Reign Parani, Jude Hinumdum and Lance Reblando are Chasing the Win in ‘Love at First Spike’

In competition, second place can be the most bittersweet spot of all. You’re close enough to taste victory, yet still not standing where you long to be. Just one step away from the summit, but somehow that step feels like a mile. Just an inch short. Just a breath away. Just… almost.

“Almost” wears many faces, like a volleyball that just grazes the line, a serve that nearly aces, or a set that’s perfect but never gets the hit. iWant’s “Love at First Spike” stars Reign Parani, Jude Hinumdum, and Lance Reblando know that feeling all too well.

Digging Deep

Pinoy Big Brother Otso alum Reign has chased her dream and brushed its fingertips three times. “All those ‘almosts’ hurt, they stung, and they lingered in my mind questioning my worth,” she admits. “I was just a minor (at 15) entering this major dream of mine.”

She was almost part of the PBB Otso Batch 1 Big 4. Almost a member of the nation’s girl group BINI. Almost a titleholder in Binibining Pilipinas 2023. Each “almost” for her was a different road with three restarts she was nearly living.

Jude knows that chase too, one he jokingly sums up like what his role in LAFS says, “TBA—To Be Anest… almost na siyang maging ‘almost.’” Singing had been his bread and butter since he was 12 in Negros.

Then came 2009 when he joined “Birit Baby” on “Eat Bulaga,” won the whole thing, and became a regular on the show. “I really thought it was the start of my singing career,” he recalls. But life had a plot twist in store.

For a male singer, puberty is the most fragile stage, when range, timbre, and tone shift without warning. Jude’s voice changed, and with it, the dream that once felt solid began to slip away. “I stopped singing,” he admits. “I thought, ‘Ah, ‘yun na ‘yun. Hanggang doon na lang siguro ang pangarap kong maging singer.’”

And then there’s Lance, whose “almost” is also a cause. For her, every missed role and every closed door carried a bigger weight, which is, as a proud Transpinay, the absence of people like her on screen.

Time is moving, the world is changing, and yet the faces on television and in shows often still look the same. Lance knows it’s time for audiences, especially trans women, to see someone they can finally identify with.

Three roads that never ran parallel, until now. All in the paths that rattle and twist their way into one place, one set, one show—”Love At First Spike.” And in that moment, all three could finally say, “This is it.”

Serving Aces

“Now, my ‘everything’ is Love At First Spike,” Reign says, reminiscing on the days when she had absolutely nothing, holding on to the hope that one day she would have everything. For her, it’s “a testament na kahit pigilan ka ng panahon, ng pagkakataon, ng pangarap mo… mararating mo pa rin.”

Because in the end, the sting of “almost” lingers, but so does its fire. It fuels the next serve, sharpens the next spike, steadies the next block. The court remembers, and so do the players.

Looking back, Reign believes the timing made the victory sweeter. “Everything becomes meaningful when you work hard for it… Nothing beats knowing and being told that you deserve it,” she adds. Had it happened earlier, she knows the journey wouldn’t have meant as much. “It was ground up, nothing to everything, and from being hungry to being so full of love and blessings. Ramdam na ramdam ko ’yon sa buong puso at pagkatao ko.”

The project’s heart is also what drove her determination. LAFS is a queer series that champions LGBTQIA+ stories, something she says is “what modern Philippine television is all about.” She auditioned as if it was her last chance, determined to honor the message that “love is for all, and we mean it with every sense of the word.”

This is something that Lance agrees as she brings life to a Transpinay athlete role. “Sobrang importanteng maipakita ang totoo at authentic na representation sa mainstream media ngayon,” she says. If not now, when? Time moves quickly, she adds, and in that rush, the images we see on TV and in shows have begun to blur into sameness.

The call, for her, is revolutionary with a story determined to break through the monotony of the mainstream: “to let a transneneng watching from home see someone like her in the arena,” running not just for medals but for visibility. “Magkakaiba tayo ng itsura,” she reminds, “pero pareho tayo ng layunin at adbokasiya.”

In the same breath that Reign spoke about creating spaces for truth, Jude echoes the sentiment. The importance, he stresses, lay in “being part of narratives that push inclusivity, especially now that it’s so easy to be mean.”

“It’s 2025,” Jude reminds, yet the world’s expanse still feels unsafe for many. There are still those “na nasisikipan at ayaw umunawa,” those unwilling to stretch compassion to fit everyone. “These stories need to be told,” Jude quips firmly.

Cross Court Connection

On set, love was the common language.

“We are overflowing with love right at this moment,” Reign shares. Like Kidlat (Jude’s role) in the series, they’d seen this coming somehow. From the very first table read with Emilio Daez, Sean Tristan and more, there was a spark, one-of-a-kind, that made everyone fall in love.

For Jude, that connection wasn’t built from scratch. “Me and Lance have been friends since 2017, eight years na kaming nagbabaliwan na dalawa,” he says. They were schoolmates in UP Diliman, part of the same theater group, battle-tested by countless productions before they even stepped into the world of LAFS. “The chemistry and rapport you see on screen ay bunga ng matagal na friendship na iyon,” he explains.

“Sobrang saya lang na makatrabaho siya kasi alam kong hindi niya ako iiwan sa ere at sasamahan niya ako sa bawat amats na gagawin ko,” Lance laughs.

Reign saw that same foundation in the whole cast. “It felt easy, we shared the same work ethic, and all of us were willing to go the extra mile with love, care, talent, and discipline.” This wasn’t a rushed project, she expands, as it was “written, fabricated, directed, and built with the best intentions,” by Direk Ivan Andrew Payawal.

What’s next after the successful first season? Well… we’re not the only ones who wish to see LAFS back on the screen again, but hopefully when we do, may everyday feel like a “Fun Friday,” a “3, 2, 1 Darna!” scoring moment, and a winning spike — for all of us.

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Photography by Miggy Brono

Art Direction by Joe Andy

Words by Jacob Santos

Hair and Makeup by Jhai Castillo for Jude and Lance

Hair by Sean Nadera for Reign

Make Up by Gelo Dumlao for Reign

Styling by Nash August

Special Thanks to Star Magic PH

Publisher Big Pictures Asia

For partnership or advertising inquiries: Sales & Marketing – jsmooth@bigpictureasia.com