FOLLOWING a dominant showing in the first run of AXN’s hit talent search Asia’s Got Talent in 2015, Filipino acts continued their winning ways in the premier episode of the show’s comeback season.
Three participants bannering the Philippine flag made it through to the next round of the competition in the show’s two-hour pilot aired last week. The acts include Surigao del Norte’s rapping grandma Lola Mercy, Compostela Valley’s longhaired rock-style dancers DMX Comvaleñoz and Batangas’s stunt dance crew D’Intensity Breakers.
The Filipino talents look to extend the country’s success on the show, which saw two local acts barge into the top 3 last season. Classical singer Gerphil Flores finished third, while all-male shadow-play group El Gamma Penumbra came away as champions two years ago.
AXN Networks Philippines Inc. Country Director and Business Head Armi Malaluan said the long
gap between the first and second seasons had to do with preparations. “The overwhelming response to Season 1 was so great that our production team and partners had to make sure that Season 2 would be bigger and better.”
This season features 165 acts from 15 countries battling it out for the grand prize of $100,000. New to this run are MTV Asia VJ Alan Wong and actor/filmmaker Justin Bratton as hosts, along with multiplatinum Korean-American artist Jay Park as judge, who joins 16-time Grammy-winning music producer David Foster and acclaimed Indonesian-French singer Anggun on the judges’ table.
“I can’t wait to see what kind of chemistry we’re going to show,” Park said in a video on the special screening of the season’s premier at House Manila in Resorts World Manila. “I’m not just looking for the best technique or the best dancer; I’m looking for heart and soul.”
Park saw those qualifications from the episode’s final act, the Adem Dance Crew, a four-man dance group from Kyrgyz Republic who electrified the crowd with pop-and-lock moves.
Park described the performance as “amazing,” before hitting the “Golden Buzzer” for the first time this season, sending the crew straight to the competition’s semifinals in November.
The second of the 10 episodes of Asia’s Got Talent Season 2 airs tonight at 8:30 pm on AXN. Operated by Sony Pictures Television Networks Asia, the channel is available on Cablelink Channel 38, Cignal Channel 121, Destiny Cable Channel 61, Dream Satellite TV Channel 20, G Sat Channel 51 and SKYcable Channel 49. AXN HD is available on SKYcable Channel 247.
Malaluan said that, while the network is focused on Asia’s Got Talent for the rest of the year, they have something brewing that should be ready for the first quarter of 2018. Pressed for details, the most she could give was it’s a “locally produced adventure and travel show” that is “very AXN.”