Love, Siargao Comes to Free TV
Alden Richards and Nadine Lustre's island romance is now on GMA Prime weeknights. What the show is about, and what to expect if it makes you want to come.
The island has been the backdrop to plenty of films, but a weeknight primetime series is a different kind of exposure. For the next few weeks a large part of the country will be watching Siargao in their living rooms every evening, right as the Championship Tour arrives at Cloud 9.
The show
Love, Siargao is a Viu Original, co-produced by GMA, Viu Philippines and Viva. It streamed on Viu over the summer, with the final episode released on 5 September, and has now moved to free TV.
Richards plays Jao, who comes to the island after a breakup hoping to win his ex back. Lustre plays Kara, who is there to live in the moment and leave her past behind. The plot turns on the so-called Siargao curse, the island's favourite joke about visitors who come for a week and never quite leave. The ensemble includes Kyline Alcantara, Kim Ji Soo, AZ Martinez, Vince Maristela and Kakki Teodoro. It is Richards' return to GMA primetime and Lustre's first primetime series on the network.
The curse is real (sort of)
Anyone who has worked in General Luna for more than a season knows the pattern. Someone arrives for ten days, extends to three weeks, cancels the flight home, and is still here at Christmas asking where to buy a second-hand scooter. Usually they came for the surf. We cannot promise a romance. We can promise the surf.
If the show makes you want to come
Pick your timing. The fortnight from 31 October to 10 November is the Philippines Pro, and it will be the busiest stretch the island has ever had. If you want the Siargao on screen, with quiet roads and space on the boardwalk, come a week or two either side. Our swell season guide has the month-by-month picture.
Getting here takes planning. There are no jets into Sayak and seats on the small turboprops that fly in go quickly in busy weeks. Our getting to Siargao guide covers the route, the vans and what it costs.
The island beyond the surf. Kara is a tour guide, and the lagoons, rock pools and islands the show uses are a real day out. We have written up island hopping and land tours, including what is worth the trip and what is better skipped.
Be a good guest. General Luna is a small town with a lot of new visitors. Wear a helmet on the bike, keep the music down after dark, take your rubbish with you, and say hello to the people who live here. That is most of what the show gets right, too.
If you are coming to surf, we run lessons and rooms a short walk from the boardwalk. If the curse gets you, we will help you find a longer stay.
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