, Inc.,^[13] a water refilling station business package worth ₱800,000, and a travel package worth ₱300,000 from Jag Jeans.^[1][14][15] The runner-up would receive ₱500,000 and a condominium unit from Suntrust Properties, Inc; the third and fourth placers would receive ₱300,000 and ₱200,000, respectively. ₱100,000 would be given to the fifth to eighth placers.^[14] Yen Quirante won a condominium unit from Suntrust Properties, Inc. during the third Pinoy Big Batch-Bakan.^[16]

Format[edit]

Since its official announcement on October 20, 2018, much information about this season has not been made public until November 9, 2018, where Dyogi published a livestream talking about it.^[5]

Four batches of housemates, civilians, and teenagers, came into the House in alternating order, starting with the teens. Each batch would comprise only eight official housemates. At the beginning of each batch's stay, 16 shortlisted contestants, known in the show as Star Dreamers, would take part in different tasks to determine who will be given housemate status, until eight are chosen. Star Dreamers who were unsuccessful in getting a spot in the House are sent to Camp Star Hunt, where they would be given tasks to determine among them the next person to be an official housemate. Every eviction, as one official housemate goes, a new one from the Camp takes their place. A new Star Dreamer will be introduced to the Camp, returning the number of housemates and Star Dreamers to eight. This is repeated for 6 weeks. By the seventh week, housemates would be participating in challenges or face the public vote, as part of the eviction process, until four are left. The public, then, decides, from the four, who they want to win for that batch. By the end of 8 weeks, the current batch leaves the House, and a batch winner is crowned, although the results were concealed until three more batches have gone through the same process.^[17][18] Once all batches are done, all batch winners would come back to the House, along with four more housemates from previous batches, chosen by the public, to form the final eight housemates who would battle to win the season.^[19]

This format was followed through on the batch 1. However, significant format changes were put in place as the show went on. By batch 2, Big Brother decided who would be an official housemate, and the housemates' stay was extended to 88 days—from the original 8 weeks or 56 days. By batch 3, all Star Dreamers eventually became housemates, entering the House by groups until Day 156. By batch 4, Camp Star Hunt was dropped, and the batch started with 12 official housemates, exiting the House via eviction without a replacement, and the housemates' stay was only 6 weeks—from the original 8 weeks or 56 days. By the Ultim8 Batch, all batch finalists returned, making the starting number of 16 housemates. The public did not decide who would return for this batch.

Twists[edit]

Aside from the twist to the show's format, the following are the highlighted twists that had occurred during the run of this season.

• Star Dreamers and Camp Star Hunt – On the launch night, 16 potential shortlisted contestants, called Star Dreamers, were introduced on the live launch wherein they must undergo through the housemate selection process twist in order to earn housemate status. Only eight of these Star Dreamers would become official housemates. Those who failed the cut, were housed in the Camp Star Hunt. These Star Dreamers would then battle between themselves by earning points in order to replace those housemates evicted weekly. The introduction of these Star Dreamers continued up to the third batch; upon the entry of the fourth batch, no more Star Dreamers were introduced.
• Housemates vs. Star Dreamers
• 2-in-1 Housemate – Two housemates who are related biologically are joined as one competing housemate, as assigned by Big Brother.

To disrupt normal selection processes in nominations, evictions, and even the finale to the determine the final four, Big Brother had given housemates several challenges of different formats for the five batches. For nominations and evictions, it had the Do-or-Die LigTask, The Duel, The Golden Circle and The Black Circle. For housemates to advance to the top group of any given batch, they had the Big Jump Challenge, Pinoy Big Batch-Bakan, and the Ultim8 Challenge.

Theme song[edit]

This season's theme song is "Otso Na" performed by co-hosts Toni and Alex Gonzaga where most elements (including the chorus) from Orange and Lemons's "Pinoy Ako," the franchise's theme song, were included in the song.^[20]

The season's eviction theme song was performed by Moira Dela Torre entitled "Before It Sinks In", written by herself and was part of her debut studio album "Malaya".

Housemates[edit]

On launch night on Days 1 and 2, official housemates were determined, from the chosen Star Dreamers from Star Hunt, through a series of challenges, by the council, and by the public. The council consists of past winners: season 1's Nene Tamayo, Celebrity 1's Keanna Reeves, Celebrity 2's Ruben Gonzaga, Teen Edition Plus's Ejay Falcon, Teen Edition 4's Myrtle Sarrosa, All In's Daniel Matsunaga, 737's Jimboy Martin, and Lucky 7's Maymay Entrata. On Day 2, three winners from the council were replaced by three ex-housemates: All In's Loisa Andalio, 737's Barbie Imperial, and Lucky 7's Edward Barber. The public chose a housemate through voting; the one with the most votes will become a housemate.

