00:00 Eric Eruption Tai is not only just having a blast online thanks to the Ting Ting Tang
00:06 dance craze, the content creator and actor also proves that the social media game
00:10 means serious business. Eric joins us now on the final word. Eruption! Pleasure to meet you. Thank
00:18 you. The one and only Sir Rico. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Wow, I mean you have erupted
00:26 on social media. That's perfect. You have erupted on social media. Of course you have had a long
00:32 career here as a dancer, as an actor, as a content creator, but Ting Ting Dance has really caught the
00:39 world by storm. How did this all come about? Actually, long story short because it's long
00:46 how we got here. It's actually been one year since I've done it. And it happened while I was at a
00:52 Dota 2 tournament in Singapore. And I did it on the train there. And I think people watched it
00:59 because they're not used to seeing a big man in a public space, in a train. And then the people
01:08 were not Filipino. It was in Singapore so it was different. It was such a very flexible body.
01:16 Wavy, motion in the ocean type. So it's not something that you see normally, especially at a
01:24 size of, you know, a man of my caliber stance. And then within the day it took off to 2-3 million
01:32 views. And my videos really, they usually go a couple hundred thousand but never a million million
01:37 in hours. And so then it happened that the first time it actually went viral was in BGC.
01:46 In the Philippines. And that's where it really picked up. 30 million in the first day. And then
01:52 now it's more than a billion views. Billions, billions, billions now. But of course,
01:55 when all is said and done, this is just one dance. One dance. But it has lasted for more than 365
02:04 days. It made it ever popular among our Kababayans and people around the world. I've seen other
02:09 nationalities do the dance. Other celebrities, even basketball, even NBA players did it. Rich
02:14 Hardin did it. Sai, my actual idol when it comes to performing. Gangnam Style. Gangnam Style.
02:20 Because that was the first YouTube video that I've ever done that went viral back 10 years ago. And
02:26 he set, he paved the way. Sai in Gangnam Style. And I've always admired how he performs. He's
02:34 always got this thing about him, this, I wouldn't even know. The aura. Yeah, the aura of being a
02:41 performer. Yeah, I've interviewed him. And of course, we did this. The Gangnam Style. Yeah.
02:46 So even he did it. Yeah. He did the dancing dance. But now it's maintaining that popularity on
02:54 social media. How are you doing it? How many times do you have to upload videos or even,
03:00 you know, photographs to be able to sustain the numbers? Well, as a content creator,
03:09 everyone knows in the scene or the industry that you got to be consistent. You have to stay
03:15 relevant. So what I do is we try and, you know, upload a couple times a week, at least, at least.
03:22 But it's hard when you have working schedules, shooting schedules, and then you're abroad,
03:27 then that was my business. That was family man. But then I train a lot. So there's a lot of things
03:33 that I'm juggling. So you really need the right balance. And how do you strategize, plan, and
03:38 execute your videos? You film it yourself, edit, and upload? Or do you have a team?
03:45 Before, I did that. But then nowadays, I have a team now. Team Eruption, which consists of five
03:52 people. Two of them with me now. And then the other three are, one is coming from Singapore,
03:57 Shanna, and the other two are away. But yes, I cannot do it without them. We shoot it. Sometimes
04:05 I shoot my content. And then sometimes our videographer comes in, our editor comes in,
04:10 anyone who's available. And then what happens is we kind of plan it. Yeah, but I'm blueprint
04:17 on how it should be edited. But you know, Eric, you also used to be a host for a television
04:23 noontime show. Comparing the daily grind on television versus social media, where do you
04:31 think you're better off? TV or social media? You know, I've always been a fan of TV. You know,
04:37 I loved doing live, just like what we're doing. I'm used to doing live shows. I'm not used to
04:43 television series where you're on call and that sort of stuff. But being a content creator,
04:50 you're your own boss. You're your own boss. You know your own time schedule. You do things the
04:56 way you want. You're the director, you're the producer. So I kind of love being a content
05:04 creator or a digital creator right now. It's the day and age that we live in now, digital world.
05:09 Host, model, content creator, ding-ding-dang, dance craze, master. And you're also a businessman.
05:19 Yeah. Well, I mean, you're a celebrity in business. I mean, you have a salon, you have an
05:26 ice cream shop and a gym. Yes. Things that I love. I love ice cream. So we went with that. I love
05:32 training. So we went with that one too. But the salon was what started it all. And that was props
05:38 to my wife, Rona. She's the one who spearheaded that. And I was, believe it or not, we started
05:46 in 2020. Before the pandemic? No. In the midst of the pandemic. Exactly. That's why I was thinking,
05:53 I don't think this is a good choice. But she kept on pushing it. And I said, OK, I believe in you.
05:58 And we'll invest this much money on it. And then we'll see how it goes.
06:02 We expanded to a second franchise within a year.
06:06 Wow. That was a good sign. So we expanded into a second franchise.
06:12 And where are they located?
