The third season of the reality game show Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition, subtitled Collab, stylized as Celebrity Collab Edition, aired on GMA Network for 119 days from March 9 to July 5, 2025.
This season featured celebrities from the talent agencies Star Magic and Sparkle GMA Artist Center competing as duos, a first in the series. As part of a collaboration between ABS-CBN Studios, the franchise holder, and GMA Network, the season was the first to air on the latter channel. The show was presented by a roster of hosts led by Bianca Gonzalez, including new hosts Gabbi Garcia and Mavy Legaspi.
After 119 days, Brent Manalo and Mika Salamanca were named the winners at the finale held at the New Frontier Theater, with Ralph De Leon and Will Ashley as first runners-up. Celebrity Collab Edition was the longest non-regular season of the franchise, surpassing Teen Edition 4 by 28 days, until it was surpassed by the succeeding season by eight days.
Contents
Development
On January 27, 2025, during a broadcast of the newscast 24 Oras, actress-presenter Iya Villania announced that the new season of Pinoy Big Brother would air on GMA Network, marking the franchise's debut broadcast on the network. As series' third celebrity edition, subtitled Celebrity Collab Edition, the season's cast would be composed of artists from the talent agencies Star Magic and Sparkle GMA Artist Center. The following day, a contract signing between the executives from ABS-CBN Studios and GMA Network was held in Quezon City. Principal photography commenced on March 9, 2025.
Hosts from the previous seasons—Bianca Gonzalez, Robi Domingo, Kim Chiu, Melai Cantiveros, Enchong Dee and Alexa Ilacad—all reprised their roles. Two talents from GMA—Gabbi Garcia and Mavy Legaspi—joined the roster of hosts on February 9 and 21, respectively.
Broadcast
The season premiered on March 9, 2025, on GMA's Sunday night lineup. The program aired on GMA Network's Prime lineup during weeknights and on weekend nights. The show aired worldwide via GMA Pinoy TV and The Filipino Channel. Aside from its television broadcast, the season also airs online through Kapuso Stream, Kapamilya Online Live, iWant, and ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube channel. Two companions show support the series. Updates, hosted by Garcia, airs twice on weekdays on GMA, while The OnlineVerse, hosted by Ilacad and Legaspi, streaming every Saturdays on Kapuso Stream and Kapamilya Online Live.
Theme songs
The season used a new version of "Sikat Ang Pinoy" (transl. Filipinos Are Famous) as its main theme, with Darren Espanto and Julie Anne San Jose providing vocals for the track. Jonathan Manalo composed and produced the season's eviction theme, "Paalam Muna Sandali" (transl. Goodbye for a Moment), which was recorded and released by Espanto as a single off his upcoming album Ikaw Pa Rin (2025).
Broadcast coverage in other programs
During the season, the Big Brother House welcomed prominent news personalities for special interviews. Veteran broadcast journalist Rico Hizon conducted an exclusive interview with Kuya in late June 2025 as part of his program, Beyond the Exchange with Rico Hizon, which aired on the ABS-CBN News Channel. His interview delved into various aspects of the show, including the selection criteria for prospective housemates and the intent behind the house tasks.
Meanwhile, days before the Big Night, GMA Network journalist Jessica Soho visited the house to interview the season's finalists. Her interview covered the housemates' experiences inside the house, and was broadcast a day after the Big Night on her top-rating weekly magazine program, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho. During her visit, Soho immersed herself in the landmark aspects of the show, including meeting Kuya in the confession room, learning about the house rules, and touring the house. She also cooked for the housemates, and they shared lessons learned about being true to oneself and the importance of community.
Format
Collab format
The season's subtitle, Collab, alludes to its cast, which is composed of celebrities signed to the talent agencies Star Magic and Sparkle GMA Artist Center, a first in Pinoy Big Brother history. Deviating from the show's usual format, the housemates competed in duos, each consisting of a Star Magic and Sparkle housemate. These duos were shuffled periodically through tasks and challenges until Day 91, when the final duos were determined. In each nomination round, each duo nominates two other duos for eviction, with the first receiving three points and the second receiving one point. The top three duos with the most nomination points (or more if there is a tie) will be put forward for public vote. Housemates are nominated and evicted as duos, with a duo being declared as the winner in the season finale. For the first time since the show's inaugural season in 2005, nominations and evictions were conducted every two weeks.
