“He plays Mikael, a top photographer who can’t get over the fact that he was dumped by his girlfriend, si Stephanie, played by Carla Humphries. Ako naman si Mica, a fashion model na maraming nanliligaw pero di ko pinapansin kasi si Derek lang ang gusto ko. I proposed to him na gawin niya akong pretend girlfriend para he can forget his devastating heartbreak with Carla. Pumayag naman siya, but he treats me like dirt. Lagi akong kino-compare sa ex niya, pati sa pagtimpla ko ng coffee for him, sa lahat.
The story becomes complicated when it’s discovered that I have heart disease. Nagalit ang dad at brother ko, played by Toby Alejar and Justin Cuyugan, kay Derek, accusing him of exploiting me. But later on, silang makikiusap sa kanya to convince me na magpaopera ako para gumaling ako sa aking heart problem.”
“Unwanted Girlfriend” is a special episode to celebrate the 4th season of “Wattpad Presents”. Instead of the usual one week, it will run for two weeks. “Mahaba kasi ‘yung book on which this was based,” says TV5 entertainment head Wilma Galvante. “We don’t want to compress the story kasi more than 8.9 million ang readers nito. So mapapanood nila ito ng buo for two weeks. We’re really happy with ‘Wattpad Presents’ kasi marami talagang sumusubaybay rito, even on other platforms.
May regular advertisers kami na nagpapalagay pa ng product placements within the show kasi marami talagang followers ang aming kilig miniseries.”
So how is it working with Derek in “Unwanted Girlfriend”? “It’s always fun to work with him kasi kahit pagod na kayo, madaling araw na, pero mataas pa rin ang energy niya, nagpapatawa pa rin siya. Maganda agad ang naging rapport namin kasi we’ve known each other for a long time na, since nung bata pa ko, friends na sila ng sister ko (Anne). That helped a lot para maging comfortable kami sa isa’t isa. Pero siyempre, noong una, medyo weird kasi nga I consider him my Kuya, tapos magkapareha na kami, but after a while, we were laughing about it na. We really have to thank our director, Ricky Rivero, for helping us to nail our roles and the material the way he wants us to.”
What’s the reaction of her Ate Anne about it? “When she called me, I was in Tagaytay taping with Derek at nang sabihin ko ito sa kanya, sigaw siya nang sigaw ‘What? With Derek? That’s so weird.’ Kasi nga, napanood ko ‘yung movie nila with him even showing his butt. So the biggest challenge for me to overcome is ‘yung lumaki akong big brother ang tingin ko sa kanya. Tapos, baliw-baliwan ‘yung role ko, tanga sa pag-ibig, so challenging talaga. Pero sa tingin ko, naitawid naman namin.”
