Ateneans from the different schools and divisions gathered once again in the Arrupe Hall to support their respective representatives for this year’s Karaoke Challenge. The said event began at 10:00 AM and ended at around 12 noon of August 16, 2017.

The Karaoke Challenge was hosted by Christian Dave Bayron and Nina Cesar while the judging panel was composed of Shievae Olegario, Rina Maria Ampoloqiuo, and Regel Kent Asuero. The contestants were judged based on their pair dynamics (15%), how they took the challenge (40%), the sustainability of the song (40%), and their audience impact (5%).

In an interview with Mildan John Romero and Nina Cesar, the GACP President and one of the event’s hosts, respectively, they mentioned that the GACP changed the concept of the competition. In the past, bands from the different divisions would come together and compete against one another. For this year, they incorporated challenges that were in line with the games in Palarong Pinoy.

For the first round of the competition which was named “Sariling Atin,” the contestants prepared one OPM song. Before they were to sing their first number, they were asked to pick a piece of paper from a box that contained a certain task that they would need to do during their performance. This included challenges that required the contestants to sing while playing Chinese garter or while dancing with a hula hoop.

The second round of the Karaoke Challenge was called “Sweeeg.” The GACP prepared Korean Pop songs that the contestants would choose from. For this round, the contestants had to play the Chubby Bunny Challenge with a twist, which was for every 20 seconds of their performance, each contestant had to put one marshmallow into their partner’s mouth. The list of KPOP songs that the contestants had to choose from included Big Bang’s “Fantastic Baby,” Psy’s “Oppa Gangnam Style, and Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry.”

Before the third round of the competition commenced, the top three pairs were announced. The winning roster was composed of the students from the School of Education, the School of Humanities and Letters, and the Accountancy cluster.

In the third round that was named “Just Birit,” the top three pairs had to sing a western song. During their performance, they were tasked to find a 1-, 5-, or 10 centavo coin that was placed in a mystery box.

The students from the School of Education were the first group to take to the stage with their rendition of Sia’s “Chandelier.” The representatives from the School of Humanities and Letters wowed the crowd with their version of Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go.” The contestants from the Accountancy were the last to perform and they surely entertained the crowd with their performance as they sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”

After all the performances, the awarding ceremony took place. The GACP presented certificates and tokens to the three judges of the competition.

Mr. Fayloga took charge of the announcement of winners. The students from the School of Education came in third place with a score of 83% while the contestants from the School of Humanities and Letters came in second place with a score of 89%. The students from the Accountancy cluster were hailed as this year’s Karaoke Challenge with a score 91%.

The success of the said event’s champions, namely, Leandro Kenneth Abdala and Rhosendy Cortez, came as a surprise. In an interview right after the competition, Abdala said that this victory feels rewarding since they did not expect to win the contest. He shared that they didn’t have enough time to prepare for the Karaoke Challenge since they were also preparing for Sayawtenista.