Brent Manalo: The Big Winner Who’s Just Getting Started
Fresh off his Pinoy Big Brother win, Brent discusses the challenges, opportunities, and personal growth that came with life in the spotlight
When we last spoke to Brent Manalo, he was the picture of unbothered charisma, lounging in a leather jacket, tawny jeans, and a black cap, the streets around him in varying degrees of beautiful chaos. He had called himself shy, almost apologetically, before explaining his survival mechanism: the switch. “Anytime, as long as I’m in front of the camera, I can be anyone you want me to be.”
READ MORE: Behind the Quiet Cool of Brent Manalo
It is a line that feels rehearsed until you watch him mean it. Over the past few years, the “anyone” he has been is a dizzying list: actor, model, content creator with a 2.5 million-strong following, collaborator with luxury fashion houses, and now Pinoy Big Brother’s most recent Big Winner. The trajectory is all the more striking when you consider his own admission that he grew up painfully shy, using fashion as a sort of armor to meet the world on his own terms.
That armor has always been inventive. At fourteen, he styled a white polo with silver studs for his youngest sibling’s birthday, dismantling his mother’s belt to get the hardware. Years later, a luxury brand would not only put him in its suits but let him choose his own outfits and creative direction for a campaign shoot. What began as a teenage attempt at self-expression had, in the span of a decade, evolved into a signature versatility, with oversized fits one day and sequined suits or daring cutouts the next.
No switch allowed
Inside the PBB house, that switch, the one that flips him from introvert to extrovert, was useless.
“The whole point of the show is to be yourself. Even though I knew there were cameras everywhere, I instinctively stayed true to myself.”
It was a risky choice. In a reality TV format where the loudest often draw the most attention, his silences could have been read as aloofness. But Brent had learned, both on and off set, that not filling the air with noise does not mean you have nothing to offer. Some people might see my quiet as guarded or not genuine,” he says, “but I could not fake being loud.”
He also could not fake the disorientation of suddenly sharing a bedroom with nine other people. For someone who had lived alone for over a decade, communal living was less a novelty than an endurance test. “Even in my family home, I had my own room,” he says. “This was fifteen housemates, one roof, and no escape.”
Yet the social pressure cooker produced unexpected bonds. Klarisse de Guzman, the eldest housemate, became a stabilizing force, someone who took on responsibilities without shifting the burden to him. “If she had not been there, I do not think I could have managed,” he admits.
A balloon and a breakthrough
The emotional turning point came during an unassuming task involving balloons. Losing yours meant automatic nomination for eviction. Instead of clinging to their own, several housemates offered theirs up. The generosity broke through his guardedness. “That was the first time I cried openly in the house,” he says. Vulnerability, once something to avoid, became permissible.
He was not alone. “The male housemates were also very emotional, and it helped to be around guys who were not afraid to show that side. Our batch was smart, not just intellectually but emotionally.”
It is a sentiment that contrasts sharply with the competitive reality TV stereotype. For Brent’s group, the game came second to genuine connection. “We did not have much toxicity unless the tasks pushed us to create drama.”
Doing it scared
When the confetti finally fell, Brent walked away with the Big Winner title alongside his duo partner Mika Salamanca, and with it came the attendant expectations.
“There is a lot of pressure, especially with the title. I want to come fully prepared and take new workshops. I was not passionate about acting when I started, but now I want to give 200 percent.”
That is not how he felt going in. Before PBB, Brent’s career was steady, even thriving: campaigns, endorsements, acting credits, brand partnerships. Joining the show meant risking that momentum. “I went in really scared,” he admits. “I worried I might ruin everything I had worked hard for.”
If he could talk to his pre-PBB self, he knows what he would say: “You can do it scared. Be yourself. People love you more for being real.”
Life after the house
Three weeks out, he is still adjusting. The discipline of being filmed around the clock has given way to the looser, messier pace of post-show life.
“I am more open now about my feelings and struggles. Before, I would put on a facade and keep things to myself, but now I am okay sharing those parts of me.”
The opportunities are already lining up. Even while he was inside the house, Gucci had inquired about working with him. His first shoot post-PBB was a full Louis Vuitton look, with a striped suit and a Tiffany necklace, marking a satisfying return to fashion after months of rotating the same two weeks’ worth of clothes on national television.
His style philosophy hasn’t shifted much. He describes it as versatile, high and low, and a modern take on the classics. Still, there is a joy in the simple act of variety now. “Going out, I was excited to do proper shoots and wear different looks again.”
From armor to advocacy
For all the runway gloss, Brent’s gaze is turning outward. He has long supported charities for street children, often quietly, without a single partner organization but always willing to give where help is needed. From his PBB winnings, he donated to a Pampanga-based group that supports 49 children from infancy through college. “It’s close to my heart because it’s in Pampanga, and I want to be more hands-on,” he says.
Representation is something he’s still figuring out. For now, he sees himself as speaking only for himself. Still, if others view his presence as carrying the weight of Pampanga, the Philippines, or even Southeast Asia, he is ready to embrace that responsibility. “I’ll keep striving harder and show there’s a reason I’m in this position.”
The roles ahead
Acting, once just another hat he wore, now commands his full attention. He wants to begin with something light and feel-good, perhaps a K-drama style cold CEO who is soft inside, before moving on to heavier material. An indie film is on the list, but only after sharpening his craft through workshops.
He also views acting as complementary to his content creation rather than as a competitor to it.
“I can separate my acting side from my fashion side, but they are intertwined. I can show those layers to my audience.”
And the switch is still there, ready to be thrown when the lens focuses in. Yet if PBB taught him anything, it is that sometimes the most compelling performance is no performance at all.
Brent Manalo’s ascent, from a teenager prying silver studs out of a belt to a reality TV winner clad in fashionable clothes, is less about a single breakout moment and more about the steady layering of choices: trying something new even when afraid, staying authentic even when it is easier not to, and opening up even when vulnerability feels foreign.
In the coming months, the armor will no doubt evolve with new campaigns, new characters, and new silhouettes. Yet the shy boy in the leather jacket is still there, smiling wryly and adjusting the switch as needed. Now, with a bigger platform and more eyes watching, he is learning there is power in leaving it off.
Photography Karl King Aguña
Chief of Editorial Content Patrick Ty
Creative direction Vince Uy
Art direction Mike Miguel
Fashion Ryuji Shiomitsu
Words Dayne Aduna
Grooming and Hair Myckee Arcano
Production design Rocket Design Studio
Production Francis Vicente
Fashion editor Rex Atienza
Fashion associate Corven Uy
Fashion assistants Bryla Kyle Doromal and Ila Dawn
Grooming assistants Jam Jacobe and Arnold Esguerra
Photography assistants Rojan Maguyon and Odan Juan
Gaffer Prime Productions PH
Special thanks Jeanger Navarro, Thess Gubi, Frances Joson, Mo Nuevo, Joy Lomibao, and Star Magic
Recommended Video
