Jose Sarasola, one of the hunky participantes on the ABS-CBN reality show “Pinoy Fear Factor,” isn’t ashamed to admit he’s a bona fide village kid who grew up in the suburbs.
“I’d rather hang out at home,” he says. “I seldom go out on gimiks—only for the birthday parties of friends and other special occasions.”
When there are no dance workshops or mall tours with the PFF crew, 23-year-old Jose spends the day holed up in his room, working out in the gym, biking or rollerblading around the village or shooting hoops.
Jose himself built the basketball court on a vacant lot in the Parañaque subdivision. “I borrowed the lot from the owner. I usually play ball with the neighborhood guys—ice-cream vendors, house boys and security guards.”
He’s pretty low-key, unlike most young people his age.
“It’s not that I’m lazy,” he points out. “I just love staying in my room.”
His personal space is pretty self-contained. “For as long as I have my TV, DVD player, PlayStation and laptop within reach, I’ll be fine.”
Special blinds
Jose personally took charge of his room’s renovation. He painted the white walls blue and hand-picked the décor and furniture.
“I usually stay up until 2 a.m., watching movies, so I wake up late.”
For that reason, he had special blinds installed that block out sunlight. “Even if it’s high noon, it feels like nighttime in my room,” he says.
He got the leather chairs from Home Depot and the miniature paintings from a flea market.
The framed PFF T-shirt and blindfold are mementos from his grand adventure in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Also strewn all over the room are other souvenirs from his numerous travels—including framed tarantulas and scorpions (from Thailand) that are mercifully dead.
“I like exotic creatures,” he notes. He once kept a pet scorpion and now takes care of a snapping turtle and four rare fishes.
As an only child, Jose enjoyed all the creature comforts in this house where his parents first moved in 25 years ago.
His three-week stint in Argentina, where he had to rough it in a very basic camp, proved instructive. “I learned how to share a cramped bedroom and one bathroom with six guys I hardly knew.”
Mom Donna confirms that Jose, who is graduating with a degree in Culinary Arts from the College of Saint Benilde this month, is a homebody. Certified.
“He designed his room as preparation for his future bachelor’s pad,” mom explains. “He says that he’ll get his own place one day and when he does, he’ll know how it’s going to look.”
Jose also helped in decorating the minimalist living room. “He chose some of the décor and furniture pieces—like the table from a nearby mall.”
Predominantly Asian, the décor consists mostly of gifts from mom Donna’s Lola Consejo Montinola, as well as her parents.
“My father used to be the head of Unicef (United Nations Children’s Fund) in Thailand and Pakistan. He brought home lots of carpets from Islamabad and Karachi and Buddhas from Bangkok,” Donna relates.
Also displayed prominently are a batik art work from Indonesia, prints from India, three Ivan Acuña paintings and Lola Consejo’s oil portrait by Araceli Limcaco-Dans.
A prized silverware collection is also courtesy of Lola Consejo.
The Sarasolas’ home life clearly revolves around food and entertaining.
Whenever fellow participantes Jommy Teotico and RJ Calipus visit, they play computer games and chow down home-cooked meals all day.
Not that Jose, a chef by training, is fond of whipping up meals in the kitchen.
“He only cooks pasta and rosemary chicken when we ask him to, for our family lunches every Sunday,” mom says.
“I don’t see myself as a chef. I’d rather be the supervisor of a restaurant,” he admits.
A Persian resto in the suburbs, of course, is Jose’s dream business.
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