Asia’s top-rating design reality series, The Apartment: Passion for Design returns to Sony Channel starting March 22, and this time around with three Filipino contenders vying to become Season 6’s interior-design champion.
Fil-Kiwi model Stephanie Dods, interior decorator Jesy Cruz, and interior designer Eugene del Rosario join this year’s roster of 12 contestants from different social backgrounds. The three are making a bid to win the biggest prize in the series’ history: the deed to a luxurious UMLand apartment at D’Lagoon in Iskandar, Malaysia.
“The selection process was basically an open-casting call. We opened the job on television, on social media and [then] we got hundreds—maybe even thousands—of applications. Then we went through our process of shortlisting the contestants based on their passion for design, their interesting characters which the audience would love to watch, and their determination to win,” producer Riaz Mehta said in an exclusive preview of The Apartment Season 6 at Century City Mall in Makati recently.
The 2013 edition crowned Cebu-based interior designers Deankie Latonio and Tiara Sison as winners and titleholders of a double-story home at Elmina in Malaysia.
“Filipinos are renowned for their exceptional talent, and they tend to do really well in reality series where their creativity and survival skills are put to the test under high-pressure situations.
The Amazing Race Asia and Asia’s Got Talent on AXN are two wonderful examples of Filipinos making the country proud. Now with The Apartment: Passion for Design on Sony Channel, the Philippines will show that the country can also excel in interior design,” said Armi Malaluan, director and business head of Sony Television Networks, Asia.
Filipino media personality and businessman Cat Arambulo-Antonio also joins the judges’ panel, together with New York-based designer Tyler Wesler, international superstar and principal judge Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and author/host Jamie Durie.
Produced by Singapore-based Imagine Group Entertainment and a Sony Channel Original Series, The Apartment premiered on international television in 2011. Six seasons later, it is now the longest-running reality competition in Asia.
The concept of the show is for the designer contestants to design and decorate a room each week in order to compete for the prize of a luxury apartment in Kuala Lumpur. The fourth season was a celebrity edition where the prize was $100,000 to be donated to the winner’s chosen charity, while the fifth season had the prize of $100,000 for the winners.
“The Apartment came about because I saw an issue in the market that there was no other design show in Asia that was entertainment-based and that appealed to the mass audiences,” Mehta said.
“That was the time I approached Dulux for a partnership and they were very kind to support us from season one. We also had Malaysian Property Developers sign the property [we’ll be using]. They believed in us and they sponsored us, and that was what brought the show to reality.”
In terms of viewership in different market segments around Asia, Mehta said: “The acceptance is extremely well; actually, since the show first began, our audience ratings have grown every year.”
He added, “We find that the show appeals to a younger demographic, and that’s reflected in the cast of the show as well. This year one thing you’ll find is that we’re launching an online digital series that complement the TV show. It’s called The Apartment Unboxed, and you will be able to get a lot more content. This way, we’re also trying to reach more audiences through a digital footprint.”
Sony Channel is available on Cablelink Channel 39, Cignal Channel 120, Destiny Cable Channel 35, G Sat Channel 48, and SKYCable Channel 25.