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It's official: Pinoy Idol, the Philippine franchise of the biggest talent search American Idol is debuting this Saturday, April 5 on GMA 7! Finally, we'll get to see the 179 hopefuls who received gold tickets and see which of them will make it to the Top 24.

Our versions of the Randy-Paula-Simon combo this year are talent manager Wyngard Tracy, singer and songwriter Ogie Alcasid, and singer-actress-host Jolina Magdangal, while Raymond Gutierrez will be hosting and even giving ingenuous advice to the contestants, whoever they may be.

GMA let us in on the prize waiting for the first Pinoy Idol: a check for 1M, a contract for Sony BMG and GMA Network, a house and lot, and a car! Plus, Filipino folks in the US will also be able to catch Pinoy Idol on the GMA Pinoy TV US Cable Channel, but the network hasn’t confirmed if the broadcast will be simultaneous with the Philippine telecast.