Digital payment app Maya retained its partnership with Pinoy Big Brother, as its official finance and voting partner. Through the app, viewers may vote to save a nominee from eviction, being provided 30 chances to vote per voting day. Starting from the fourth nomination round, viewers have the additional option to give 300 or 500 save votes to a nominated housemate of their choice.
For The Big Night, viewers can vote to save and evict. Furthermore, viewers can vote unlimited times.
As part of their sponsorship, housemates can manage their weekly budget by depositing their funds in the app. If they succeed in their weekly task, they will receive ₱50,000; otherwise, they will receive the interest that their amount have which is 15%. Housemates have two options: they can spend a portion of their weekly budget for the week or save it and allow it to grow with an interest rate of up to 15%.
Twists
Immunity Shield: First unveiled on Day 9, the Immunity Shield necklace grants the wearer immunity for the following nomination round.
The Big Comeback: On Day 64, the hosts announced that there will be a Wild Card Round for the evicted housemates, with an exception to Michael and Emilio due to their prior commitments, using Maya, where viewers will have the power to vote to bring back one Sparkle housemate and one Star Magic housemate who deserve to continue his/her journey inside the house. The results were announced on Day 71. The voting process was conducted individually and daily voting limit will also apply.
Big Intensity Challenges: On Day 72, Big Brother announced that the housemates would determine the final duo through a series of challenges, aside from immunity at stake. The Sparkle housemates faced off against fellow Sparkle housemates, while the Star Magic housemates faced off against fellow Star Magic housemates. The nominees for the fifth nomination round were determined through this challenge, with one Sparkle and Star Magic housemate being evicted at the end of the week.
Secret Room: On Day 79, Big Brother surprised the other housemates by isolating the four Big Intensity Challenge winners, AZ, Esnyr, Shuvee, and Ralph, in a secret room. After a set amount of time, these four housemates switched rooms with the nominated housemates. During their stay in the Secret Room, they were able to communicate with a morphed voice of Big Brother via a "Secret Confession Room." The housemates were given a limited budget of ₱1,000, which was later increased by the Money Roll task done outside the Secret Room. To free the nominated housemates from the Secret Room, the saved housemates must work together on a task with the assistance of houseguest Jane de Leon.
House Challenges: The housemates and duo challengers faced a series of challenges that may or may not have an impact on who stays and who leaves the house, and those housemates who faced the challenges risked losing their housemate status to them. The duo challengers entered the house on Day 99, stayed in the task room, and observed the housemates secretly. One by one, evicted duos faced the housemates, putting them in situations that would reveal their true colors. In the end, the duo challengers voted on which final duo deserves to be in the Big 4. Unbeknownst to the final duos, they were also given a chance to vote. The final duo that receives the most votes will claim the first spot in the Big 4. A challenge will be held to break the tie, if any.
Housemates
On Day 1 (March 9), fifteen celebrity housemates entered the house alongside houseguest Ivana Alawi. The first seven to enter were artists from Sparkle, followed by seven artists from Star Magic. Sparkle artist Michael Sager was the last one to enter that night. On Day 10 (March 18), Star Magic artist Bianca de Vera entered the house following Alawi's exit.
On Day 22 (March 30), Emilio Daez of Star Magic and Vince Maristela of Sparkle entered the house, followed by Xyriel Manabat of Star Magic and Shuvee Etrata of Sparkle on Day 36 (April 13), who became the final entrants for the season.
A total of twenty people entered the house, ten each from two agencies, the largest number of housemates in a celebrity edition of Pinoy Big Brother.
Houseguests
Within the framework of Pinoy Big Brother, the term "houseguest" designates an individual invited to enter the Big Brother house. Some of these houseguests are introduced with the explicit purpose of residing for an extended duration and deliberately chosen to influence the dynamics among the official housemates—thereby affecting relationships or altering the competition's trajectory. Conversely, other houseguests serve primarily as visitors; their stay within the house is typically brief, often entailing specific tasks assigned by Big Brother, or their presence fulfills a particular purpose. This can include, for instance, introducing a new game twist, presenting a unique challenge to the housemates, providing gifts to the housemates, or engaging them in conversation.