Below is a table of official housemates, and a collapsed table for shortlisted Star Dreamers staying at Camp Star Hunt.

Notes

Housemate selection history[edit]

Note that the term crossover, as used in the show, meant that the Star Dreamer had officially been an official housemate. However, in the case of Kim and Camille of batch two, they were still considered Star Dreamers when they crossed over to the House on Day 62. They eventually became official housemates on Day 68 upon the outcome of Pinoy Big Battle. No cross-overs had happened after The Gr8 C from batch three as the Camp had been abandoned.

Batch 1: Teens[edit]

This is the list of 88-second challenges for the first batch of teen housemates:

• #1: Star Dreamers must throw two balls on a string on to three level bars. Each bar corresponds to 1 point, 2 points, and 3 points. Each stringed balls that hung on to a corresponding bar are points added to their score. The one with the most points wins.
• #2: Star Dreamers must pick balls, corresponding to their assigned color, from a pool to a container. Each ball is 1 point added to their score. If they put a colored ball that is different from their assigned color, 1 point will be deducted to their score. The one with the most points wins.
• #3: Star Dreamers must stack water-filled bottles. The one with the highest level wins.
• #4: Star Dreamers must transfer balls through a relay course by balancing them on a plate. A big ball counts as 2 points, and a small one counts as 1 point. The one with the most points wins.

Notes

For Star Dreamers that didn't make the cut, they would be sent to the Camp. For them to crossover to the house, the team and individual scores of each will be added to determine their final points. The top four Star Dreamers with the most points will be up for public voting to determine who will become an official housemate. Once a Star Dreamer gets promoted as a housemate, another will come as their replacement.

• #1: Star Dreamers must prepare, and sell street foods for one hour. The team with the highest revenue gets higher points as a team. Individual points are also given based on their attitude and determination during the task.
• #2: Star Dreamers are tasked to create a fitness dance routine that will be taught to the public.
• #3: Star Dreamers must be able to buy junk materials with their given budget.
• #4: Star Dreamers are to create parols.
• #5: Star Dreamers are to write, act, and direct a short film, guided by Ces Quesada.

Batch 2: Adults[edit]

On January 6 and 7, sixteen Star Dreamers entered the Camp, which was divided into Camp A and Camp B. They were divided into two groups, and had undergone the Ultimate Star Dreamer Challenge. After the challenge, Big Brother chose eight official housemates.

On this batch, Big Brother introduced the process of dismissal. A Star Dreamer would be up for dismissal if they belonged to the losing group of a challenge for three consecutive times. The other safe Star Dreamers would vote on who they want to stay in the Camp; the Star Dreamer with the fewest votes would be dismissed. On the fifth challenge, Patrick was the only one up for dismissal, so he was dismissed immediately, and no voting took place.

On Day 55, Shawntel and Thea crossed over to the Big Brother House as the official housemates; it was revealed that after this crossover, there will be no new additional Star Dreamers that would enter the Camp. Later on, Aljur Abrenica entered the Camp as a Celebrity Star Player.^[53]

On Day 62, evicted housemates Abi, JC, Tori, and Wakim entered the Camp to become House Challengers, together with the other Star Dreamers.

• #1: Star Dreamers are to form the provided illustration of a key by stacking crayons.
• #2: Star Dreamers are to run a carinderia and must sell their chosen dishes to the public. The team with the highest sales and with a point from the carinderia manager wins the task. Prior to the task, they must prepare and serve their dishes to the housemates for a taste test.
• #3: Star Dreamers are to do housekeeping in a hotel. The points they receive will be added to their next job which is to run a flower shop. This is for the wedding of Mitch and Dudz.
• #4: Star Dreamers are to run a free hair and make-up salon.
• #5: Star Dreamers are to become kiddie party entertainers.
• #6: Star Dreamers are to become wet market fish vendors.
• #7: Star Dreamers are to become water aerobics instructors.
• #8: Star Dreamers are to become cadets during the Military Training week against the Housemates for the 1st Ultim8 Pinoy Big Battle.

Notes

Batch 3: Teens[edit]

Notes

Houseguests[edit]

To reflect the numbering of days in the show and those posted their social media, the day counter is adjusted back to Day 1 upon the entry of a new batch.

