Filipino-Spanish Chef Jose Sarasola just shrugged off jealous comments about his new relationship with Japanese actress Maria Ozawa.

Maria had previously expressed interest in finding a Filipino boyfriend.

“Well, she found a Filipino guy. Happy naman ako naging kami,” said Jose in an interview with PEP.

According to the former Pinoy Fear Factor contestant, he puts their comments into perspective.

“I don’t really think na inggit yung mga tao, pantasya ng tao, ng mga lalaki. It’s more of me lang just being happy how we are now,” he said.

He added, “I don’t really want to think when people are saying ‘Maria Ozawa, wow! Lupit! Iba ‘yan! International actress 'yan!’

While there have been supporters, Jose also shared that there were those who criticized his relationship with Maria.

“Marami talagang mga haters. Maraming talagang nagsasabi ng masamang bagay sa akin, sa kanya,” he said.

He described the entire experience so far as “life changing.”

As if to counter comments insinuating that he’s just riding on Maria’s coattails, Jose emphasized that “But I didn’t really make it a factor naman sa akin, na porke’t super-sikat siya, or kung ano yung past niya, gusto ko siya ligawan.”

Since he’s also been single for a long while, seven years to be exact, he did lot of adjusting on his part.

“I’ve been single for a long time, talagang you know for a fact when you meet someone na hindi ko naman ide-date to, dahil sikat siya or maganda siya or may following siya. I don’t really believe in those things talaga eh. Hindi naman talaga ako ma-showbiz,” he explained.

How did their romance start?

“We actually met here sa bar ko, from a common friend who brought her here. Ever since, we kind of hit it off,” sharing that they met around March or April last year.

Like many, they started off as friends.

“The first few months, the usual siyempre, text-text lang, call-call. She would go to Japan, we would talk on the phone sa Japan, then kamusta-kamusta. When she’s here in the Philippines, we see each other,” Jose shared.

Things only got serious between them by the end of 2016.

“Siguro mga one year na kaming magkaibigan. It’s been some time na rin,” he said.

In the end, Jose shared what he loves most about his new girlfriend.

“Siguro all her being super famous and everything siya, but behind everything, parang she’s a normal, funny, makulit na girl din siya. May pagka-Pinoy din siya kahit paano,” he ended.