ARCI Muñoz and singer turned actor Kean Cipriano didn’t part ways as friends. When Arci was still with GMA-7, she was assigned to interview Kean and she agreed, but he was rude to her and was ignoring her openly even if she was right in front of him.

Now, they’re both with TV5. Arci is being launched as one of the leads in “Mga Nagbabagang Bulaklak” and they want to pair her with Kean. This time, she demurred, and TV5 gave in and didn’t include Kean anymore in the show’s cast. Tit for tat, right? She was instead paired with Victor Basa who’s not doing anything with ABS so he’s allowed to work with TV5.

LAST EPISODE, NEW SHOW

CARMINA Villarroel’s “Lab ni Mister, Lab ni Misis” had its last telecast last Friday but Carmina won’t be idle as she’s now given another show to host, “Amazing Cooking Kids”. This is GMA’s second reality cooking show in the works since they also have “The Search for the Kitchen Superstar” hosted by Marvin Agustin for adult cooks.

GMA  jumped the gun on ABS who is also doing “Junior Master Chef” with children who cook.

Auditions for “Amazing Cooking Kids”  started last weekend and will continue this March 12 and 13 at SM Hypermart Sucat from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Kids who’ll audition should be from 9 to 12 years old. 12 finalists will be chosen when the show starts airing in April.

ERICH, ENCHONG BACK AS TANDEM

AFTER ‘Katorse’, ‘Tanging Yaman’ and ‘Magkaribal’, ABS is bringing back the tandem of Erich Gonzales and Enchong Dee in their remake of Thalia’s “Maria la Del Barrio,” a big hit when ABS showed it almost 10 years ago. Erich will play the lead character Maria Hernandez while Enchong will be her leading man, Luis Fernando.

“I didn’t see it noong unang ipalabas,” says Erich. “But I researched on the Internet and read that it’s one of the best and most popular telenovelas Mexico ever did kaya kahit big blessing ito, nakaka-pressure pa rin, so we promise to do our best para mapag-hit din ito sa atin.”

GLORIA'S DAUGHTER FINALLY GIVES IN

GLORIA Diaz's eldest daughter, Isabelle Daza, is finally joining showbiz at 24. It’s her birthday last Sunday and she had a party at the Manila Polo Club. She’s managed by Leo Dominguez, who’s also managing her friend Solenn Heussaff, and they agreed to sign a 3-year exclusive contract with GMA7. Another good friends of hers who’s with GMA7 is Raymond Gutierrez. She’ll first undergo workshops in acting and hosting before she’s given her chance to do her own show. Her ex-Miss Universe mom is said to be very pleased that she’s joining GMA for which Gloria just did the hit soap, “Beauty Queen.”

BORING, BORING

PAOLO Avelino took the lie detector test in “Showbiz Central” and it’s one of the most boring editions of this segment ever. John Lapus asked very boring questions and it would have been very foolish if Paolo would give lie answers as they’re so harmless.

The questions: May laban ka na ba sa katawan ni Aljur Abrenica in “Machete”? Are you ready to go all the way nude for a pictorial? Nailang ba si Louise de los Reyes sa kissing scene nyo in “Alakdana”? Paolo’s answers were all yes and they’re all true. Ho-hum. Just like in his recent presscon, we’re sure “Showbiz Central” was asked by Paolo’s camp not to ask him anything about LJ Reyes and their son.

We think there’s no reason to hide it at all since it’s already common knowledge. LJ herself is making a comeback as contravida to Jackie Rice in “Sisid” and we don’t know if she’d also avoid the non-issue when interviewed by the press.

DENNIS' NEW GF IS MARJORIE LOOKALIKE

DENNIS Padilla admitted in “Showbiz Central” that he has a much younger girlfriend, a balikbayan from Australia who’s only 25 years old. He’s already 49 so she’s almost half his age. They met when the girl, who does somewhat resemble his ex-wife Marjorie Barretto, came home from Australia in 2008. She’s now taking up tourism in a local college. Do they have plans to marry? “Bahala na,” says Dennis.