For this season, the following individuals entered as houseguests:
Tasks
Weekly tasks
Notes
Other tasks
Notes
Challenges
Duo battles
Introduced before the second nomination round, these are tasks to be performed by all eligible duos. The best-performing duo wins immunity from being nominated for that nomination round.
Group challenges
As in previous seasons, the housemates were divided into multiple teams to compete for immunity or reward on various occasions.
Note
Big Intensity Challenges
On Day 72, Big Brother announced the two Big Intensity Challenges, which would decide the housemates' final pairings. Housemates from both agencies would compete against each other. In each challenge, one Sparkle and one Star Magic housemate would win, earning immunity for the next nomination round and the power to choose their final duo. All other housemates who failed to win in either challenge were automatically nominated for the fifth nomination round.
Big Jump challenges
Shortly after Charlie & Esnyr claimed the first spot in the Big Four, Big Brother announced that the remaining spots would be determined via three Big Jump challenges. The winners of each challenge secured a spot in the Big Four, while the losers of the third Big Jump challenge became the last evictees for this edition.
One Million Vote Challenges
The four remaining duos will face a series of challenges to earn a portion of the one million votes to save at stake, which will be combined with the public's votes in the finale. The challenge is divided into two parts, with 400,000 votes at stake in the first part and 600,000 votes in the second and final part. The duo will receive the votes only if they finish the challenge, which they may choose to quit at any point.
Other challenges
Note
Duo formation history
Throughout the season, the housemates were periodically paired into duos through tasks and other challenges. The six final duos were determined on Days 89 to 91.
Legend and color key
Notes
Nomination history
In each nomination, duos assign three points to one duo and one point to another, with the nomination table reflecting this by listing the duo receiving three points first. Underlined names denote the intended target for that specific point, if any. Otherwise, no target was identified.
Legend and color key
Notes
Big Tapatan voting
On Days 102 and 107, the house challengers and housemates respectively voted for a duo to become the first members of the Big 4.
Had there been a tie, the duos would have competed in a head-to-head in a Big Jump Challenge. The remaining four duos will compete in three Big Jump challenges to complete the season's Big Four.
The Big Night
The season finale, titled The Big Night, was held on July 5, 2025, at the New Frontier Theater in Quezon City. The event included performances of former housemates, houseguests Bianca Umali, Michelle Dee, Donny Pangilinan, and contestants of Tawag ng Tanghalan: All-Star Grand Resbak and The Clash. The Big Four faced the public vote, with the public allowed to cast unlimited votes and the save-to-evict voting enabled for the round. The winning duo, referred to as the "Big Winner Duo" received ₱1,000,000 each, while the second, third, and fourth runners-up, referred to as the "Big Placer Duos", each received ₱500,000, ₱300,000, and ₱200,000 respectively from the sponsor BingoPlus.
This was the first Big Night to be held outside ABS-CBN's network-owned production facilities since Otso in 2019.
Notable events
In an episode aired on April 2, 2025, Klarisse De Guzman publicly came out as bisexual. During a task where housemates had to share personal stories, De Guzman revealed that she had been in a same-sex relationship with her partner, Trina, for four years. She expressed her pride and relief, stating, "I’m so happy and I’m so proud of myself that I’m finally out." Although her family had been aware of her sexuality, this marked the first time De Guzman shared her truth publicly. She acknowledged her previous fear of judgment and the potential impact on her career but emphasized the freedom she now felt. The revelation was met with widespread support from her fellow housemates and viewers.
Reception
According to AGB Nielsen Philippines' Nationwide Urban Television Audience Measurement People in television homes, the pilot episode of Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition earned an 8.6% rating. The final episode scored a 10.5% rating.
Fancon and future season
During the Big Night held on July 5, 2025, it was announced that the collaboration between GMA Network and ABS-CBN for the duo format of Pinoy Big Brother is slated for a second season. Host Bianca Gonzalez announced the next season following the presentation of awards to the season's winners. Furthermore, the housemates from this season are scheduled to participate in a fancon event. Titled, "The Big ColLOVE," the event was held on August 10, 2025, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Ticket selling commenced on July 8, 2025, and sold out on August 3, 2025.