JaRla on Star Studio Mag, Oct 2005

CF's Note: This entry only contains text and photos related to JaRla.

Can't Fight This Feeling
Photographs by Milo Sogueco, Styling by Pam Quinones

Can you really fall in love in front of the cameras? ARNEL RAMOS finds out how the Qpids teens went from fighting to keep their loveteam on the reality show, to fighting to keep their love, period.

They go by such terms of endearment as "labstim" (for Janus) and sweetness (for Carla). Janus and Carla prove that opposites do attract, although it sometimes takes a while.

When you hear Carla Loren talk about her Qpids Prince Charming Janus del Prado, you'd wish you were 17 again like she is; looking at love through eyes untouched by jadedness.

Janus, who's been in the acting game since he was a kid is the first to admit that he wasn't exactly blessed with princely looks. "Nung auditions for Qpids, ang feeling ko, pinatawag lang ako para pamparami." It didn't break his heart when Carla chose Mikel as her "ka-loveteam."

"I'm very happy na naging partner ko si Janus. I'm never bored with him. He respects me. Palagi niya akong pinapangiti. I don't think Mikel and I would have clicked as a team, kasi pareho kaming hindi pang-masa at barok mag-Tagalog. And thirdly, hindi siya si Janus."

Their comic tandem works mainly because, in Carla's own words, "magaling na artista si Janus. Gina-guide niya ako." And as it turned out, Janus was the complete opposite of everything she thought he was. "Akala mo bad boy siya but he's very responsible. Super bait niya sa mom niya. Sobrang sweet din. Minsan bumisita siya sa bahay. Favorite ko yung dirty ice cream na cheese flavor. He remembered it and brought me a half-gallon."

Janus is also all praises for his half-Filipino, half-French love princess. "She's sweet. Sobrang lambing pag ginusto niya. Sobrang witty din. She doesn't go for senseless talk. She doesn't hold grudges."

Is an off-screen romance in the offing? "We're not together but he's courting me," Carla admits. "We're happy being a loveteam at the moment. Hindi natin masabi if we can be more than that."

Their being "masa" and "sosyal" is not an issue. "It doesn't bother me," Carla points out. "Pantay kami in any aspect. We don't think of each other as better than the other. Marami siyang mga katangian na yung mga may pera hindi maipagmamalaki. He's the only person na tama ang paraan ng pagko-court sa akin."

Their favorite Qpids moment: their date in Marikina. Remembers Janus: "Sinundo ko siya sa house nila. I met her brother, titos and titas, her parents. I brought her sa Riverbanks in Marikina. Sumakay kami ng kotseng sapatos."