For batch one:

• Day 8: Dawn Chang, Mickey Perz, and Zeus Collins, judged the housemates in their dance painting.
• Day 15: Axel Torres, Bayani Agbayani, Janella Salvador, and McCoy de Leon helped the housemates in their 1st Big Celebr8ty Challenge.
• Day 17: Canadian pop rock country band The Moffatts visited the House.
• Day 21: Nyoy Volante teach the housemates in their celebrity impersonations.
• Day 22: Billy Crawford, Jed Madela, and Melai Cantiveros judged their celebrity impersonation performances.
• Day 29: Elsa Droga, Juliana Parizcova Segovia and, Rufa Mae Quinto judged and assist the housemates in their 3rd Big Celebr8ty Challenge.
• Day 34: Loisa Andalio, encouraged the housemates to gain revenue in their fifth weekly task.
• Days 35 and 36, Edward Barber and Maymay Entrata visited the house. The two helped the housemates in their last Decem-versus challenge.
• Days 43 and 44: Darren Espanto, Jimboy Martin, Kyla, and Maris Racal judged the housemates' performances in their concert night.

For batch two:

• Day 11: ABS-CBN writer and stand-up comedian Alex Calleja entered the House in order to mentor them for their Otsoya Saya Task.
• Day 42: Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil entered the House to be guest directors for their acting task.
• Day 50: International pop band Now United visited the House.
• Day 55: Aljur Abrenica entered Camp Star Hunt to assist the Star DreamersinPinoy Big Battle.^[44][53]
• Day 65 until the end of the week: Ogie Alcasid entered the House and Camp to mentor the housemates and Star Dreamers for their foot puppet competition.

For batch three:

• Day 49, Andrea Brillantes, Francine Diaz, Kyle Echarri and Seth Fedelin entered the house to pretend as housemates and challenged the housemates to give up their golden medallions.

For batch four:

• Day 16, Vice Ganda entered the house to greet the housemates & interact with them.

Weekly tasks[edit]

Notes

Challenges[edit]

Big Celebr8ty Challenge[edit]

In the first batch, the Ligtask was brought back in the form of the Big Celebr8ty Challenge. Every Saturday, the housemates would compete in a for immunity from nominations; there will be celebrity guests that would be participating for certain roles in the challenge. For the first week, Bayani Agbayani, Axel Torres from All In, Janella Salvador and McCoy de Leon from Lucky 7 took part in the challenge.^[56] For the second week of the challenge, Nyoy Volante, Melisa Cantiveros, Billy Crawford and Jed Madela judged the teen housemates' performance.^[57] For the third week of the challenge, Rufa Mae Quinto, and Elsa Droga and Juliana Pariscova Segovia of It's Showtime took part as actors for the said challenge.^[58]

Note

Housemates vs. Star Dreamers[edit]

Batch one participated in Decem-versus, and the mechanics are as follows: there are three challenges they have to go through, and the teams must race to win two out of three. If the housemates got defeated by Camp Star Hunt, there would be a double eviction and two Star Dreamers would crossover. If the housemates win, no double eviction will happen. On Day 33, Ali, Reign, and Rhys, who are originally from Camp Star Hunt, took the chance to help the Camp, leaving the five other housemates to compete in the second challenge. On Day 34, after the housemates lose their second challenge, the Camp had an 88-second advantage on their third challenge. On Day 36, Ali, Reign, and Rhys were given a chance to change their decision. Rhys was the only one who returned help the housemates. Edward Barber and Maymay Entrata entered the House to help the housemates. While the Camp won two out of three, the housemates were declared winners of Decem-versus, and no double eviction happened. The reason for this decision is unknown.

Batch two participated in Pinoy Big Battle. If the housemates win, all of them will be immune from eviction; otherwise, two Star Dreamers will crossover. Prior to the announcement of the first battle, Big Brother informed Shawntel and Thea that they will be separated during the final battle: one would stay with the housemates, and the other would be sent to help the Star Dreamers. The housemates, then, chose Shawntel to help the Star Dreamers. For the second battle on Day 68, Camille and Kim learned that they weren't officially housemates yet, and would only become one after the battle. They were tasked to lead the Housemates for the second battle, while Shawntel and Andre were sent to Camp Star Hunt to lead them respectively. Grace and Kin replaced them for the battle.

Big Jump[edit]

Housemates participate in various challenges to be a batch finalist. On Day 50 of batch one, Big Brother announced that one of the Star Dreamers can help one of the participants. They pick Jelay, and Gian was able to help her in the challenge. On Day 31 of batch four, for the first four challenges, two housemates participate on each.

Do-or-Die LigTask[edit]

As Karina, Rhys, and Seth forfeited their chance in the Big Jump, Big Brother made them participate in a Do-or-Die Ligtask. If all of them succeeded the challenge happening on Day 53, they will be safe from eviction; otherwise, one of them will get evicted.

The Duel[edit]

For batch two, housemates had to challenge another housemate to determine the duel participants. The winner of the duel would be safe, while the loser would be fake evicted from the House, be moved to a secret room in the House, and be nominated for eviction for that week.

Pinoy Big Bakbakan[edit]

For batch three's fourth and fifth weekly task, the housemates compete with the batch finalists of batches one and two. The challenges were played in pairs.