A picture of Miss Universe Spain 2021 Sarah Loinaz with Kapuso heartthrob Alden Richards gained buzz among local pageant fans after the beauty queen posted it on her Instagram Stories.
The 23-year-old Spanish model took a snap of her and the GMA star and tagged Alden on the image-sharing platform on Tuesday.
Sarah also met with other Filipinos, based on her other Instagram Stories.
As of Wednesday morning, she was in Balay Dako restaurant, Tagaytay City, with Miss Universe Bahrain 2021 Jess Deyani and Xpedition publisher and editor in chief Josh Yugen, among others.
Sarah found the menu offerings “amazing” and shared a clip of her tasting calamansi or Philippine lime.
Yugen also had a picture with Alden. He described the actor as the first male cover of their magazine.
Meanwhile, Sarah’s photo with Alden was reshared by a pageant fan page which shortly gained comments from Filipinos.
“The Next Dayanara Torres?” a Facebook user asked, referencing Miss Universe 1993 Dayanara Torres who lived in the Philippines for five years and dated former matinee idol Aga Muhlach.
“Wow,” another Filipino commented.
“Baka may balak (siya) pasukin ang Philippine Showbiz after Amparo Muñoz,” a different Filipino speculated, referring to late Miss Universe 1974 Amparo Muñoz who starred in a Filipino movie with Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz.
“Pumila ka,” another Facebook user commented on their picture.
Last January, it was reported that Sarah might visit Manila to receive her El Tocuyo Award from local pageant fans.
Reports said that the award is given to a Miss Universe candidate who had been named a frontrunner by several pageant sites and analysts but failed to make it to the semifinals, like 2021’s Natasha Joubert from South Africa.
The El Tocuyo Awards started in 2016 with Mariam Habach of Venezuela’s non-placement at the 65th Miss Universe pageant held in Manila.
El Tocuyo is the name of her hometown and from then on, frontrunners in the pageant who didn’t make the first cut were called El Tocuyo awardees.
The award follows the rationale of recognizing what for an entrant was her best performance but was perceived as mediocre by a judging panel.
