‘Tawag ng Tanghalan’ defending champ goes viral for emoji-like reactions

February 17, 2022 - 6:52 PM
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Composite photo of Querubin Llavore's faces following her win during the latest episode of Tawag ng Tanghalan (Facebook/Tawag ng Tanghalan)

A contestant of the “Tawag ng Tanghalan” segment of ABS-CBN variety show “It’s Showtime” gained internet fame due to her emoji-like reactions when she won a singing round of the competition.

Querubin Llavore, a contestant from Davao City, wowed judges during the “Battle of Versions” showdown last Saturday, February 12.

Llavore won against two-time winner Abbey Rivera during the final round with a score of 93.7%.

She became the new holder of the “golden mikropono.”

When her name was called, Llavore was visibly shocked and then cried tears of joy in front of the audience.

However, when the camera zoomed in on her face, her reaction quickly changed. She stuck her tongue out playfully and made a “V” gesture for a second.

She then returned to her crying face after.

This moment was caught on camera and was uploaded on “Tawag ng Tanghalan’s” YouTube channel.

Llavore’s shifting facial expressions amused social media users across platforms.

Twitter user @ejpng_ posted a video clip of this scene on February 12.

The online user likened Llavore’s antics to a series of emojis.

The tweet soon took off. The video gained 7.9 million views so far.

The tweet, on the other hand, garnered 734,900 likes, 120,000 retweets and 8,976 quote-retweets.

It even reached internet star Bretman Rock who also retweeted the video on his account.

Screenshot of Bretman Rock’s retweet captured on February 17, 2022

 

Other online users also made meme-like posts where they juxtaposed a photo of Llavore’s crying pose with another still of her sticking her tongue out.

The video clip also reached an international forum called r/Unexpected with 5.2 million members.

One Reddit user posted Llavore’s video on the forum on February 14.

“Winner of a TV Show,” the user wrote.

It soon gained 86,700 upvotes, which are similar to Facebook likes, and 977 comments on the discussion section.

Users on this forum were similarly amused by the Filipino singer’s facial expressions.

“Nice, one emoji per second of the video. Not sure if it was intentional or not but still, nice,” one Reddit user said.

“Filipinos have some of the best sense of humor in all of Asia,” another Reddit user commented.

Last Monday, when Llavore was up for another singing bout, host Amy Perez told her about her sudden popularity online.

The singer shared that it was unexpected because she was just being herself.

“I wasn’t expecting that, because that was just the normal me going out to the zoo!” she said.

Llavore continued to successfully defend her title during her latest singing battle on Thursday.

After she won, she did another series of emoji-like expressions in front of the camera.

Tawag ng Tanghalan shared a meme of it on its Facebook page.