Andrea Brillantes and Xian Lim look and sound unscathed amid accusations of their hearts and their lives going astray somehow.

The ex-girlfriend of star cager Ricci Rivero, as well as the ex-boyfriend of Kim Chiu, attended the recent media conferences for their respective TV shows looking fresh and composed –though they were both shielded from pesky queries by journos and vloggers during the Q&A segments of their media huddles. 

The questions cast at Brillantes were pre-selected by the show's PR staff and read to her. Brillantes and the major stars of the TV series Senior High cheerily answered the queries about the series, after which they were immediately shepherded out of the venue.

No one managed to ask Brillantes if the rumors were true that a tryst with fellow actor Daniel Padilla was the final straw that caused the break-up of his real-life 11-year romance with screen sweetheart Kathryn Bernardo. 

That media session with Senior High stars and director (Onat Diaz) was held to drum up the series' final week, which begins on Monday (15 January). The cast finished taping the series' closing explosive episodes last week.

Likewise, no one had the chance to ask the burly JK Labajo, a rebellious son in the series' storyline, if he has found a replacement for his ex-girlfriend Maureen Wroblewitz, the beauty queen and commercial model who inspired him to write and record a howling song about the pain their break-up caused him.

"Ere" revived Labajo's almost forgotten singing career, as he has become a much-admired actor in indie films and now in Senior High. But the young man (he's only 22) is preoccupied with promoting his album these days, and seems only too happy taping for the raucous and rowdy Senior High to bother falling in love. All seems to be well in Labajo's world.

More than a dozen cast members of Senior High joined Brillantes and Labajo at the media huddle, among them Kyle Echarri, Baron Geisler, Elijah Canlas, Angel Aquino, Xyrill Manabat, Daniella Stanner, Miggy Jimenez, Gela Atayde, Ana Abad,  Angeli Bayani, Gerald Madrid and Kaki Teodoro. 

Echarri was asked by one of the hosts if he would care to do a BL (Boys Love) movie or series, and Echarri blurted "yes" — for as long as his partner is Labajo, he said. Wroblewitz's ex gaily seconded Echarri's answer.  

Senior High is a dark narrative about the lives of vicious well-off parents and their practically amoral teen children, some of whom are into drugs while others are secret pushers. One of the fathers in the storyline is a closet homosexual who assaults the schoolmates of his children. Two sons become lovers in the narrative.

Viewers find the series exciting, and the show's scenes earn massive views on TikTok

Surreal series

Meanwhile, Kim Chiu's ex-boyfriend Lim banners for GMA 7, along with Jennylyn Mercado, the surreal series Love. Die. Repeat., which begins airing on primetime on 17 January.  (The series has a delayed telecast on GTV, weeknights, at 10:50 to 11:25 p.m.)

Lim was bubbly at the Q&A for the show, though the questions were guarded as a result of the pre-session request that the queries be limited to matters about the series. The journos and bloggers had to toe the line.

In the series, Bernard and his wife Angela, portrayed by Lim and Mercado respectively, have to keep going through love and death until the universe sets them free from a time loop caused by a goddess living with them disguised as an old woman.

Mike Tan plays Elton, Angela's vindictive ex-boyfriend. Ina Feleo is Jessie, Angela's best friend. Nonie Buencamino portrays Danilo, Angela's father, while Malou de Guzman is the elderly woman and secret goddess. 

Shyr Valdez is Lim's mother Hilda, a single mom who often gets victimized by scams. Comedian Victor Anastacio plays Isaac, Bernard's loyal friend. And Valeen Montenegro's character holds a past connection with Bernard.

Love. Die. Repeat. is Mercado's first series after giving birth to her first child with Dennis Trillo named Dylan Jayde, in April 2022. It is also Mercado's first project with Lim.

After the Q&A with the cast, the GMA 7 PR staff managed to rush Lim out from the function hall. However, a couple of journos managed to ask Lim whether it was possible for his 12-year romance with Chiu to have a repeat. 

Lim smartly replied: "I think in life, everything happens for a reason. 'Yun lang naman po 'yun (That's about it). Kung umulit man or hindi umulit (If love is rekindled or not), everything is going to happen for a reason."

Competing shows

On 22 January, the shows of ex-sweethearts Chiu and Lim will start airing across each other on their respective channels. Chiu's Linlang, which aired in November on a streaming platform, will be aired by ABS-CBN as a series on A2Z, TV5, Kapamilya Channel at Kapamilya Online Live following FPJ's Batang Quiapo.

Chiu is teamed up with Paulo Avelino and JM de Guzman in Linlang. She seems to have secretly broken up with Lim before she began taping for Linlang, and she was linked to Avelino romantically when the series started airing.

It soon came to light that Avelino had also separated from real-life girlfriend Janine Gutierrez at the time Gutierrez was immersed in her ABS-CBN series Dirty Linen, which paired her up with Zanjoe Marudo.

Also, by 22 January, the time slot of the ABS-CBN rom-com Can't Buy Me Love, topbilled by Belle Mariano and Donnie Pangilinan, will be moved down after Linlang.

Big cast

By that time, though, Can't Buy Me Love will be airing across a very serious new series of GMA 7, Asawa ng Asawa Ko, which deals with the abduction of a wife by a dissident group, the wife then later becoming the spouse of the group's leader. 

Directed by Laurice Guillen, Asawa ng Asawa Ko has a big cast bannered by Jamie Curtis-Smith, Rayver Cruz, Joem Bascon and Liezl Lopez.

Playing the role of villains in the series are young actors Kim De Leon, Bruce Roeland, Luis Hontiveros, Patricia Coma, Jennifer Maravilla, Billie Hakenson and Ian Ignacio. Mariz Ricketts portrays the group's mother figure. 

The cast revealed during the huddle that, off-camera, they had so much fun hanging out together. Bascon played the doting and humorous father figure to the younger cast members.

Completing the cast are Crystal Paras, Quinn Carillo and Gina Alajar as the mother of the abducted wife.