Gretchen Malalad (born January 10, 1980) is a

Filipina Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino, English, or other Philippine languages. Despite formerly being subject to ...

athlete, beauty titleholder, and news personality. She was a

2005 Southeast Asian Games The 2005 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Manila, Philippines. This was the third time the Philippines hosted the games and its first time since 1991. ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

ist and a former

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

contestant in Binibining Pilipinas 2003, where she emerged as Ms. Talent and Ms. Red Bull Supreme. She is a native of Duyay, Boac, province of

Marinduque Marinduque (; ), officially the Province of Marinduque, is an island province in the Philippines located in Southwestern Tagalog Region or Mimaropa, formerly designated as Region IV-B. Its capital is the municipality of Boac, the most popul ...

. She was also a housemate in '' Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Edition 1''.

Martial arts career

Karatedo (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts. While moder ...

black belt, Malalad won gold medals in 2001, 2003 and 2005

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

, the 60 kg Individual Kumite and Open Weight Individual

Kumite Kumite (, literally "grappling hands") is one of the three main sections of karate training, along with kata and kihon. Kumite is the part of karate in which a person trains against an adversary. Kumite can be used to develop a particular tec ...

competitions. She, along with other karate national team members, trained in Italy under Italian world karate champion Giuseppe Romano to prepare for the 2005 SEA Games hosted by the Philippines. They met Romano in 2004, when they joined a competition he organized in Torino, Italy. Malalad was a bronze medalist in Karate at the Asian Games in 2002 in Busan South Korea. She later won a gold medal in the 2006 Korean Grand Open Championship in Busan, Korea on November 11 and 12, 2006. Malalad won 20 Gold medals in international competitions in Asia, Europe and the US. Retiring from national duty in 2007, she was a member of the national team for eight years representing the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

in many international karatedo competitions. She is among the elite athletes in the country to have captured 3 gold medals in four

competitions.

Pinoy Big Brother

Gretchen left the house after Big Brother allowed Gretchen to report to her superiors in the Philippine Air Force (where she serves as a first-class airwoman) to face a summary investigation about her being

AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

. Big Brother did this with the proviso that she will be blindfolded during the trip and that she cannot speak to anyone except those who were investigating her. She must also be returned to the house 24 hours after she left. She returned 14 hours later after the Philippine Air Force officially authorized her to continue her stint in the show. Then she was later evicted on Day 39.

Education and sports career

Malalad holds a MS from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in the city of New York class of 2014. She graduated from

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts. In 2004, Malalad worked as a courtside reporter for ABC Sports' (now One Sports') coverage of the PBA games. Prior to that, she worked in the

Philippine Basketball League The Philippine Basketball League (PBL) was a commercial semi-professional basketball league in the Philippines. The league was composed of several commercial teams with several collegiate and provincial stars. History The PBL was formed on M ...

as an in-house courtside reporter for a brief period. Malalad was voted as Philippine Karate Federation by more than 230 clubs and associations from all over the country during elections at the Fisher Mall in Quezon City on February 17, 2019.

Recent ventures

Malalad became a fitness teacher in

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

Pinoy Dream Academy ''Pinoy Dream Academy'' (also known as PDA) is a Philippine television reality competition show broadcast by ABS-CBN. Originally hosted by Toni Gonzaga, Nikki Gil, Sam Milby, Bianca Gonzalez and Roxanne Barcelo. it aired on the network's weeken ...

. She was a field reporter for

ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs, known on-air as ABS-CBN News (formerly known as ''ABS-CBN News and Public Affairs''), is the news and current affairs division of the Philippine media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation. The division is the coun ...

from 2006 to 2013, and then field reporter for

MBC Media Group The Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC), doing business as the MBC Media Group, is a multimedia company in the Philippines. It is currently owned by the FJE Group of Companies of Fred J. Elizalde, which also operates hotels and Pasay-based amusem ...

since 2015. She currently works as a freelance journalist in the Philippines, collaborating regularly with

Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

and

CGTN China Global Television Network (CGTN) is one of three branches of state-run China Media Group and the international division of China Central Television (CCTV). Headquartered in Beijing, CGTN broadcasts news in multiple languages. CGTN is un ...

Personal life

Malalad, an animal rights advocate filed a case with the Barangay Hall captain of Barangay 189 in

Tondo, Manila Tondo is a district located in Manila, Philippines. It is the largest, in terms of area and population, of Manila's sixteen districts, with a census-estimated 654,220 people in 2020. It consists of two congressional districts. It is also the se ...

. She alleged that "her helper Cristy Radoc entered the cage of her 30 adopted cats while holding a mug containing

muriatic acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid. It is a component of the gast ...

and she secretly poured it into the pets' drinking bowl causing some of them to suffer from eye irritation." Earlier, she rescued abandoned cats at Dasmariñas, Makati. In collaboration with Pawssion Project Rescues PH-CARA Welfare Philippine, she protested the Village's administrative order not to feed the pets, invoking Republic Ac No. 8485 "The Animal Welfare Act of 1998." Malalad wed her longtime partner, French businessman Jean-Marc Hauducoeur in

Boracay Boracay (; sometimes shortened by non-natives as Bora) is a resort island in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines, located off the northwest coast of Panay, Panay Island. It has a total land area of , under the jurisdiction of thre ...

on January 24, 2024.

References