There are love teams, and then there is MayWard. In a Philippine entertainment landscape overflowing with carefully manufactured pairings, the tandem of Maymay Entrata and Edward Barber stands apart — not because it was engineered by a talent agency or packaged by a network, but because it was born in the most unscripted setting imaginable: inside the walls of the Pinoy Big Brother house.

Since their first meeting in 2016, MayWard has evolved from a reality-TV pairing into a full-blown cultural movement — one whose fans have funded charitable foundations, trended topics worldwide, and filled concert arenas with the kind of passion usually reserved for international superstars. This is the story of how two ordinary young people from vastly different worlds became Pinoy showbiz’s most enduringly beloved love team.

Where It All Began: PBB Lucky 7

On a rainy August evening in 2016, a 16-year-old Filipino-English schoolboy named Edward Barber — born and raised in Germany — stepped into the Pinoy Big Brother house in Manila. The very first housemate he met was Maymay Entrata, a spirited 19-year-old from the island province of Camiguin in Mindanao. On paper, they had almost nothing in common. He was soft-spoken, mild-mannered, and still finding his footing in a country he barely knew. She was explosive, comedic, and fiercely proud of her provincial roots.

But something clicked from the start. Their banter was instant and effortless. They nicknamed each other “Twinnie”, a term of endearment that perfectly captured the paradox at the heart of their dynamic — two people who seemed like total opposites yet mirrored each other in all the ways that mattered. As weeks turned to months inside the house, the PBB audience noticed. The hashtag #MayWard began trending before the housemates themselves even knew it existed.

When the season concluded in March 2017, Maymay was declared the Big Winner — the first Mindanaoan woman to claim that title. Edward finished fourth. But in the hearts of millions of Filipino viewers, they had both won something far more lasting: an adoring public and a fan community that would follow them everywhere.

Launched Into the Limelight

The transition from housemates to full-fledged love team was swift. ABS-CBN, recognizing the gold mine they had in MayWard, quickly capitalized on their chemistry. The two were cast together in the long-running fantasy series La Luna Sangre (2017), where they played Shine and Luke — a happy-go-lucky girl who believes in love and a grumpy Filipino-American boy reluctantly dragged back to the Philippines. The characters’ opposing personalities mirrored their real dynamic so closely that audiences could barely separate fiction from reality.

Then came Loving in Tandem (2017), their first full-length film together, followed by the box-office hit Fantastica (2018), directed by Barry Gonzalez. Each project showcased a different facet of their range — dramatic, comedic, romantic — and each one confirmed what fans already knew: MayWard’s on-screen chemistry was not a fluke. It was a genuine, uncoachable force of nature.

The MayWard Flyers: A Fan Base Like No Other

You cannot tell the MayWard story without telling the story of their fans — the MayWard Flyers. Fan groups in Philippine showbiz are a dime a dozen, but the Flyers occupy a different tier entirely. They don’t just stream content and vote in awards polls (although they do both of those things with terrifying efficiency). They organize, they mobilize, and they give back.

One of the most remarkable examples is the ELM Tree Foundation, a charitable organization born directly from MayWard fandom. Named after Edward, L (a tribute to Edward’s late friend), and Maymay, the foundation has channeled fan energy into educational scholarships, livelihood programs, and community outreach. On Edward Barber’s birthday, MayWard fans famously distributed school supplies to over 1,000 children in Negros Occidental — not because they were asked to, but because they wanted to reflect the values they saw in the love team they admired.

This level of engaged, purposeful fandom is extraordinarily rare. It speaks to something deeper than celebrity worship — it speaks to a community that genuinely believes in the people they support, and has organized itself around shared values of kindness, generosity, and hope.

The “Are They or Aren’t They?” Question

For years, the question that hovered over every MayWard interaction was the same: are Maymay and Edward actually together? The ambiguity was, in many ways, the engine that kept fan interest perpetually stoked. Every hand-holding moment, every lingering glance, every cryptic social media post was analyzed, screenshotted, and debated in fan forums at three in the morning.

The two were masterfully authentic about this tension. In September 2019, Edward appeared on Gandang Gabi Vice and confirmed he was courting Maymay — a bombshell that sent the MayWard community into collective euphoria. He famously said he was waiting for Maymay’s response, and that he respected her and her family deeply. In a 2021 media conference, he described Maymay as one of his closest friends, saying: “Ang masasabi ko si Maymay ay isa sa pinaka-closest friend ko.”

What makes their narrative so compelling is precisely that openness. They never fully committed to a romantic label, yet they never fully denied one either. That honest, unscripted middle ground is what real connection looks like — and Filipino audiences, finely attuned to the difference between performance and authenticity, fell for it completely.

