Looking Back at AlDub Ten Years Later

A hard pill to swallow for those sick of the revolving doors of romantic leads on screen: the Philippines will always be a nation that adores its loveteams. Look no further than the AlDub phenomenon ten years ago.

Not being in the same location and communicating through lip-syncs of popular songs and viral soundbites popularized by Dubsmash, the strong chemistry between Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza as Yaya Dub was undeniable. Their short interactions through a split-screen evolved into the Kalyeserye kit within the “Juan for All, All for Juan” segment of Eat Bulaga that got the whole country talking.

AlDub was the cultural force of 2015. Everyone spent their lunchtime tuning in to GMA Network to watch Eat Bulaga for AlDub. It rattled the ABS-CBN management, which aired EB’s competitor, “It’s Showtime,” to the point it was on the brink of cancellation. AlDub’s de facto theme song, Bryan White’s “God Gave Me You,” was the track on repeat that year. It even disrupted political discourse less than a year before the 2016 elections.

With the loveteam constantly trending online globally, especially on Twitter (now called X), Western media outlets took notice. The BBC featured the phenomenon and interviewed Richards and Mendoza, while BuzzFeed uploaded a video of Americans reacting to AlDub scenes with amusement, some even mimicking the iconic “pabebe wave.”

AlDub shaped the Richards and Mendoza we know today and changed the way the public supports loveteams, not just in how they're packaged, but in how hardcore fans mobilize, both online and on the streets.

The pairing also proved to be a double-edged sword: it brought them massive success in their careers, but also backlash when it turned out that their romance only belonged in the storybooks.

History

In 2015, Richards had just played Jose Rizal in “Ilustrado.” Mendoza, meanwhile, was a newbie, having entered the industry after her popular lip-sync videos on Dubsmash went viral on social media.

At that point, ABS-CBN was the undisputed titan in creating effective loveteams in Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla (KathNiel), Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil (LizQuen), and James Reid and Nadine Lustre (JaDine).

GMA had launched loveteams of their own, with DongYan (Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera) their most famous couple. Still, it wasn’t enough to beat ABS-CBN, which had mastered the formula.

Richards was invited to co-host Eat Bulaga on a one-month trial when the show’s producers took in Mendoza after noticing her viral Dubsmash videos. That time, viewers only knew Mendoza as her character Yaya Dub, a nickname for her full name “Divina Ursula Bokbokova Smash,” an assistant to Lola Nidora, one of the characters played by Wally Bayola. True to her origins, Mendoza, as Yaya Dub, only communicated through lip-syncs.

As part of the segment, Mendoza, along with Bayola, Jose Manalo, and Paolo Ballesteros, would host the “Juan for All, All for Juan” segment in various barangays, while the rest of the hosts, including Richards, were at the show’s now-former studio, Broadway Centrum, presiding remotely.

It was a moment on July 16, 2015 when Mendoza broke character as she felt giddy seeing Richards through the split-screen, that producers saw an opportunity to create a loveteam. Their short exchanges evolved into the half-hour “Kalyeserye.”

The skit parodied teleserye tropes, most notably the kontrabida archetype through Lola Nidora, forbidding the leads to end up together – all played out live and improvised. As the skit evolved, so did their communication. They began writing letters and presenting them to each other through a split screen, still separated by Lola Nidora’s restrictions.

Every AlDub episode had no shortage of viral moments, though some were more special than others. They commemorated their weeksaries, which turned into monthsaries, as the viewers and fans, dubbed AlDub Nation, rooted for the star-crossed lovers to finally meet.

Other memorable moments include when their characters were kidnapped by Lola Nidora’s niece, Duhrizz (Bayola); when Alden and Maine thought they could finally embrace each other, only to be blocked by a plywood wall set up by Lola Nidora; and when Alden and Yaya finally had their first date, though still required to keep one foot apart per Lola Nidora’s rule.

AlDub’s peak was on October 24, when Richards and Mendoza finally shared the stage at the Philippine Arena, free from Lola Nidora’s restrictions, before a 55,000-crowd.

EB’s special, aptly titled “Sa Tamang Panahon,” was a monster hit in the ratings. Aired live without commercial breaks, it earned 50.8% in the Metro Manila market and 42.9% in urban areas in the Philippines, according to AGB Nielsen. In comparison, It’s Showtime’s sixth-anniversary special garnering a measly 5.4% in Metro Manila and 10.2% nationwide.

It was also a benefit concert, with ticket sales used to build libraries for schools and support Lumad communities. This inspired fans to leverage AlDub’s popularity to promote advocacies such as raising awareness about the persecution of the Lumads, organizing feeding programs and dengue prevention efforts, and holding donation drives in their names.

Post-AlDub

AlDub’s success led to Richards and Mendoza starring in two feature films together. Their first, “My Bebe Love: Kilig Pa More,” which co-starred Ai-Ai delas Alas and Vic Sotto, earned ?385 million during its run in the Metro Manila Film Festival. Their second feature, “Imagine You and Me”, released on the first anniversary of AlDub, heralded similar success, earning ?198 million at the box office.

In 2017, they headlined the primetime series “Destined to Be Yours.” Their last project together, the television film “Love Is…” which aired on October 2017 during EB’s noontime slot, was praised for tackling mental health issues.

Interest in AlDub began to wane as both actors were rumored to be linked to other personalities. Mendoza confirmed in 2019 that she was dating Arjo Atayde, whom she later married in 2023.

By 2018, they began pursuing projects outside the tandem, with AlDub fans continuing to support them individually. Both clarified that they remained friends and continued to host the show together.

When EB departed from the GMA noontime slot in 2023, following a dispute with their former producer, TAPE Inc., they brought their iteration of the show to TV5. Richards did not join them as he remains an exclusive Sparkle talent, while Mendoza remains an EB regular.

AlDub Nation remains active to this day, supporting both Mendoza and Richards in their solo careers while continuing to hold fundraisers under their names. But the fandom also gained a bad reputation for its cult-like behavior from a handful of fans, who formed conspiracy theories that Richards and Mendoza are secretly married and raising a child together.

It’s one of the reasons the loveteam system continues to be criticized, particularly for placing actors under expectations they can’t realistically fulfill. Many believe that actors in loveteams shouldn’t be obligated to date in real life. As Mendoza wrote in her viral 2017 open letter: “I am at this point where I feel like I live in a box.”

Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that AlDub changed the rules of how loveteams are formed, how public support can play a key role in their dominance and in advancing their careers, both as a pair and individually, and how their influence can shape their fans to promote grassroots causes.

The loveteam formula has been done to death, with many entertainment companies endlessly pairing actors together with little buildup and questionable chemistry. But it only took one character-breaking moment from Mendoza, and Richards reciprocating it, to set the stage for what AlDub would become.

If there’s one big takeaway from AlDub: the best loveteams are formed when no one sees them coming.