John Lopez: 'Surviving' showbiz's challenges

MANILA, Philippines - He may not have emerged as the first Pinoy Sole Survivor on GMA 7‘s Survivor Philippines but John Lopez has certainly gained a lot of experience from being a part of the reality show.

The brown-skinned John plays leading man to Rochelle Pangilinan on Daisy Siete (Tarzariray) which airs on GMA 7 every afternoon. “I am putting my heart and soul into the show. It has been fun and a wonderful learning experience so far,” says John. “I look forward to every shoot. And I’m really hoping to do more projects for GMA or in the movies.”

John is grateful for the opportunity to be part of the 21st season of Daisy Siete. “I am happy to be working with the Sexbomb Girls and the production at Focus E. Direk Ruel Ekamen is a great motivator.” As this is his first acting job, John is getting a lot of help from Rochelle in doing a scene. “She’s very supportive especially when we have a lot of scenes together. And the same goes for the other Sexbomb Girls. I am learning a lot from them. The past few weeks we’ve always been together since we have tapings four times a week.”

John adds that there are no dull moments on the set. “Sometimes my bloopers light up the set. Parati kong sinasabing Rochelle instead of Riray sa takes so tawanan ang lahat. In one fight scene, I threw a punch, eh, napuwersa masyado so ayun nadulas ako sa putikan.”

A showbiz career was not John’s plan when he joined Survivor. He just wanted to find out if all the challenges in the reality show were real and not staged. “They were so real and I even had scars from the show. I was glad to be part of that even if I didn’t end up the Sole Survivor. The experience is definitely unforgettable.”

The show did make the Castaways instant celebrities. But it paved the way for John to become a leading man. Now that he already has one foot in showbiz, John is determined to make it good. And he hopes that more breaks would come his way.