At this year’s celebration of MassKara Festival, Ilonggo fans of the Korean-Filipino romcom My Korean Jagiya had manic day when the lead actors of the series joined the MassKara Festival, making it extra colorful and filled with Korean kilig or K-lig as they would say it.
No less than Philippine TV’s Sweetheart Heart Evangelista-Escudero led the Kapuso stars when they treated their Negrense fans in a Kapuso mall show in SM City Bacolod.
Heart plays Gia in the series—the quirky, bubbly, and hopelessly romantic K-drama fan girl who somehow ended up marrying her idol, Korean superstar Kim Jun Ho, played by Alexander Lee.
Jun Ho marries Gia to secure custody over his nephew but finds himself falling for Gia.
Treating their My Korean Jagiya supporters as well were Iya Villania-Arellano and Divine Aucina. They play Iya Kennedy Santos, Gia’s perky and cheerful best friend, and Clarissa, Gia’s shy and conservative cousin, respectively.
Since its pilot airing, My Korean Jagiya has been getting positive feedback and reviews from viewers and netizens. The series’ entertaining and relatable storyline have made its followers stay up late at night to watch how the love story of Gia and Jun Ho will unfold.
“We would like to thank our loyal viewers for making My Korean Jagiya one of the country’s most-watched shows every evening,” says Oliver Amoroso, vice president and head of GMA’s Regional TV Department. “The MassKara Festival is one of the Philippines’ most popular and colorful festivals. And this year, we are happy to bring the first-ever Korean – Filipino romantic comedy to Bacolod, closer to our Kapusong Negrense,” he adds.
Lee, visibly awed by the reception the cast got from their Negrense fans, said, “Our mall show in Bacolod was a very shocking, overwhelming, and memorable. Words can’t express how we felt when we entered SM Bacolod. I was totally unprepared for such warm welcome, especially since I wasn’t expecting that MANY people to show up. I won’t forget the time we went down the escalator… I saw the crowd and that made Heart and me speechless and tearful. We were so surprised that we looked at each other and were just overwhelmed. I had my sunglasses on at first to cover my tired eyes but I took it off to believe what I was seeing. We couldn’t believe that everyone was there for My Korean Jagiya. At that moment, I was holding back my tears and thought “all the hard work was worth it”. I’m just so glad that MKJ is bringing so much joy to the audience and I would love to give all the glory to God for giving me such good project. Even when we were at the airport waiting for our flight back to Manila, we were still trying to ‘digest’ what had happened. We are so thankful to everyone for showing their love and support for us.”
In the meantime, more than two million have viewed Alexander’s video while eating a variety of Filipino dishes. And among those that he ate was “balut” though he didn’t know what it was. Heart was very insistent that he ate it and he did.
Alexander was very accommodating, one reason his Filipino fans adore him. He doesn’t have qualms trying out anything Filipino. But he’s getting to be a little giddy staying too long in the country.
He said, “You know, when I first came to the Philippines, I was so nervous and worried about whether this project will attract the Filipino audience. At the beginning, I was just happy enough that everyone in this project is so nice. It’s like I made a family in the Philippines. But then God is so good that I’m given more than expected – good ratings. Just makes me even happier.”
While Alexander is getting all the love from the fans of My Korean Jagiya, Valeen Montenegro and Edgar Allan Guzman are getting hatred and loathing. The two play Cindy and Ryan, respectively, and both get in the way of the budding romance between Gia and Jun Ho.
Viewers of the series are ready to defend Gia and Jun Ho from the two.