Season 1, 2 and 3
The Philippine version was first announced by ABS-CBN on its trade show for advertisers in Rockwell Tent, Makati. In this show, 8 celebrities (four male, four female) compete in a sing and dance number while impersonating iconic singers. In each week, the eight celebrity contestants face the "Iconizer", which assigns the artists of whom they will impersonate. Each contestant presses the iconizer in the order from the last placer to the weekly winner. When the iconizer is pressed, it reveals which icon the performer must impersonate in the following week, along with a preview of the song they have to perform. [2]
The first season of the show took over the timeslot of the second season of The Voice of the Philippines , after its conclusion on March 1, 2015. [7]
Jed Madela, Gary Valenciano and Toni Gonzaga were initially reported to serve as judges for the first season. However Gonzaga was replaced by Sharon Cuneta following Cuneta's return to ABS-CBN on March 9, 2015. [4] [8] Annie Quintos and Georcelle Dapat-Sy were later revealed to help the contestants in impersonating their icons with Quintos coaching the contestants for their vocals and the latter coaching the contestants for choreography.
On April 5, 2015, due to Holy Week, the Week 4 of the first season was a single-episode duet special, as Black Saturday pre-empted all special programming.
On two weekends, Gary Valenciano temporarily left the show to fulfill his commitment of performing in a series of concerts. He was substituted by Boy Abunda for the April 18–19, 2015 episodes. The same instance happened on May 16–17, 2015, and he was substituted by Vice Ganda.
On June 6, 2015, during the Grand Showdown of the first season, it was announced that the show will return for a second season in the same year, which premiered on September 12, 2015, taking over the timeslot vacated by the second season of The Voice Kids . In August 2015, Melai Cantiveros, the winner of the first season was announced to co-host the show, impersonating different icons for each week. [9] Sharon Cuneta, Gary Valenciano, Jed Madela, and Billy Crawford were announced to return to the show to reprise their former duties. [10]
In January 2020, ABS-CBN announced that the show will have a third season after Sharon Cuneta renewed her contract with the network. However, the plans for the third season was postponed following the implementation of the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, which prompted the network to suspend it's tapings, as well as the shutdown of ABS-CBN free-to-air stations in the said year.
Also, during the Enhanced community quarantine in Luzon, the first Kids season was re-aired on the primetime slot from March–May 2020 as part of the network's temporary programming changes, taking the timeslot of second season of The Voice Teens
However, the reruns were abruptly stopped after May 3, 2020, due to the closure of ABS-CBN's free-to-air assets following the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission on account of its franchise expiration.
In December 2020, during the trade launch for 2021 held during the ABS-CBN Christmas Special, it was revealed the show will have a 3rd season, with this season being the first regular season since 2015 after two straight Kids seasons. However, due to Crawford focusing on blocktime shows on TV5, Luis Manzano replaced him as host for Season 3. The third season premiered on February 20, 2021.
On April 4, 2021, due to Holy Week, the Week 7 of the third season was originally going to have duet episodes, as Black Saturday pre-empted all regular programming. but however, as an enhanced community quarantine was reimposed in the Greater Manila Area in response to the surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the variants of the said disease, the plans for a duet episode was scrapped, and a compilation of Week 1's performances was re-aired instead.
The season's tapings resumed on April 12, 2021, following the downgrade of the enhanced community quarantine, however, Jhong Hilario withdrawn from the competition for the safety of his newborn baby.
For 12 or 13 weeks, all the celebrity contestants (four male, four female, in some cases groups composed of individuals of either gender) competes for a cash prize. The contestant with the highest points per week is crowned the weekly winner, and wins the said cash prize. The top four (or more in case of ties) contestants will advance to the finale and competes for the public's votes, where the artist with the most votes will be declared the winner. [11] [12]
Each contestant impersonates a different singer each week, and performs an iconic song and dance routine well known by that particular icon. The "Iconizer" assigns icons to the contestants and can assign any icon living or dead regardless of its age, race or gender. The contestants must press the "Iconizer" at the end of every Sunday episode, in which after pressing the red button, they reveal the icon they have to impersonate in the following week, and a playback of the song assigned to them being played afterwards.
Following the end of the performances, the judges give 1-8 points to the contestants, afterwards, the contestants give 3 points to a contestant other than themself.
However, in Season 3, the format for the finale was changed wherein all remaining contestants advanced to the finale and the winner was determined via a combination of votes cast by the public and the points accumulated by the contestant. [13]
Prizes
The prize given to the weekly winner varied from season to season. In seasons 1 and 2, the weekly winner was given a trophy and a cash prize worth ₱100,000, half of which were donated to a charity chosen by the winner. [2] [3] In Season 3 the weekly winner was still given a trophy, however the cash prize was 50,000 pesos with none being donated to charity, likely due to the pandemic-induced restrictions at the time of the season.
The Grand Prize is usually composed of a cash prize, a house and lot, and additional prizes, such as tickets to a particular destination. However, the cash prize varied from season to season. In seasons 1–2, the cash prize was worth ₱2,000,000 pesos, with half being donated to the winner's charity of choice. In Season 3 the cash prize was ₱4,000,000.
