Last year’s Star Movies Movie Marathon was such a success. Be the last man standing (make that sitting down and watching a movie) and you win a huge cash prize.
So when news about another one happening this year spread, a lot of people wanted to join. However, some had second thoughts when they found out about the new name and the twists that go along with it. Now known as the Star Movies Movie Triathlon, physical tasks were added to make it even more challenging—as if not being able to go on a bladder break, take a nap, use one’s phone and even stretch wasn’t challenging enough!
Held last Oct. 18, at the Newport Cinema 3 in Resorts World, the challenge started at 7 a.m. with 200 couch potatoes tasked to watch the following movies for 16 hours: “On the Waterfront,” “Rio Grande,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Deer Hunter,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Casa Blanca” and “A Rebel without A Cause.” By around 3 p.m., contestants got trimmed down to around 70. These contestants had to undergo a physical endurance test that had them doing a 30-minute circuit training that involved squats and jumping jacks. As expected, more people got eliminated.
Even more contestants got the boot after the yoga and bike challenges. But while some of them got exhausted and gave up, there were those who chose to quit the game in exchange of a cash prize and a 24-inch LED TV.
The “grand finals” saw the final five couch potatoes—Ria Hernandez, Cathleen Andersson, Natalia Ortega, Lesly Yiu and Dominic Cruz—competing in the treadmill challenge.
But something surprising (and disappointing, actually) happened: the five contestants decided to skip the dreaded treadmill challenge and just split the P150,000 among themselves.
How’s that for an ending?
