Inaki Wins Over Christian

The much-awaited aca pella performances is over, and the scholars were gleeful about it for quite a number of reasons.

The probationary scholars were the first to perform. Inaki did his To Where You Are, followed by Christian's Shout For Joy and eventually their duet of Apo Hiking Society's Panalangin. On a comment by the mentors before the commercial break, Teacher Kitchie Molina is quoted as saying "may daya kasi" referring to Christian's Shout For Joy where he didn't do the bridge part as practiced. He shouted it to the audience instead of sing as Teacher Kitchie taught.

The rest of the trio did great. Bugoy, Hansen and Van was even given a perfect 10 by Gerard Salonga, as well as Liezel, Cris and Bunny by Louie Ocampo.

As it turned out, Inaki got more text votes than Christian. The "little man" only got 43.99% of votes, while Inaki got 56.01. It was an emotional moment as he sang his Shout For Joy for the last time on the PDA stage.

The best trio of the night was the Bugoy-Hansen-Van group. They actually got a soaring grade of 9.82 for the songs Yesterday and Tearing Up My Heart. The three were ecstatic especially Hansen (as he usually is after every gala night) because it was his first time to be in the top 3.

Another reason for the scholars to celebrate was nobody was sent on probation last night. A good point because it's really hard to judge trios individually. One is obviously the pillar of the group while the other two remains back-up.

It was a great night, and the mentors are quite happy. Even the hard-to-please Gerard Salonga didn't lash out anyone with his venomous tongue last night. The guest judge Ms. Vernie Varga was obviously impressed by the performances, praising the trio of Apple, Miguel and Laarni for a job well done.

Poy Palma entered her way to the academy by singing (again) her Big Night song I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing. But as Salonga said, "there's only one girl who can sing that song and we already know who she is" pertaining to Regine Velasquez.