Instant heartthrob ang naging dating ng celebrity chef na si JL Cang, isa sa contenders sa second edition ng Celebrity Duets.
"Endearing" is the adjective attached to the 24-year-old graduate of Culinary Arts from OB Montessori the moment he opened his mouth sa general question-and-answer portion ng Celebrity Duets presscon na ginanap kagabi, August 20, sa Skyline restaurant sa 17th floor ng GMA Network Center.
The tall cook—he stands 5' 11"—possesses the face and build of a hunk, but with a bagets voice na dahil naturally funny siya ay bumagay ang packaging. Hindi raw siya nagdalawang-isip nang inalok siyang maging part of the contenders ng Celebrity Duets dahil gusto niya raw mapanood ng mga kaibigan niya.
A graduate of La Salle Greenhills, JL pointed out that it is not well known that OB Montessori in Greenhills has already a college degree pero isang kurso lang, ang Culinary Arts, where he specialized in Restaurant Management.
Graduating pa lang siya noon ng college when he got a call from a friend na may pa-audition daw ang GMA-7 for a new cooking show. Since wala pa siyang ginagawa that time, he applied and was taken in.
He has since left the Q11 show Ka-Toque, dahil sa isang advertiser ng show. After this, suwerte namang kinuha siya ng GMA show na SiS as the regular chef kung saan nakilala siya hindi lang sa galing ng pagluto kundi sa pagpapatawa.
"Ay, gusto ko talagang pasukin ‘yan!" sagot niya sa tanong kung gusto niyang maging comedy actor.
"JL" stands for his parents names, James and Lani, nothing more. These initials are his real name at ipinakita pa niya ang kanyang driver's license to prove na simpleng JL lang ang officially listed name niya.
"Siguro nagmamadali mga magulang ko noon na pangalanan ako kaya nilagay na lang nila ang mga initials ng pangalan nila," sabi niya.
Binibiro si JL na magiging mahigpit niyang kalaban for the female and gay votes ang half-British, half-Filipino soccer player na si Phil Younghusband. Nagulat pa siya kung may makukuha pa raw ba siyang boto with Phil around.
"Mari-rekta [youth Tagalog slang to mean ‘diretso'] na ‘yan ni Phil, may boboto pa ba sa akin?" saad niya.
Dahil napagtabi sila JL at Phil sa isang table after the presscon proper, sabay silang tinanong kung magagawa nila ang ginawa ni Dr. Hayden Kho last season ng Celebrity Duets na kumanta nang topless isang beses.
"Oo" ang sagot ng dalawa, pero may six-pack si Phil.
"May tiyan naman ako, mas masarap yakapin ang malaman," sagot naman ni JL.