Career Milestones Beyond the Love Team

Part of what makes MayWard so durable is that both Maymay and Edward have proven themselves as standalone stars, not just as a unit. Maymay — whose full name is Michelle Theresa Entrata — is a triple threat: singer, dancer, and actress whose comedic timing and emotional depth have won her multiple acting nominations. Affectionately called the “Amakabogera Queen” by fans (a nod to her ability to shock and wow with her talent), she has consistently shown that her PBB win was no fluke.

Edward, meanwhile, has broadened his range considerably. Beyond acting, he has stepped into hosting roles — most notably co-hosting the prestigious ABS-CBN Ball 2025 — and has become one of the network’s most versatile and trusted talents. His quiet charisma and natural ease in front of the camera have made him one of the most sought-after young male leads of his generation.

Their 2021 film Princess DayaReese, which premiered on New Year’s Day on streaming platforms, reunited them for a fantasy-romance adventure that reminded fans exactly why MayWard works: their genuine affection and ease with each other translates effortlessly to any genre.

What Makes MayWard Different from Every Other Love Team

Philippine showbiz has produced iconic pairings across generations — from Fernando Poe Jr. and Susan Roces to Aga Muhlach and Lea Salonga, from Judy Ann Santos and Ryan Agoncillo to Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla. Each era has its defining tandem. In the social media age, MayWard is that tandem.

But what specifically sets them apart? Several things, really.

First, there is the origin story. Unlike most love teams that are deliberately packaged by talent managers and casting directors, MayWard emerged organically, in real-time, in front of millions of viewers. The audience didn’t just watch a love story — they witnessed it being born. That sense of ownership and shared discovery is extremely rare and extremely powerful.

Second, there is their contrast. The pairing of a bubbly, bold girl from Camiguin and a reserved, mixed-heritage boy raised in Europe is a narrative that cuts across class, geography, and culture in ways that resonate deeply in a Filipino context. Their dynamic captures the Filipino aspiration for connection beyond difference.

Third — and perhaps most importantly — there is their genuineness. In an industry full of carefully crafted personas, both Maymay and Edward have consistently shown up as themselves. Their laughter is real. Their disagreements are real. Their care for each other is palpable even through a screen. You cannot manufacture that, and Filipino audiences — among the most emotionally intelligent entertainment consumers in the world — know it immediately.

It is this authenticity that has kept MayWard trending on Twitter Philippines year after year, that fills fan meet-up venues to capacity, and that has inspired an entire generation of Pinoy fans to be more than passive consumers. The Flyers don’t just watch MayWard — they believe in them.

MayWard in 2025 and Beyond

Far from fading, the MayWard story is still being written. Both Maymay and Edward continued to stay active in the ABS-CBN ecosystem through 2025, with the ABS-CBN Ball 2025 marking one of the year’s most talked-about appearances for the tandem. TikTok and YouTube remain ablaze with MayWard compilations, fan edits, and reaction videos that regularly rack up millions of views — testament to a fan base that refuses to move on because, frankly, there is nothing quite like this pairing to move on to.

For the global MayWard fan following their faves from abroad — whether in Hong Kong, the Middle East, the US, or Europe — keeping up with every surprise appearance, Instagram story, and exclusive streaming drop can be a challenge. PureVPN (currently 82% off) is a lifesaver for OFWs and Pinoy fans overseas who want unrestricted access to ABS-CBN content, iWant TFC, and KTx.ph from anywhere in the world. With over 6,000 servers across 80+ locations and a 31-day money-back guarantee, it’s the most reliable way to stay connected to everything MayWard.

A Legacy Written in Sincerity

There is a temptation, when writing about celebrity love teams, to overstate things — to reach for superlatives and hyperbole. In the case of MayWard, the challenge is actually the opposite: adequately capturing the scale and depth of what they have built without it sounding exaggerated.

Consider the numbers. A Facebook fan page that has accumulated hundreds of thousands of likes. A TikTok discovery feed with over 819,000 posts under the #MayWard hashtag. Multiple consecutive years as the top love team on Twitter Philippines. A charity foundation that has helped thousands of children. These aren’t vanity metrics — they are the measurable imprint of something genuine.

But the truest measure of MayWard’s impact is not found in statistics. It is found in the stories fans tell about each other: of friendships formed across provinces and continents because two people on a reality show made someone feel less alone. Of MayWard fan meet-ups where strangers became family. Of parents who bonded with their children over the shared joy of watching Maymay and Edward on screen.

That is the unlikely, beautiful, extraordinary legacy of MayWard. They were never supposed to be this big. They were never supposed to last this long. They were never supposed to mean this much.

And yet, here we are.

Whether Maymay and Edward are just the best of friends, a love team for the ages, or something the universe hasn’t quite found a label for yet — one thing is beyond debate: the world of Pinoy showbiz is richer, warmer, and more full of laughter because of them. And the MayWard Flyers? They’ll keep flying, high and proud, for as long as it takes.

✦ Palagi. ✦