Wowowee host Willie Revillame.

TV host-actress Mariel Rodriguez appeals to “Wowowee” main host, Willie Revillame, to come back to the show.

“Utang na loob, bumalik ka na. Haggard na ang mga legs namin. Ang hirap mag-show ng ilang hours na naka-heels. Nag-add s’ya ng kalyo sa paa ko,” she half-jestingly said in a recent interview.

Mariel added that Willie sometimes text her back with a message like: ‘Hindi na n’yo ako kailangan d’yan.’

“Pero joke lang ‘yan alam ko. ‘Wowowee’ is still Willie Revillame,” she pointed out.

Willie is reportedly on a self-imposed leave from the show due to the controversy that was generated by his comments regarding the video insert of the transfer of former Pres. Corazon Aquino’s remains from La Salle to the Manila Cathedral in an episode of "Wowowee."

A complaint has been formally filed by Movies and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chair Consoliza Laguardia to the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) while media groups National Press Club (NPC) and Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag (AFIMA) have also raised their concern over Willie’s outburst.

There are talks that Willie will be back on “Wowowee”  soon but his mother station, ABS-CBN, has not issued a statement on this.

In his absence, Mariel and Pokwang, another “Wowowee” co-host, anchor the “Willie of Fortune” segment which takes up most of the show’s airtime. It is usually during the segment that Mariel, Pokwang and their fellow co-hosts Valerie Concepcion and RR Enriquez take their lunch break.

“We don’t really know what’s going on,” Mariel said in the same interview, alluding to Willie's continued absence.

One thing she’s sure of, though, is that the “Wowowee” shows in Lake Tahoe and Seattle in the United States will push through on Sept. 6 and 13, respectively.

“Dalawa lang ang bilin [ni Willie]: Maging masaya at laging i-promote ang show sa States,” she maintained.

Mariel said she understands Willie’s side and the point of the offended public on the issue.

“Naiintindihan ko kung bakit nagagalit ang tao. Naiintindihan ko rin kung saan [si Willie] nanggagaling. ‘Yung point [ni Willie] tama pero ‘yung paraan it makes a difference,” she said.

Mariel recalled that she was taping for her other show, “Bud Brothers” when the incident on “Wowowee” happened.

“Kapag may important na nangyayari, wala ako,” she said, referring to the other controversial episodes relating to the daily noontime show that includes a supposed cheating on a game portion.

In her three years of co-hosting “Wowowee,” Mariel shared she got to know Willie more.

“Nung una, nasha-shock ako sa kanya. [Pero] now na alam ko na ang ugali n’ya, tanggap ko na who he is. Ganun na talaga s’ya.

"Nakita ko rin ang good qualities n’ya. He’s generous. He’s a perfectionist. Sobrang outspoken. May moods din s’ya.”