Susan Africa finds winner of P5,000 'ubuhin challenge'

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran actor Susan Africa has humorously embraced her iconic title as the "Ubo Queen" of local teleseryes, even rewarding one viewer for presenting her proof of her "ubuhin" character. 

The former beauty queen is a staple figure of local movies and television shows, often typecast as a sickly mother or house helper.

As such, fans and avid viewers cheered on Africa when she landed the role of a doctor on "Blood vs Duty," breaking her trend of "ubuhin" characters.

The action-drama series headlined by Richard Gutierrez and Gerald Anderson is drawing to a close and during the show's finale media conference, Africa quipped that while acknowledging she frequents playing sickly characters, her being "ubuhin" is just the Mandela Effect at work.

The Mandela Effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people believe a false memory or fact. It is coined from the belief that human rights icon Nelson Mandela died while imprisoned during the '80s when he, in fact, lived until 2013.

Africa further recalled only being asked to cough for 2019's "The Mall, The Merrier" then challenged the public to prove she was "ubuhin" in a teleserye. She promised a P5,000 reward to whoever would show her video of her coughing.

Over the weekend, Africa announced on her social media accounts that a certain college student from Iloilo named Sheena Rose Traifalgar won her challenge after being the first to message a video of Africa coughing in her iconic Susan Davis role in the 1990s drama "Mara Clara," starring Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes in the titular roles. 

"Thank you for refreshing my memory of a scene I did many decades ago which I've already forgotten, Sheena," said the actress, also sharing screenshots of her contacting the student to give the P5,000 reward.

Africa admitted not remembering most of the submissions sent to her, acknowledging how blessed she has been to take on so much roles and thanked everyone who joined her "cough challenge."

"I maintain that though I may cough occasionally in a few roles in the past, I do not cough in ALL of my teleseryes," she added.

The actress' posts also featured a follow-up message from Traifalgar thanking her anew for the cash prize, which the student will use for her studies. 

Other iconic performances of Africa include projects like "Kadenang Ginto," "Batang Quiapo," "The Hows of Us," "Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis," and an award-winning role in "Olongapo... The Great American Dream."

RELATED: ‘Hindi na ubuhin’: Netizens welcome Susan Africa’s role upgrade