MANILA, Philippines — Liza Soberano got candid about love teams in the Philippines, revealing how this phenomenon persists and the expectations actors need to meet.
During her interview with BTOB’s Peniel and Ashley Choi for the “Get Real” podcast, Liza said love teams in the country are expected to be "reel and real."
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“In the Philippines, there’s this huge phenomenon called love teams. It’s when they put two actors together and they become like ‘Brangelina.’ They ship you. But in this scenario, we’re supposed to be reel and real. We are supposed to be a real couple on and off cam. We only work with each other throughout our whole career,” she said.
“In love teams, you’re expected to be with just that one person throughout your career and in your personal life. People don’t want to see you aside any other male actor or any other male in general,” she added.
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Liza was part of LizQuen, the love team name of hers and real-life boyfriend Enrique Gil. The couple was considered as one of the more popular love teams in the country in the 2010s, alongside their contemporaries, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla or KathNiel, and James Reid and Nadine Lustre a.k.a JaDine.
Like KathNiel and JaDine, LizQuen also headlined some of ABS-CBN's nightly dramas and movies released by the studio's film outfit Star Cinema. Their breakout love team pairing was "Forevermore" aired as a nightly family romance drama from 2014 to 2015. It was followed by other TV series that included "Dolce Amore" and "Bagani." On the big screen, they starred in "Just The Way You Are," "My Ex and Whys" and "Alone/Together."
The actress also shared how love teams are made.
“What happens in the beginning of your career is they kind of test you. They put you in a project together where you guys aren’t necessarily the leads. It’s kind of like a chemistry test. If it becomes popular among the viewers, they put you in your own movie or TV show. If that really takes off, you become a love team. You get shipped really hard. Once you’re in a love team, you star in project after project together,” she said.
Liza also said revealed that love teams are not allowed to talk if they are dating in real life for fans to be more into them.
“The thing is in the beginning of your love team, too, you’re not allowed to say that you are dating because you want to keep the fans kind of hungry for you guys to actually be dating. It helps with the projects because they are always excited,” she said.
“Whenever we do interviews going into the projects, they are always asking whether we are officially dating already or not. It becomes this whole thing where your career and your personal life — the line between the two gets blurred. People just don’t know what reality is,” she added.
Liza also said that love teams are the only way to be a popular celebrity in the Philippines if someone's not a singer.
"In the Philippines the only way to become a big star really — if you're not a singer, if you're an actor — is to be in a love team," she said.
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