Last Sunday, July 8, the five mentors of GMA's upcoming artista search, "Protege: The Battle for the Big Artista Break" held their final selection of proteges from among those shortlisted during a series of nationwide auditions held in 15 cities all over the country and online via GMANetwork.com/protege.

After several weeks of scouring Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao for potential stars, the five mentors in the search – Roderick Paulate, Gina Alajar, Jolina Magdangal, Ricky Davao and Phillip Salvador – finally trimmed down their lists of potential proteges to just four: two male and two female proteges.

A group of entertainment bloggers also had a chance to interview Gina Alajar who said that she was a little bit nervous considering that she will be competing with fellow high-caliber actor/mentors. She also shared that she has two requirements in choosing for her proteges. First, the “artista” look and second, the talent.

Director Bert de Leon, comedian Joey de Leon, seasoned actress Cherie Gil and GMA top honcho Anna Teresa Gozon-Abrogar are the judges who will scrutinize the performance of each protege (and mentor) during the live galas.

Protege: The Battle for the Big Artista Break officially begins on July 23 with a daily update dubbed “Inside Protege” hosted by Jennylyn Mercado, with webisodes hosted by Maxene Magalona. The first weekly gala night of the search will air on August 5 (Sunday), hosted by Dingdong Dantes and Carla Abellana.