Allen says falling in love with Sophia for real has to wait
SOFIA Pablo and Allen Ansay are two of the teen stars of GMA’s hit Afternoon Prime show, “Prima Donnas”, who have a huge fan base with their Alfia love team. Sofia was born on April 10, 2006 and started as a child star in such soaps as “Because of You” (2014) and “Oh My Mama” (2015).
When the first lock in taping of “Prima Donnas” happened during the pandemic, she was not allowed to work since she was not yet 15 years old. So the character she plays, Donnalyn or Lenlen, was made to appear to have gone to Australia. When the second lock in taping for “Prima Donnas 2” was held late last year, she was already 15, so she was allowed to join and Lenlen became a balikbayan from Australia.
Allen, in turn, was discovered when he joined Starstruck Season 7 in 2019 and he became the first runner up. He’s now 19 years old while Sofia is only 15. He was born and raised in Camarines Sur and his family are still there while he’s trying his luck in showbusiness here in Manila.
His love team with Sofia first clicked on Youtube and in Tiktok. They dance so well together. In “Prima Donnas”, he plays Fonzie and his relationship with Sofia as Lenlen is what they call ‘away-bati’ and their fans are buying it with much “kilig”. How would Sofia describe her relationship with Allen at this point?
“Si Allen, mahilig siyang pikunin ako,” she says. “Parang hindi siya magiging masaya kundi niya ako nagagawang pikunin. But that’s the reason why they call us the jolly love team. And as a young love team, masaya kami that the fans are supporting us. We’re grateful that GMA Network is investing in us and we’re happy that they saw na, on and off screen, we’re okay ni Allen.”
She’s really happy to be back with co-stars Jillian Ward and Althea Ablan. “Mababait sila, para ko talaga silang mga ate kasi ako ang youngest sa amin at 15. Si Althea even teaches me kung paano mag-ayos, pati sa buhok ko. Si Jillian naman, I admire yung laging focused niya sa work. Maganda ang team work namin as the three sisters in ‘Prima Donnas’.”
What about Allen, what can he say about his relationship with Sofia?
“Pangarap ko talaga siyang maka-love team and we’re now very close friends at this point,” he says. “Although the fans want us to be really on, we’re not rushing things kasi Sofia is only 15. We’re just happy that after Youtube and Tiktok, nakita talaga ng mga tao dito sa ‘Prima Donnas’ na lovable yung chemistry namin. So we really owe a lot to Lenlen and Fonzie, the characters we play that endeared us more to our fans.”
Since they’re the jolly love team, they remind us of the perky and bubbly love teams then of Nida-Nestor, Maricel-William who did a lot of zany romantic comedies.
“Yes, now, we’re the jolly love team, but we have a new series na siguradong mabibigla ang audience kasi babaligtad ang roles namin,” says Sofia. “Hindi pa puedeng i-reveal ang details but abangan nyo, kasi ibang-iba kami rito kaysa sa nakilala ng viewers sa ‘Prima Donnas’.”
“Even in ‘Prima Donnas’, magkabati kami ngayon as Lenlen and Fonzie, pero marami pa kaming pagdaraanang mga pagsubok dahil kay Kendra, so abangan nyo. Eventually, we like to try other roles. Ako, I’d like us to do a show na parang the hit Korean series, ‘All of Us are Dead’, horror-action, pero may love story pa rin involving us.”
