Wowowee

A wildly popular TV game show in the Philippines, called Wowowee, offered cash and prizes to unlikely contestants: the country’s poorest citizens. The people who competed on the show had to be suffering extreme economic hardship, and they usually worked as street vendors, garbage collectors, and other low-earning laborers.

Some critics argue that the show exploited the trauma of the people who suffer the most. Former winners, though, say that the show changed their lives.

Reporter Simone Ordendain followed one contestant and brings us his story.