Ricky lo

Ricky Lo

Filipino journalist

Ricardo F. "Ricky" Lo (April 21, 1946 – May 4, 2021) was a Filipino entertainment writer and commentator, and TV host.

Egypt.

Not to be confused with Ricky Lee.

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Ricky Lo

Born

Ricardo F. Lo

April 21, 1946

Las Navas, Northern Samar, Philippines

Died

May 4, 2021 (aged 75)

Manila, Philippines

Occupation

Entertainment writer, commentator, television host

Years active

1969–2021

Website

Official website

Close

Biography

Lo, born of Chinese descent, was a native of Las Navas, Northern Samar, where he finished grade school. He finished high school at the bilingual Tabaco Pei Ching School in Tabaco, Albay, and took up AB English at the University of the East.

From 1969 to 1972, Ricky worked as editorial assistant of Variety magazine, the Sunday supplement of the old Manila Times where he started his FunFare column. After this, he joined the Philippine Daily Express first as a staff writer of its Express Week magazine and then as deskman of The Evening Express and eventually its main broadsheet. He later went on to work as an editorial assistant for its Sunday magazine, Weekend, until 1986.

Lo did a stint as entertainment editor, first at The Manila Times and then at The Manila Chronicle and finally at The Philippine Star where he also wrote his revived FunFare column and his regular Sunday feature, Conversations with Ricky Lo.

Lo is the author of Star-Studded, the first compilation of his articles on movie stars, which he released in 1995. Another book, Conversations with Ricky Lo was released in 2001. The book bears Lo's sensitive, intelligent and penetrating style of handling interviews.

In 1999, Lo became one of the hosts of the showbiz-oriented talk show, The Buzz, on ABS-CBN. He later transferred to GMA 7 and hosted Startalk. He also hosted other showbiz-oriented programs such as The Ricky Lo Exclusives in QTV 11 and Showbiz Stripped.

Lo was the first to explode the Martin Nievera and Pops Fernandez break-up, then, in 2008, the Karylle and Dingdong Dantes break-up.

In January 2013, Lo's interview with Anne Hathaway drew flak from netizens. Critics averred that the interview was a disgrace for posing questions that seemed not fitting for a well-known actress. Colleagues in the industry supported Lo, however, and referred to his long experience in entertainment journalism. Reportedly, Lo was merely amused with the negative comments and was not offended. Some of Lo's supposedly-awkward questions that he threw at Hathaway were about her weight loss in the film Les Misérables and real-life experience with hunger that seems to have offended the actress. Lea Salonga, who was mentioned in the interview, explained that while she cannot speak for Hathaway, she has been trained to expect all kinds of questions, ranging from broadsheet to tabloid. Salonga noted, however, that interviews are also about how questions are asked.

Lo died on May 4, 2021, from a stroke.

Television shows

The Buzz, ABS-CBN (1999–2003)

Showbiz Stripped, GMA Network

The Ricky Lo Exclusives, QTV 11

CelebriTV, GMA Network (2015–2016)

Egypt.