GMA 7 has recently acquired the franchise to Simon Cowell's Celebrity Duets, a reality-based singing competition combining celebrities of different backgrounds with professional singers in a weekly elimination just like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

It was announced on SOP this afternoon that Celebrity Duets will premiere on Saturday night after Fantastic Man where 8 celebrities, paired with 8 professional singers, will compete for the viewers’ votes where one pair is going to be eliminated each week until the remaining pair be declared the champion.

Comedy actor and singer Janno Gibbs will host the show. I heard Dr. Pie or Dr. Manny Calayan and Tim Yap are among the 8 celebrities who will be paired with professional singers like Jay-R and Kyla. I’ll make an update when i get the complete list of the celebrities competing in the first season of Celebrity Duets Philippine Edition (I wasn’t able to take down notes while Regine and Ogie announced the names of the participants kasi). If you happen to know, kindly post it naman sa comments below.

Kudos to GMA! Sa wakas, nag-franchise din kayo ng reality competition from Fox. Sana kinuha niyo na rin yung rights for Philippine Idol para may second season na. I heard nalugi daw ang channel 5 sa season 1 ng Philippine Idol kaya wala tuloy season 2. And I hope you’ll also get the rights for a local edition of “America’s Got Talent” or “X Factor”. I’m sure hahataw din ito sa ratings.