Juan Direction

Not to be confused with the British boy band One Direction.

Juan Direction
Genre	Reality Show
Created by	Island Media Asia
Starring	Brian Wilson Daniel Marsh Henry Edwards Michael McDonnell Charlie Sutcliffe
Country of origin	Philippines
Production
Executive producer(s)	Leo James Conde
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	TV5
Original release	October 19, 2013 (2013-10-19) – present

Juan Direction is a half-hour weekly documentary-style reality show airing in TV5 Philippines. It aired every Sundays from 10:15 PM to 10:45 PM.

The documentary-style reality aired on June 23, 2014, from Mondays to Fridays, 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM and ended on July 4, 2014. Currently, the program is on 3rd season since September 22, 2014.

Premise

Juan Direction follows five biracial Filipinos explore and learn the Philippines. The name Juan Direction is a play on words of the British-Irish boy-band One Direction, unlike 1D, JD does not perform any songs, but instead promotes the Philippines. Juan Direction actually means “the Filipino way” because Juan is a very common Filipino name, therefore representing Filipinos in general, and Direction because even while they are foreigners (growing up in different countries), they chose to embrace the Filipino culture. The working title for the show during development was “Half Filipinos”.

History

The boys of Juan Direction got together in 2012 as Island Media Asia, which originally posted tutorial and documentary-style, and travel videos on YouTube.^[1] Their style is described as a vlogumentary, a mix of vlogging and a documentary, where they have sold buko juice, taho, and balut to name a few, as well as showering with a water pump. Island Media Asia served as a platform to propel them into the television market, and while they still continue to do videos online, JD is sort of an extension of what they did previously, so leaping to another medium was not a difficult transition. While IMA features 7 members and with JD having only 5 of those members, the other 2 (Matthew Edwards and Keys Cosido) do have a recurring role, whether they will become permanently part of the cast will become more apparent as the series progresses.

Each member hails from different parts of the world, and even those from the same country come from different cities, and it was not until they came to the Philippines that they all met each other. They all met through the modeling industry that formed their bond of friendship until they came to the point that it became very easy for them to work together on screen.

Production

Before Juan Direction, the boys, as Island Media Asia, originally posted tutorial and documentary-style, and travel videos on YouTube.^[2] Juan Direction was one of the shows launched in TV 5's Everyday All the Way Trade Launch in Taguig on October 2013, in TV5 Happy Ka Dito in June 2014.^[3]

From June 23–July 4, 2014, Juan Direction transferred to weekday primetime as they aires a special 2-week season entitles Juan Experiment ng Juan Direction wherein they participate in various tasks that would challenge their abilities to establish friendships and build relationships, with the end-goal of trying to prove that the differences between cultures no longer matter in a world that is getting smaller.^[4]

On September 22, 2014, Juan Direction is slated to return on weekday primetime with its new season entitled Juan Islanders

Cast

Main Cast

• Brian Wilson – Born in Rosario, Cavite, to Filipino mother and a British father. When he was six, his parents brought him to England.^[5]
• Daniel Marsh – Born in Argao, Cebu, Half-Irish and Half-Filipino^[6]
• Henry Edwards – Half-British and Half-Filipino. Born in Angeles City, Pampanga.
• Michael McDonnell – Born in Dauis, Bohol to a Czechoslovakian-Canadian father and a Boholano mother^[7]
• Charlie Sutcliffe – Half-British and Half-Filipino

Recurring Cast

• Matthew "Matt" Edwards - Half-British and Half-Filipino. Former contestant and winner of The Amazing Race Philippines second season.
• Keys Cosido - Half-British and Half-Filipino.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

References