After months of gripping audiences with unexpected twists, shocking revelations, and the evolving trajectory of its story, “Roja” is heading into its final week, with more secrets still waiting to be unraveled.
AC Bonifacio, Maika Rivera, Sophie Reyes, Iñigo Jose, Harvey Bautista, Igi Boy Flores, Jeremiah Lisbo, and Rikki Mae Davao reminisced about their unforgettable taping moments during Kapamilya Chat’s special episode, ‘The Grand Getaway Fan Meet.’ The cast were thrilled to meet their fans, reflected on the story’s unexpected twists, and celebrated the overwhelming love and positive response to the series.
Sophie, taking on the role of Joy, emphasized how shocking the plot changes were, saying they unfolded right before their eyes. Maika, as Rita, highlighted how the series challenged her as an actor, stating, “Kasi grabe talaga ‘yung adjustments dapat, tapos ‘yung emotional ride talaga.”
While “Roja” features actors who have long been in the industry, Iñigo Jose, who played Jabbas, is blessed to have the series as his first on-screen project. Having been part of the recently concluded “Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Collab 2.0,” Iñigo expressed his gratitude to his fans for supporting him in “Roja.” “I’m really just grateful for all the experiences coming my way, and I just wanna continue to make everyone happy,” he said.
The cast was asked a fun yet daring question: if their characters’ experiences happened in real life, would they survive a siege? Rikki Mae, who plays Smile, joked that she’d probably join the goons instead, quipping, “Feeling ko magiging goon na lang ako.” AC, as Jules, laughed as she recalled filming the first take, explaining that while her character ran from the goons, the actors playing them were already exhausted—making her confident she would survive the ordeal.”
Meanwhile, Jeremiah, who played Ivan, insisted that he would at least try to survive. “Sobrang hirap kasi may skills ka dapat,” he explained. Drawing from his onscreen partnership with Maymay Entrata, who played Luna, Jeremiah added that both of them would survive, since he plays a doctor, while Luna has skills in fighting and shooting.
“Roja” had its web of lies revealed that always leave audiences baffled. When asked about their favorite twists, some highlighted Greta (Lorna Tolentino) being revealed as the mastermind of the siege, as well as the moment when Smile (Rikki Mae Davao) was exposed as the daughter of Emil, the leader of the hostage-takers.
For Harvey, however, it was Ayen’s (Yassi Pressman) side of story. “Binabasa ko ‘yung script, we had to do the scenes twice, isa na kasama si Ayen at isa na wala. ‘Yung energy ni Sir Joel [Torre] throughout shooting those two scenes sobrang consistent lang. So seeing ‘yung hallucination ni Emil with Ayen, ‘yun ‘yung favorite na shoot ko,” he shared.
The conversation then turned to the cast’s most memorable experiences during shooting. For Igi Boy, there were two standout moments. The first was during their initial escape scene, when his character Fin was supposed to die—though the script was later changed. The second moment came when he gained a new level of respect for veteran actors like Janice de Belen, Lorna Tolentino, and Joel Torre, admiring their dedication despite the challenging demands of the scenes.
To bring more fun and energy to their fans, the “Roja” cast later took on a pair game. In the “Sama-sama Tayo” challenge, prompts were given to them, questions that most of us would probably answer the same way. To earn a point, each pair had to give matching answers to these prompts.
The first question was about the best place in the country to spend a summer vacation. Everyone answered Boracay, earning them a point except for Maika and Rikki, who simply answered “beach” in general.
Moving on to the food category, the cast was quizzed on the best dish to enjoy during the holidays. Harvey and Jeremiah lost a point for giving different responses, while the rest went with ham. When asked which food disappears fastest at the table, everyone said lumpia—except for the pairs of Maika and Rikki, and Iñigo and Igi Boy.
Later, the group finally got one correct answer from each pair: ‘traffic,’ in response to the common reason why people often arrive late to work. To wrap up the game, Maika and Rikki, along with Jeremiah and Harvey, had to perform a dance as a playful consequence.
Don't miss the finale episodes of “Roja,” airing weeknights on Kapamilya Channel sa ALLTV2, A2Z, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), and iWant.