Manila: Pepe Pimentel, who entertained generations of Filipinos as a local master game show icon, has died following a bathroom accident in his suburban Quezon City home Thursday. He was 83.
Reports said Pimentel was found unconscious inside the bathroom by his wife who checked on her husband after the former host failed to come out of the toilet after nearly half an hour.
A bloodied wound at the back of the head brought his wife and local village authorities to conclude that the octogenarian had slipped while taking a bath and immediately fell unconscious.
Pimentel died later on.
A report by GMA News said Pimentel was last seen by village alderman Carlos Ramos sweeping the sidewalk fronting his residence in Laging Handa village and removing campaign posters Thursday morning.
Pimentel had served before as chief of the village.
Best known for his witty jokes alluding to his imaginary mother in law, the Hispanic-looking Pimentel injected life to game shows making him a hands down favourite of Filipino television viewers during the 1960s until the late 1990s. He never hid from the public that he was wearing a toupee and often spun jokes about it.
His “Kwarta o Kahon (Cash or Box) game show lorded over the airwaves for several years. Its “lucky pick” format was so successful that the format continued to mutate in modern form until today. It is alive in such game programmes as “Pera o Bayong ” and other similar TV shows.
Despite his and his co-game show hosts’ Eddie Ilarde and the late Bobby Ledesma’s seniority, Pimentel had also compered youth oriented variety shows such as Student Canteen during the 1980s.
Relatives said they are finalising funeral arrangement plans for the departed master game show host.
