# Love team

In Philippine media, a love team (or loveteam) is an actor and actress depicted to the public as a romantic couple. Some of these onscreen pairs have become couples in real life.

## Background

The concept of love teams can be traced back to the early years of Philippine cinema in the 1920s. The tandem of Gregorio Fernandez and Mary Walter who starred in silent films in the country during the 1920s is considered as the precursor of the love team concept in Philippine cinema. Other pairings became prominent such as Rogelio dela Rosa and Carmen Rosales in the 1950s, Tirso Cruz III and Nora Aunor in the 1960s and the 1970s, Gabby Concepcion and Sharon Cuneta in the 1980s, the pairings of Rico Yan and Claudine Barretto and Marvin Agustin and Jolina Magdangal in the 1990s, and John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo in the 2000s.
In the 21st century, love teams are also known by the portmanteaus of the couple's names. Becoming part of a love team in the Philippine entertainment industry can be a boost to the acting careers of the two people who are part of the pairing.
The two people in a love team often star in television series and films where it is expected that their characters will be romantically attached, in line with their public image as a romantic couple off-screen. There are some organized fan groups supporting love teams. However, the prospects of an actor or actress involved in a love team, especially the more popular pairings, to star with another actor or actress other than each other is limited. In cases where this happens, there is backlash from supporters of a love team, such as the case of Kathryn Bernardo's involvement in the 2019 film Hello, Love, Goodbye, where her character got paired with Alden Richards. Her pairing with Richards was not received well by KathNiel fans who support her being with Daniel Padilla instead. In that year, both Bernardo and Padilla mutually decided not to be involved in the same film project together.
Hardcore fans of love teams wish for the pairing they support to become a "real-life couple." One example of this is Gabby Concepcion and Sharon Cuneta, who eventually got married. However, their marriage later got annulled.
Traditionally, the "success" of love teams is influenced by the "real-life relationship" between the pairing members. However, love teams can involve actors and actresses who are not romantically in a relationship with each other, with even both members of the pair having known relationships with someone outside the pairing, such as the case of Ruru Madrid and Shaira Diaz both of whom are dating other people. In the case of Richard Yap and Jodi Sta. Maria, Yap is already married while his love team with Sta. Maria is active. Sta. Maria herself, who separated from her husband, is not in a romantic relationship with Yap.

## Reception
### Within the entertainment industry

Actress Solenn Heussaff, after conversing with people she knows are involved in love teams, said that being in such a pairing is difficult. She remarked that the love teams may "lose a sense of who they are" by trying too hard to portray themselves as romantic couples both on-screen and in real life, which she says is not good if it is forced in the case of the latter. She also points out that love team fans may be limiting the career options of actors involved in a pairing "knowingly or unknowingly." Heussaff states that if an actor or actress gets an assignment for a film or television series where they pair with an actor or actress other than each other as their love interest, "someone gets attacked." But she was quick to add that love teams could be beneficial. Sometimes, those involved in such pairing became romantic couples in reality and urged fans to respect the individuality of the actors and actresses.

### Criticism

Love teams have been criticized for promoting heteronormativity and upholding the heteropatriarchy.