06:13 First one is in Capitol Commons next to Estancia, which is, it is, that's called Ayumi. So that
06:22 salon is located there. The second salon is located in UP Town Center in Katipunan. So next to all the
06:28 colleges out there. And your ice cream shop is all the way in Union. Union next to St. Louis College,
06:35 SLC. And that's awesome. It's great for the kids out there after school or during school. They go
06:42 there and they have their ice cream. Obviously, you know, I want to say, but you know, you've got
06:49 to when you bring in the calories, you've got to burn the calories. Right. And burn the calories in
06:54 the gym. And you're the perfect endorser for that. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, it's been a dream,
06:59 especially what's been happening lately. The gym is located in Daly, it's called Daly Burn,
07:06 located in Ayala Heights, Capitol Hills in Quezon City. And it's open 24 hours a day.
07:13 What kind of an entrepreneur are you, Eric? Are you hands on? Do you take a look at all the numbers,
07:20 the daily P&L? That's why we have managers. And that's why we have an asawa na mahilig dun.
07:28 That's right. Shout out to Mrs. Tai. Yeah, Rona. Rona. Exactly. You know, much love to her. She
07:35 works day in, day out. And also being a full time mom as well. And it's also important that,
07:42 of course, when you're in show business, social media, content creation, I mean, it won't also
07:47 last. Exactly. That's why you have to make those investments for your child, for a growing child.
07:53 Yes. And he's only four years old and he's growing very, very quick. And we know that the tuition of
08:00 these kids are not cheap. Yeah. So we really got to save up and invest in whatever we can in the
08:07 businesses we have. We still have to be wise. We're not just going to just go in. Because you're also
08:12 putting in a lot of your talent fee and your hard earned cash into the business. That's right. But
08:17 you know, Eric, all these blessings just didn't fall on your lap. You came to the Philippines
08:23 as a missionary. And when you were back in Australia, you worked all sorts of jobs.
08:28 Name it. You can name any, almost any job from salesman to marketing, to even being a simple
08:36 packer at a mall for like pure goat or anything like that. I used to stack shelves. I even used
08:44 to work in the produce in the fridges. Fridges that we have to combine like lettuce and tomatoes
08:51 and all that produce. Promodizer. Even promodizer. I've done that here in the Philippines. Before I
08:57 even stepped foot in Showtime, as a model, I did all the promodizing. Like, you know, I'm not sure
09:04 if we can name brands, but I did that samples to people on the streets. In Alabang. Because you
09:10 know, I'm just a model. No one knows me. And I appreciate that type of work. So when I see people
09:15 do that type of work, I know it's hard and it's tough. Well, you have the personality and character
09:19 for it. You can sell any kind of item and people will buy it. But you know what? You're a multifaceted
09:26 person. You're also into e-sports and you also are a rugby player. A former rugby player. That's right.
09:34 Retired in 2014, 15 was the last time I played for the national team. And that was a huge blessing.
09:44 It also changed my life because we were called the Philippine Volcanoes. And when I went into that
09:48 other show, the director gave me the name Eruption because Filipino Volcanoes, Volcanoes Erupt.
09:54 Yes. And that's where Eruption really came from. So it was a blessing in disguise on how that happened.
10:01 From that modern career going into being an athlete for the national team. All these
10:07 were lessons as I was young and e-sports. I really loved games ever since I was a kid. But
10:14 before I do homework, my parents will always say, before you play your games, go outside and play
10:20 rugby or sports in general, study. So you really need to balance that. And who would have known
10:27 that as I was a kid, all these talents and skills I was harnessing, I didn't know that
10:36 20 years later, I'll be making money off it or that's my career or job. And you have been truly
10:43 blessed. And of course, a lot of people have seen your Ting Ting dance. Is it a complicated sequence?
10:50 No, no, no. It's actually pretty easy. I have steps on our soc med everywhere you go on from
10:57 TikTok to YouTube. Would you like to do it with me? I will try. Yeah, there we go. Let's try it.
11:04 Let's give it a try. Rico, so. Let's give it a try. So the start of it,
11:13 I told I told everyone it's like a hip movement. So you just you can do this. Anyone can do that.
11:17 Yeah, there we go. It's like the washing machine. So after this, this little hip movement, you just
11:22 kind of step into it with the right and the left. Yeah. Then the right. Then the left. That's it.
11:28 Then after that is the Ting Ting part. So the Ting Ting is just two hands going in like this and then
11:33 out. So so Ting Ting out and then one plus one equals sexy move. You know, it's like that's it.
11:44 Yeah. And of course, well, we have to end the show right now, Eric, but they'll be able to
11:48 watch his dance sequence on the CNN Philippines social media pages. We're going to do it. We're
11:54 going to do it after the show. After the show. Well, thank you so much. Pleasure. All the best.
11:59 Thank you. Thank you. I have been a very successful and a great role model for a lot
12:03 of Filipino youth. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. And of course, that was Eric
12:08 eruption by. And before we go, we have a little
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