By Jon Carlos Rodriguez

Have you ever seen Terrence Romeo eat a whole chicken with spicy noodles? There’s a video of this rare highlight reel on YouTube, and it’s the most entertaining thing you’ll ever watch today. Probably.

It’s a slow Tuesday, so I did my rounds on YouTube for something entertaining to watch. And you know how that usually works: you start with “Baron Davis Career Mix” and then somehow you find lost yourself in a maze of basketball videos that end with a clip not even related to basketball, like a clip of Terrence Romeo struggling in a chicken and spicy noodle challenge against a champion triathlete.

In the video, dated December 2017, Romeo was pitted against gold medalist triathlete Nikko Huelgas, the “fastest triathlete in Southeast Asia,” in a chicken-eating contest with a surprise twist.

There’s trash talking, a bit of cursing, a lot of chicken, a banana, an airport story, and a lot of fun. No Romeo crossovers though. Still, it’s two minutes of your life well spent.

Here’s a play-by-play of Romeo vs Huelgas, so you won’t need to watch the video:

00:05: “Usapan kanina, manok lang ah!” “Shit, sobrang anghang!” This video wastes no time in revealing the plot twist. Five seconds in! That should be some sort of record.

00:06: Shot of a bike’s rear wheel. Shot of an Air Max. These are meant to establish the triathlete vs baller matchup, I guess. It wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the video, but I’m assuming this is Huelgas’ place? The lack of Kyrie Irving posters on the wall and all those Nikes are the giveaways (Romeo reps Peak).

00:14: Romeo: “Katuwaan lang naman ‘to eh. Pareho naman namin alam ni Nikko na malakas talaga kami kumain ng manok.”

00:20: Huelgas: “In-invite lang kami kumain ng lunch tapos biglang tumawag si Boss Ronald , sabi pabilisan daw kumain ng isang buong chicken.”

00:26: Romeo: “Ang maganda, kung sino ang mananalo sa amin, makakatanggap ng 100 na manok ng Chooks-to-Go…”

00:31: Boom! 100 graphic, but instead of zeroes, chicken. Yum.

00:33: Huelgas: “…At makakapili kami kung kanino namin gusto i-donate ‘yung 100 chickens sa charitable institution.” They’re finishing each other’s sentences already. The bromance has started.

00:42: PLOT TWIST (complete with sirens)! They will be eating a whole chicken AND 4x spicy noodles (but we knew that already).

0:49: Huelgas brings the heat: “May mukha mo pa dito a. Kung matalo ka pa, tanggal mukha mo dito, bro.” Bro? Uh oh. You don’t call Romeo “bro” and get away with it. Huelgas is lucky this is for charity.

1:00: This is how gold medalists eat a whole chicken. Like a champ.

1:02: I’ve never, ever seen 3-time PBA scoring champ Terrence Romeo rattled nor fazed. Not when he went against LA Tenorio. Not when he battled Tony Parker. His weakness? 4x spicy noodles.

1:14: Romeo: “Hanggang ngayon nasa dila ko pa din.”

1:27-1:54: Romeo lost precious minutes recovering from the spice. Huelgas is clearly ahead, so Romeo tries to distract him by telling a true story on how he tried smuggling Chooks-to-Go at an airport. A feel-good chicken story to throw off your opponent. This is how you know Romeo’s a legit star. Remember that one time when he tried to distract Jeron Teng by wip—nevermind.

1:56: Oops, didn’t work. Hueglas wins: “Alam mo ano mas masarap? Ang sarap ng pagkapanalo…dahil tapos na ko!”

2:02: Out of nowhere, Chooks, ang Mascot ng Bayan, appears like an equally creepy yet wholesome version of Pennywise the Clown to raise Huelgas’ arm in victory. Romeo, mouth still burning from the fires of defeat, half smiles in appreciation. I’ll get you next time, he says in his head.

The end.

 

 

 

________________________________