Jose Sarasola turns Kapuso to pursue culinary dreams

Jose Sarasola is excited to start the new chapter of his showbiz career as a Kapuso artist after leaving his previous network where he stayed for 10 years. The hottie Fil-Spanish chef and entrepreneur, who signed an exclusive contract with GMA Artist Center last June 16, has found a place where he can further hone and showcase his cooking skills.

According to him, transferring to GMA 7 is a “career move” so he can further evolve as a chef. “It’s more like going back to my roots. I wanted to focus more on pursuing my culinary career and eventually hoping to become a celebrity chef in the country. I think it’s basically the culinary (style) that GMA has and the shows they cater to (are) more of yung gusto kong ma-achieve sa career ko in terms of being a chef,”  he said via Zoom, adding that he had been carefully planning it since December, and after all, he is no longer an artist of Star Magic. Jose was discovered via the Pinoy edition of Fear Factor in 2008 and last appeared in the Kapamilya soap Araw Gabi with JM de Guzman and Barbie Imperial in 2018.

“We were planning na talaga for that but it was delayed because of COVID-19. Whether naman po may problema yung kabila (ABS-CBN) or wala, it’s not the reason why I transferred here. I think I will cater more to how I can achieve my goal to become a celebrity chef and hone more my culinary skills,” said Jose, who dreams of having his own cooking and travel show, inspired by the shows of his favorite chefs Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver. His favorite cuisines in the world are Spanish, Italian, Thai and Japanese. 

The 33-year-old chef, who took up culinary arts at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, revealed that in the past three years, he had been doing cooking demos for Knorr at the SM Malls. He is also supervising his own sports bar named Avenue 75 in BF Homes, Parañaque.

Jose recently guested in Unang Hirit where he demonstrated his own version of Binagoongan Pork Sinigang with Pork Spinach in the segment Sinigang Wars with host Love Añover.

Besides his passion for cooking, Jose also wants to explore and improve his acting n through workshops. He is eyeing to be part of any GMA 7 fantasy series, which he claimed the network is known for.

“It is something new for me, something I can test talaga my acting skills. I still have to improve because I’m not the best actor out there in the world and I don’t speak the best Tagalog. But you know, siguro more practice lang talaga and eventually, hopefully, I’ll get better in terms of the acting side.”

“I am willing to work with anyone,” Jose replied when asked about the Kapuso artists whom he wants to work with aside from his longtime friends, gym buddies Rayver and Rodjun Cruz, and Marco Alcaraz. “It’s not really more of me choosing who to work with. I just wanna work with anybody they give me and I can’t be really choosy so I think it’s just that I just wanna start again and get the ball rolling again.”

Jose, meanwhile, is going steady with Japanese actress Maria Ozawa who flew back to Japan after staying in Manila during the first few weeks of lockdown.

“It’s hard with LDR (long-distance relationship),” he admitted, “Maria has been in Japan for the past two months na rin. At least with the apps now, it’s very easy to communicate with our loved ones abroad. I think we’re doing okay naman. I think in any relationship, the key talaga is communication. We Zoom, we Viber almost every night to keep up with each other with what’s happening. I’m just hoping that one day, soon, makauwi na siya kasi for now bawal pa yata yung mga hindi Pinoys to come home eh, so ayun, just communicate lang talaga.”