Dannyka Manangan

Jake Cuenca reveals he shed weight for role in 'What Lies Beneath': 'I lost 30 pounds'

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E. Kristhoff Cagape

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<p>Jake Cuenca revealed that he shed weight for his role in<em> </em><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/what-lies-beneath"><em><strong>What Lies Beneath</strong></em></a><em><strong></strong>.</em></p><p>On X (formerly Twitter), the actor responded to a fan who asked if he had in fact slimmed down for the show. &quot;Nagpapayat ba talaga si Jake Cuenca for his role in #WhatLiesBeneath ? Kasi kung oo, grabe ang dedikasyon at pagmamahal niya sa craft niya,&quot; the netizen asked.</p><p>To which Jake confirmed: &quot;I did I lost 30 pounds for the prison sequences I was down to 140 lbs and gained a bit back around 8 lbs to balance my look in<em> </em><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/batangquiapo"><em><strong>Batang Quiapo</strong></em><strong>.</strong></a>&quot;</p><div><a href="https://x.com/ijakecuenca/status/1980235380634120256"></a></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1980235380634120256&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-10-22T03%3A42%3A20.211972%3A914b3766-d47b-4df4-8e82-9bce58bbebd1%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=aafaca977d2ee93fd062be9502c36833789b23a9&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:377px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1980235380634120256"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p>In another post, he then shared that after losing weight, he had to quickly build muscle again as he was set to walk for a fashion show.</p><p>One fan commented: &quot;I&#x27;m watching advance episode of <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/what-lies-beneath"><em><strong>What Lies Beneath</strong></em></a>. Ang payat mo sa episode Sir @ijakecuenca.&quot;</p><p>Jake replied: &quot;I&#x27;m watching it as well and it&#x27;s like watching another person tbh (to be honest). I&#x27;m so proud of our show what&#x27;s crazy is somewhere in between those prison scenes I had to gain some muscle back for the Bench fashion show I only had 2 weeks notice.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://x.com/ijakecuenca/status/1980815211948109978"></a></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1980815211948109978&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2025-10-22T03%3A42%3A20.211972%3A914b3766-d47b-4df4-8e82-9bce58bbebd1%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=aafaca977d2ee93fd062be9502c36833789b23a9&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:550px;height:426px;display:block;flex-grow:1" data-tweet-id="1980815211948109978"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p>In <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/what-lies-beneath"><em><strong>What Lies Beneath</strong></em></a>, Jake portrays Edong, a role he said is vastly different from his character Miguelito in <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/studios/tv/batangquiapo"><em><strong>FPJ’s Batang Quiapo.</strong></em></a></p><p>&quot;I think, for me, I&#x27;m just gonna let people watch it. To be honest. I think they will be surprised with the effort that I put into making Miguelito and Edong very different from one another. I want to emphasize, kasi people are saying that they&#x27;re gonna see me in two shows in primetime and all that. I&#x27;d like to think that I earned that. I&#x27;d really like to think that I worked myself to the bone to make it very different for Miguelito, to make it very different for Edong, and to be quite honest with you, for me, I&#x27;ve just enjoyed the journey,&quot; he said in a previous interview.</p><p>He went on: &quot;So for me, thank you so much to my directors for challenging me. It&#x27;s difficult na to be this character, but the way na shinu-shoot kami it really is challenging for an actor kasi one shot. This is my loneliest role, kaeksena ko lang lagi is the camera and it&#x27;s all my thoughts and that&#x27;s all that&#x27;s in play... Sabi nga ni direk parang, it&#x27;s really challenging also, because I only really have my eyes to communicate. It&#x27;s not the most talkative role in the world. So it&#x27;s looks, it feels, it&#x27;s the energy, it&#x27;s that atmosphere that you bring to the set.&quot;</p>