Young fairy godmother to model wannabes

By Isah V. Red

Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? Or maybe more.

After all, the daughter of actor Eddie Gutierrez and former actress Annabelle Rama, Ruffa, now married to Turkish businessman Yilmaz Bektas and mother to two pretty girls, Lorin and Venice, is by all means a woman of leisure, surrounded by glitz and glam of the wealthy in Istanbul, Turkey.

Yet, Ruffa has chosen to be not just a billionaire’s wife. She wants to be what she used to be before she exchanged wedding vows with her Yilmaz in March 25, 2003. Show business, as the Filipino saying goes, runs deep in her blood, and so it goes without saying that she will, when opportunity comes her way, face the cameras.

And she will, as she accepted hosting chores for the upcoming reality TV show Philippines’ Next Top Model.

The show is the local version of the popular America’s Next Top Model seen in the US on cable from CWTV and in this part of the world via Solar Entertainment’s cable channels. Top model Tyra Banks hosts the show’s American edition, and when Wilson Tieng, chief executive and president of Solar acquired the license to produce a local edition, he had no one in mind but Ruffa Gutierrez.

“Come to think of it, she’s the only one we thought of,” Wilson told the entertainment press during a luncheon that introduced Ruffa as host of the show. “She’s the only one that can host this kind of show.”

Ruffa in response to Wilson said that hosting Philippines’ Next Top Model is once-in-a-lifetime chance for her to do something she always wanted to do in her career in show business.

“How many women in the business my age would be offered to be in this kind of show? I just feel lucky that Wilson thought of me and no one else,” she said.

Annabelle Rama, Ruffa’s mom, actually did all the negotiations for her daughter. She even took the task of asking her son-in-law’s permission on behalf of Ruffa, arguing that the work will keep Ruffa from boredom, an affliction common to wives of wealthy businessmen.

As expected, the son-in-law couldn’t argue with a feisty mother-in-law, and so he acquiesced and gave his blessings to his beauty queen of a wife to fly to Manila for the launch and contract signing with Solar Entertainment.

Ruffa said that he was going to break the news to Yilmaz, but she got a call from her mom who told her that it was a done deal with her husband.

The show will be, as all reality TV shows, video taped in advance. Ruffa said she should be back in Manila in the next couple of weeks for the screening of contestants, and it should not take more than two months to finish the series.

“But, we will also have live telecasts to make it more exciting and in step with the audience,” Wilson added. “We will fine tune the schedule with Ruffa as soon as things get going.”

Model wannabes

Aspiring young girls who virtually have no professional modeling experience will soon have a chance to learn the joys and pains of becoming the next top model through a series of grueling and exciting photo shoots, the art of catwalks and studying with the best of fashion industry’s experts.

Ruffa will be mentoring women with potentials to be in the glamour business in the country and follow their complete transformation from ordinary girls-next-door to the next fashion icons ever to hit the runway.

Philippines’ Next Top Model will aim to redefine Filipino fashion and showcase local talent as the next biggest and hottest supermodel on the international scene.

Wilson said the rules of the game have yet to be finalized, “But I’d like to make the contest open to anyone who can pass the requirements, one of which is of good moral character.”

Yet, that clause doesn’t limit the contestants to vestal virgins. “For as long as she has no criminal record, or is not being pursued by law enforcers for a crime, and even if she has a kid or two, she can join the contest.”

Announcement of the rules and audition will be made on Prime Shift, the primetime block of Solar Entertainment on RPN-9. Philippines Next Top Model will naturally be aired on the same network.

Impressive track record (Ruffa)

Ruffa has starred in more than 50 feature films. She was Second Princess and Asia’s Queen of Beauty in the 1993 Miss World Beauty Pageant. She also represented the Philippines by gracing the New York runway as model and turned into one of the very few Filipinos to make it to Hollywood by hosting the Holyfield-Lewis Heavyweight Championship Prefight Special for TVKO, Halloween Haunts for Fox, Millennium Countdown in Florida, Backstreet Boys Concert coverage, HBO Movie Marathon. Since then Ruffa has also started the Roof-a Child Foundation and continues doing charity work with Ricky Reyes’ cancer children’s hospital to this day. She is also president of Fashion TV Turkey, a position she really enjoys playing to the hilt.

Now, back in the country where she became one of the more controversial figures, she plays fairy godmother to some of the country’s aspiring models.

how old is she..if she won a beauty contest in 1993 then she is..around..33-35 yrs old? yikes!

i think only Ruffa can over take Chris aquino as being the most annoying show host.

I think Tyra banks is already in her 30's as well..