UCCian graces TV 5’s “Talentadong Pinoy”

This is the original article CJ and I wrote about MAPE. This was later edited & got piblished in The Crossroads

UCCian graces “Talentadong Pinoy”

An exceptionally talented AB Math UCCian just brought home the bacon from TV 5’s “Talentadong Pinoy”, a reality talent show with no limits, where truly entertaining can survive the panel of judges plus the ‘audience jury’.

This newly pride of UCC is no other than Reynaldo L. Mape Jr. ,a 20-year old AB Math student from Camarin & a resident of Bagong Silang Caloocan City.

His winning performance was done along with his 8-year old brother Reymil. He showcased his cunning maneuver of Rubik’s cube along with playing the yoyo. The judges & its host, Ryan Agoncillo was so amazed that they even asked for some lessons.

His winning is composed of 5o, 000 pesos & a chance to be exposed on some GMA shows namely; “Unang Hirit” & “Lovely Day”(not yet shown). He gave a humble “maybe” when asked if he would go for showbiz if ever offers would come.

He is such a restless achiever. He has mentioned in the lunch interview held last November 14 that he consistently endeavors novel & unusual talents. “ Dapat bawat araw may magagawa akong bago” he mentioned with his thrilled eyes longing to unveil some more talents & skills through his seemingly frail physique.

A true talented young man, he also knows how to play the piano which he learned at the age of six, and learned other musical instruments since then. Among these are the xylophone, guitar, violin and others. He became a virtuoso despite the fact that his right ear became deaf because of an ear infection. He had uncovered these skills & talents with only limited resources. He used to borrow instruments & try to figure it out by himself. According to this guy who was raised in far away suburbs of Cagayan, resources are just secondary factors in attaining success. It’s the determination to achieve something that matters. He is indeed a “talentadong pinoy”!

The show is not only his arena. He has also spread his wings on other competitions & proved to everybody especially to those who scorned him that adversity is not a hindrance to attain something. He has competed in international & local Rubik’s cube competition such as Rubik’s cube Philippine open 2008 wherein he ranked 2nd in 3x3x3 blindfold category & 6th in 3x3x3 multi blindfolded category amongst hundreds of other aspirants.

His most recently learned talents are playing astrojax (a string with 3 weights) and dice stacking. The truly remarkable thing is that he is practicing these talents with borrowed or improvised equipments.

On an interview, he said that he will use different talents each episode in order to maintain the judges’ interest. He is currently re-practicing his talents, quoting “Kung may talent ka, dapat maya-maya daanan mo rin kasi baka mamaya magtampo yun”.

Mape now aspires to be a defending champion 5 times in a row, a feat that will earn him the title of being the first champion to do this competition.