Keeping the reel and real separate

ABS-CBN’s The Loyalty Game streams on Prime Video

THE leads in The Loyalty Game — the latest Filipino series showing on streaming service Prime Video — real-life celebrity couple Jericho Rosales and Janine Gutierrez, made it a point to keep their reel life from seeping into their real life.

Produced by ABS-CBN Studios through Star Creatives, the psychological drama marks their first series together as leads after becoming a couple during the filming of ABS-CBN Studios’ Lavender Fields in 2024.

Inspired by the viral “loyalty test” social media trend, it blends themes of romance, suspense, betrayal, and desire as Ana (played by Ms. Gutierrez) resorts to hiring a loyalty tester to uncover the truth about her enigmatic husband, Ben (played by Mr. Rosales).

According to Ms. Gutierrez, the series allowed them to explore being an entirely different couple, with the help of director Mae Cruz-Alviar’s crafting of the characters.

“Pinipilit ko makuha at mahanap itong si Ana bilang tao (I really tried to understand and discover who Ana is as a person). As we go along, we keep adding more nuances to her,” she said during the series launch on June 29 in Quezon City.

Her role involves descending into paranoid depths for the character to believably resort to hiring a loyalty tester, which is someone online who is paid to attempt to lure potentially unfaithful partners to cheat. Ms. Gutierrez, along with many members of the cast, looked up the Facebook groups and posts about loyalty testing.

“I searched them up to see what the community looks like. If there’s any truth in a serye or a film, mas kinakapitan ko siya (I hold on to it even more),” she said.

“We had to find things that couples do that we don’t. At nagpapagpag kami (And then we’d shake it off),” Mr. Rosales explained, on how to make sure that they differentiate themselves from their characters. “We created a world that’s just ours by carving their relationship.”

“If there’s fight in a character and tension with what he wants to happen, then that’s what I look for. But the character scared me. There were a couple of times I didn’t want to accept the project anymore, but I consulted Janine and my friends. I think gray characters are the most interesting to play,” he added.

SECRETS AND MANIPULATION
The Loyalty Game is set in the fictional town of Vallente somewhere in Negros, where Ben is an attorney for a sugar plantation that has something to hide and Ana is an increasingly mentally unstable wedding dress designer. They filmed the entire series in Bacolod and Iloilo.

Throughout the series, the calculated loyalty testing arrangement is hinted to spiral into a dangerous psychological game of secrets and manipulation.

Other cast members are Carmina Villaroel, Charlie Dizon, Yen Santos, Elisse Joson, Maika Rivera, Yassi Pressman, Kira Balinger, Alyanna Angeles, Robbie Jaworski, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, and Karina Bautista.

“The thing about loyalty testers is that they can either fix or destroy your life. That’s a good concept for a serye,” Mr. Rosales said.

Director Mae Cruz-Alviar told the press that the show will depict realities in the Philippines that push people to go into loyalty testing to earn extra income.

“They’re a true phenomenon. The writers and creative team of Star Creatives built the concept around these loyalty testers found in social media,” she said. “Lumaganap sila noong pandemya (They emerged during the pandemic) because people needed an extra hustle.”

She explained that the series’ barkada of four loyalty testers — played by Aika Rivera, Kira Balinger, Yen Santos, and Elisse Joson — are portrayed as regular people who draw the line by only testing their targets and never escalating into actual affairs.

“These are just humans. Each one has a story. What you see on the surface is a person hustling and beneath that is a person struggling. There’s also a danger to what they’re doing, but they still risk it to earn an extra buck,” she said.

She explained that viewers can expect “the devastating consequences of suspicion and the dangerous lengths people will go to uncover the truth.”

The production is one of several collaborations between ABS-CBN and Prime Video, all aiming to bring Filipino entertainment to more viewers worldwide.

The Loyalty Game is now streaming on Prime Video. — Brontë H. Lacsamana