"Protege" bids goodbye to North & Central Luzon's Reese Tayag

For most of the proteges, this week's gala night is just one of a series of nerve-wracking, anxiety-ridden activities that they have to go through as the road to the big artista break gets narrower each week.  But for North and Central Luzon protege Reese Tayag, this week's elimination night is the end of her journey in the competition.  Reese was eliminated after scoring the lowest in an acting performance wherein all proteges were given the chance to act alongside the "Diamond Star" Maricel Soriano in five short films directed by Cannes Film Festival awardee Brillante Mendoza and written by Palanca awardee Floy Quintos.

"Sa ngayon po sobrang malungkot po ako dahil wala na po ako sa show at mamimiss ko po ang mga kapwa ko protege," shared Reese during an interview after the show.  "Pero wala naman po akong pagsisisi sa sarili ko. Nagkataon lang siguro po na hindi talaga napakita yung kaya ko pong ipakita.  Naniniwala po ako sa sarili ko na ginawa ko po yung best ko," she said.

Although Reese is out of the competition, she is not giving up on her dreams to become an 'artista.'

"Naniniwala po ako kay Papa God na lahat po nang nangyari ay may dahilan. Manalo man o matalo, dun palang sa pagiging part ko ng Top 20 panalo na po para sa akin iyon," she said. 

Reese thanked her mentor Ricky Davao for everything she has learned from the actor-director.

"Sobrang malaking bagay po sa akin ang mga iyon.  Iyon po yung mga bagay na kahit kailan ay hindi masusuklian sa buhay ko."

Only thirty percent of the total score was based on the text votes while seventy percent was taken from the average of the scores given by the four judges -- director Bert de Leon, actress Cherie Gil, GMA executive Anna Teresa Gozon-Abrogar and actor-comedian Joey de Leon. Reese, however, does not take her elimination personally against the judges.

"Nirerespeto ko naman ang opinion ninyo at yung desisyon po ninyo, at doon naman sa mga sumuporta sa akin at nagtiwala, maraming salamat pa rin po dahil kung hindi po dahil sa inyo ay hindi po ako makakarating dito," said Reese.

Reese's ever supportive mother who watched the gala night inside the studio quickly cheered up her daughter after walking down the stage. 

"Sabi po ng mama ko sa akin, 'Anak, wag kang umiyak, ngumiti ka lang. Diba nga tulad ng lagi mong sinasabi may dahilan lagi si Lord para sa lahat.  Hindi man ikaw ang manalo ngayon malay mo bukas makalawa yun naman ang big break mo,'" shared Reese.

Reese said that she will miss all of her fellow proteges especially Shelly and Steffi who are her closest friends inside the quarters.  Inside another dressing room adjacent to where Reese was interviewed, the other proteges were comforting Shelly and Steffi who were also very much affected by their friend's elimination. 

Aside from Reese, two other proteges came close to leaving the competition.  They are Vien Alen King of Mega Manila and Japs de Luna of North and Central Luzon.

Prior to the announcement of Reese's elimination (during the commercial break), bottom protege Vien Alen broke into tears thinking that he would be eliminated.  After the show, Vien Alen admitted to being anxious about the elimination.

"Naisip ko po talaga na ako yung matatanggal kasi yung dalawang team mates ko po kasi talagang magagaling po sila kaya naiyak po ako kasi alam ko pong ginawa ko rin naman po yung best ko," explained Vien.

Special Awards

One of the surprises this week was the awarding of special awards to proteges who showed commendable performance in the short films.  Maricel Soriano herself picked Elle Ramirez and Andres Vasquez (Mega Manila) as the Best Female and Best Male Proteges, respectively.  Andres also received the Director's Choice Award for Breakthrough Performance.

The Visayas team, on the other hand, received the Best in Ensemble Acting.

The special awardees were automatically saved the eliminations.

A tougher week ahead

The number of proteges who survived the cut so far is down to 14, and it will even get smaller each week until the grand finals wherein only one male and one female protege will be hailed as victors.  

Who will get eliminated next week?  We'll find that out next Sunday during the next gala night of Protege: The Battle for the Big Artista Break hosted by Dingdong Dantes and Carla Abellana.  It airs live after iBilib on GMA-7.  

Also, follow the lives of the proteges inside their quarters in Inside Protege hosted by Jennylyn Mercado, which airs from Monday to Friday on GMA Telebabad and in the webshow Protege: Pa-Like hosted by Maxene Magalona, which is available online via www.gmanetwork.com/protege.

Receive real-time updates from inside the protege quarters by following @insideprotege and @gmanetwork on Twitter.  Like GMA Network's official Facebook Fan page (www.facebook.com/gmanetwork) for exclusive behind-the-scenes articles, photos and videos.