Literal catfight goes viral as furs fly during serious Filipino news broadcast

Move aside BBC Dad, this year’s viral video conferencing sensation is veteran Filipino journalist Doris Bigornia and the two cats duking it out behind her on a live TV interview. 

To her credit, Bigornia remained stoic (and visibly confused) on screen as the two felines got into an intense catfight right behind her shoulder. According to Coconuts Manila, the reporter was in a serious conversation about Covid-19 quarantine guidelines with the president of AyalaLand Malls, which was quickly derailed as the cats wrestled, hissed, and pawed at each other. 

The cats belong to her daughter, Nikki Bigornia, who shared the clip of the feline shenanigans on Twitter last Friday (May 15). Her mother couldn’t help but laugh at the incredulous incident and retweeted the clip, captioning it with "CHILDREN!!!! We have rules in the studio!!!!”. 

CHILDREN!!!! May batas sa studio!!!! ??? https://t.co/zv0Schrb2u

— Doris Bigornia (@DorisBigornia) May 15, 2020

As of writing, the clip has been viewed over 2.3 million times. 

The internet has given Bigornia props for maintaining her composure throughout the furry fight. The 54-year-old is an experienced journalist and field reporter for Philippine TV network ABS-CBN, which was recently forced to shut down by the country’s National Telecommunications Commission. As such, she was hosting the show Teleradyo online. 

Critics have accused President Rodrigo Duterte of muzzling the network, which previously refused to air his campaign commercial during the country’s 2016 presidential election. 

Room Rater, a Twitter account that rates the aesthetic quality of rooms in video conferences, gave Doris’ environment a score of 8 over 10.

The catfight, however, gets full marks. 

The room is an 8. The cat fight is 10/10 pic.twitter.com/Mtm64wrBPc

— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) May 16, 2020

ilyas@asiaone.com