## Notable examples

| Pairing | Notes |
| Nora Aunor and Tirso Cruz III (Guy and Pip) | Main article: Guy and Pip A love team which was popular in the 1970s. The couple were known as Guy and Pip, the former referring to Aunor and the latter to Cruz. The two first starred together in the 1969 feature 9 Teeners' at 'Yeye Generation!. As Guy and Pip, they also released music albums. They often featured in films until 1978 when both starred in Mahal Mo, Mahal Ko. The two had a comeback in the 1985 film Till We Meet Again and featured in movies once again until 1993 when both were part of the 1993 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Inay. They briefly returned in the 2010s, when they starred in the 2014 made for television film When I Fall In Love. Cruz married Lynn Ynchausti in the 1980s. |
| Gabby Concepcion and Sharon Cuneta (ShaGab) | The two first starred in a film together in 1981 in Dear Heart which marked Cuneta's debut as a main film actress. The two who were dubbed as a "super couple" starred in several other films. Cuneta and Concepcion got married in 1984 and they had a daughter. Their short-lived marriage was later annulled and they both remarried. |
| Gerald Anderson and Kim Chiu (KimErald) | The pairing was conceived in 2006, when both entered as "housemates" in the reality television show Pinoy Big Brother: Teen Edition. After their exit from the competition, both started their acting careers. Anderson and Chiu appeared together as a love team in five television series and six films. |
| Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera (DongYan) | This initially on-screen pairing began with Marimar, the 2007 Philippine television adaptation of the Mexican telenovela of the same name. And after Marimar skyrocketed in popularity and launched Rivera's career, so too did her pairing with Dantes. It was immediately followed with Dyesebel, as well as movie projects such as You to Me Are Everything. In 2014, after being in a long-term relationship, Rivera and Dantes tied the knot in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Cubao, Quezon City, and was televised on GMA and titled as "The Royal Wedding". The couple currently has two children: Maria Letizia (born in 2015), and Jose Sixto IV (born in 2019). |
| Richard Yap and Jodi Sta. Maria | The love team of Richard Yap and Jodi Sta. Maria became best known for Be Careful with My Heart. The two were known by the names of their characters: "Sir Chief" and "Maya" for Yap and Sta. Maria respectively. The two are not in a romantic relationship with each other. Yap is already married to another woman with whom he has three children. Sta. Maria on her part has a child with Pampi Lacson, her former husband. |
| Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla (KathNiel) | Main article: KathNiel KathNiel was first featured in television on a teleserye called Growing Up in 2011. Bernardo and Padilla first publicly confirmed that they are in a relationship in April 2018. The couple has starred in other television series such as Princess and I, Pangako Sa 'Yo and La Luna Sangre and in feature films such as She's Dating the Gangster, Barcelona: A Love Untold, and The Hows of Us. |
| Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil (LizQuen) | LizQuen starred together as best friends in the film She's the One (2013). They were then cast as the lead characters in the top-rating romantic drama series Forevermore (2014–2015). Following its success and their tandem, dubbed as 2015's breakout love team, they both starred in a string of projects together such as hit movies Just The Way You Are (2015), Everyday I Love You (2015), My Ex and Whys (2017), and Alone/Together (2019); and television series Dolce Amore (2016), Bagani (2018), and Make It with You (2020). Soberano and Gil first publicly confirmed that they are in a relationship in 2019. |
| Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza (AlDub) | Main article: AlDub The pairing of Richards and Mendoza was popularized in 2015 for their role in Kalyeserye, a segment of the noon-time variety television show Eat Bulaga! where they portrayed a fictionalized version of themselves. In late-2017, Mendoza clarified to AlDub fans that she and Richards are just friends in real life asking for more freedom in her individual career but nevertheless thanked AlDub fans for their support. |
| Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano (DonBelle) | Panglinan and Mariano's love team made its "official" debut in the 2021 TV series He's Into Her, although a following of the pairing has been noted to exist prior to the series' premiere. The pair also starred in the films Love Is Color Blind and An Inconvenient Love. Currently, they are seen in the TV series Can't Buy Me Love (2023). |
| KD Estrada and Alexa Ilacad (KDLex) | Prior to the pair becoming a love team, Estrada and Ilacad were housemates of Pinoy Big Brother: Kumunity Season 10 - Celebrity Edition where they gained a strong following while being inside the house and after being both evicted on the same night, notably at a time where Ilacad consoled Estrada after an emotional and heartbreaking moment when their fellow housemate Anji Salvacion rejected Estrada and did not reciprocate his romantic feelings for her. In early 2022, after their time in the Big Brother house, the pair had worked together as they released their first two singles Misteryo and their PBB original creation When I See You Again, their first online concert together, and will star in an upcoming iWantTFC series Run To Me. |
| Ruru Madrid and Shaira Diaz | Noted to be not an off-screen couple. Madrid is dating Bianca Umali while Diaz has been in a relationship with Edgar Allan Guzman. |
| Mura and Mahal | Both noted to have dwarfism, the two are often considered as a love team. Initially, Mura featured in MTB as Abby or Mahal's "twin" but the two later became known as a love team. |

## In popular culture

* The Itchyworms recorded the song "Loveteam", written from the point of view of a person with an unrequited love from the other screen partner. The music video of the song starred the love team of Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson, known as Kimerald (or KimErald).