Phenomenal young stars Darren Espanto and AC Bonifacio indeed never fail to amaze us every time they perform individually or together on ASAP Natin ‘To or in other shows. But apart from their unmistakable singing and dancing prowess and their undeniable chemistry as partners on-stage, we also absolutely admire their beautiful friendship in real life – as seen in their adorable photos in this gallery as proofs!
In their guesting in Magandang Buhay in 2018, the prodigious teen artists revealed that they first met when he and fellow singer Morisette Amon performed in the 2015 ABS-CBN reality dance competition Dance Kids, wherein she and her dance partner Lucky Ancheta were among the contestants and were later on hailed as the grand champions. They immediately clicked with each other since they both came from Canada and AC regarded him as her “English Buddy”.
That simple interaction spawned to a wonderful friendship as they formed what they called the “Potato Squad” alongside fellow teen artists Ylona Garcia and Kyle Echarri. And since they’re very much close already, spilling each other’s unforeseen facets and being makulit towards one another have been just fine for the both of them.
Now that they’re inching towards adulthood and on the sixth year of their friendship, AC and Darren both confidently admitted to the momshie-hosts in their recent appearance on the show last month that they have indeed known each other well enough.
“I think, we’ve been there for each other through most of our problems and our happiness and everything. I can say I think I know Darren after six years. ‘Di ko alam sa kanya, pero I think I know him well enough po,” the 20-year-old multi-faceted performer related.
Since they seem to share the same interests and have been tightly bonded, Momshie Karla Estrada couldn’t help but ask if there’s one point in their friendship that they harbored romantic feelings to the other one. Both of them denied it, saying that even though a lot of fans have been shipping them, AC and Darren really just consider one another as a sibling.
“AC and I po talaga, we’re just really good friends and we get each other po e. It never crossed our minds na parang ‘paano kung naging tayo?’, kasi our friendship [or] our relationship isn’t like that po talaga. And we’re just so thankful to have each other’s backs all the time,” the 19-year-old bankable heartthrob said.
They further dished facts about their friendship as they enthusiastically took on the “Sino Ang Mas” challenge, wherein they revealed who between them is being pertained to by the words or phrases that the momshie-hosts mentioned.
And in their recent interview in the morning talk show, Darren and AC went on to describe each other as a friend. For Darren, he emphasized how he regards her as a sibling by saying, “Si AC po parang kapatid ko na talaga ‘to e. As in we know everything about each other.”
Then she added, “AC is very caring to all of her friends, and isa po siya talagang kaibigan na maasahan mo sa lahat ng mga bagay in life, whether it’s something you wanna share – excited ka man, nalulungkot ka – nand’yan siya para sa’yo.”
He went on to jest that the one thing he doesn’t want about her is asking her friends to treat or pay for her food. In return, AC appreciates how he’s been consistently there for her ever since their friendship started a few years ago.
Check out AC and Darren’s lovely photos that show their awesome, longtime friendship in this gallery! Catch them on ASAP Natin ‘To every Sunday noon, on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z Channel 11!