As the highly successful “teleserye ng totoong buhay” of ABS-CBN marks its milestone 20th anniversary this 2025, let us fill you with loads of nostalgia via this feature as we take a trip down memory lane and look back on the previous line-ups of “Pinoy Big Brother” hosts, who brought both delight and jitters to the housemates and audiences alike throughout the past two decades.
“Kuya’s Angels”
Those who have been watching the reality show ever since its early years can probably recall that most of the editions were hosted by the terrific trio of Bianca Gonzalez, Toni Gonzaga, and Mariel Rodriguez, collectively tagged as “Kuya’s Angels.”
Among the three, it was Toni and Mariel who had been part of the show since Day 1. While Bianca became a housemate first before joining the hosting lineup, Mariel and Toni eventually experienced the life inside Bahay ni Kuya for a while as houseguests. Big Brother set them off to carry out special missions in order for him and everyone to further get to know not just the housemates, but also the two of them.
Mariel, on the other hand, may have hosted several weeknight episodes, but her main tasks were to either host the late afternoon spin-off, “PBB Double Up Über,” or its late-night counterpart, “PBB UpLate.” She left the show in 2010 to pursue other endeavors, then reprised her role in 2015 through the sixth season, “PBB 737,” which served as her reunion with Toni and Bianca.
With how heartwarming and delightful it was, not to mention that it was the 10th anniversary of PBB that year, Kuya summoned them to the confession room to express his sincere gratitude for the three of them, who undeniably played significant roles in the immense success of the show.
Prior to stepping down as the main host in 2022, Toni was usually assigned to provide audiences with the latest updates inside the house during the weeknight airings. She was also tasked to announce the list of nominees and evictees every week.
As we all know, Bianca, who’s the only one left from this original group and has served as the main host of the recent editions, began her hosting stint for PBB after her 2nd runner-up finish in the “PBB Celebrity Edition 1”. Her first task was to take over the “PBB Teen Edition 1 Update” and “PBB UpLate,” formerly hosted by Mariel, as the latter had to take charge of the primetime broadcast following Toni’s absence due to prior commitments. She has been the frontrunner of the show since “PBB Kumunity Season 10” following the departures of Mariel and Toni.
Other celebrity hosts
Aside from “Kuya’s Angels,” there were also other celebrities who have taken part in the history of PBB as its hosts.
Not a lot of people may know or remember this, but veteran host Willie Revillame actually used to accompany Mariel and Toni every nomination and eviction night of the inaugural season, as well as during its highly anticipated Big Night.
Seasoned television presenter Luis Manzano was tapped to be the alternate host/co-host of Toni for the weeknight episodes of “PBB Celebrity Edition 1” and eventually returned in 2008 for the “PBB Teen Edition Plus.”
“PBB Season 1” 2nd Big Placer Jayson Gainza was able to showcase his hosting chops when he was chosen to be the adjudicator of the memorable “Teen Debate” between “PBB Teen Edition 1” housemates Gerald Anderson and Mikee Lee inside the house. He later became the “Man of the Street” reporter for “PBB Season 2.”
Right after snagging the Big Winner title, ‘Season 2” housemate Bea Saw immediately scored the job as the “PBB Updates” reporter.
Fresh faces graced our screens during the “Unlimited” edition in 2011 as Martin Concio, the son of veteran actress-host Charo Santos, and “PBB Teen Edition Plus” runner-up Robi Domingo joined Toni and Bianca that season. Robi has gone on to become one of the program’s permanent hosts ever since.
Before becoming a TV and events director, “PBB Celebrity Edition 1” runner-up John Prats tried his hand at hosting first via the “PBB Teen Edition 4” in 2012 and the “PBB All In” season in 2014.
After winning the “PBB Unlimited” edition, Slater Young was introduced as one of the hosts of the succeeding “PBB All In” edition and of its new online show alongside “PBB Teen Edition 4” alumnae Joj and Jai Agpangan. Toni's sister Alex Gonzaga got to host the first episode of “PBB All In” before Kuya surprisingly named her as the season’s celebrity houseguest. Alex continued her hosting stint for its companion show “PBB Über” as soon as her stay inside the house ended, then went on to reprise her role in “PBB Otso” from 2018 to 2019.
Enchong Dee had the same fate as Alex when he was introduced as the new host of “PBB 737” in 2015. Since it was part of the reality program’s tradition to stay in the house first and experience how it is to become a housemate, Kuya declared him a houseguest. When he went back to the outside world, he returned to being the “Homeboy ni Kuya,” whose main task was to provide hourly updates about the housemates to the viewers.
In the “PBB Otso” edition, former Big Winners Melai Cantiveros (“PBB Double Up”) and Kim Chiu (“PBB Teen Edition 1”) were tapped to join Toni, Robi, and Alex as the new hosts. Melai then went on to host the afternoon edition of “KUMUnek Tayo,” the online companion show of “PBB Connect,” alongside Enchong, while Bianca and Robi took charge of the primetime edition.
“PBB 737” adult ex-housemate and content creator Richard Juan was then chosen to host the online updates for “PBB Connect”. He was then joined by “PBB Otso” Batch 4 ex-housemate Sky Quizon in hosting the weekend edition of the “PBB Kumunity Season 10” online companion show entitled “KUMUlitan.”
After her short-lived stint in “PBB Kumunity Season 10” ex-celebrity housemate Alexa Ilacad then became part of the hosting lineup of “PBB Gen 11” along with Bianca, Enchong, Melai, Kim, and Robi. Since then, they have been collectively dubbed as “Pamilya ni Kuya.” Part of her first tasks was to host the season’s weekly online talk show entitled “PBB Gen 11 Up,” along with her co-hosts.
And for the historic and unbelievable joining of forces between ABS-CBN Studios and GMA for the “PBB Celebrity Collab Edition,” Kapuso stars Gabbi Garcia and Mavy Legaspi joined “Pamilya ni Kuya.” While we saw them with the Kapamilya hosts in almost every weekend airing of the show, Gabbi and Mavy were given their respective tasks, as well as their chances of experiencing life inside the house.
Gabbi was tasked to join either Bianca or Robi in the primetime airing, as well as to give updates to viewers aired during weekdays. Meanwhile, Mavi joined Alexa in the online companion talk show entitled “The OnlineVerse,” which aired during the weekends via Kapamilya Online Live (KOL).
Throughout the successful and remarkable 20 years of “Pinoy Big Brother,” we surely cannot deny the significant contributions that these hosts had made regardless of what roles they played or how long they stayed, right? Happy 20th anniversary, PBB!