FHM Philippines' Sexiest Covers for 2010: The Review

Thanks FHM for doubling the shots of your cover girls!
HAIL TO THE QUEEN! 

This 2010, I missed out on three covers.

I don’t care though. I just don’t. My 2003 version would have wasted 120Php (it was 120 pesos back then) to collect the cover girls I don’t really like. My 2010 version is keen to buy issues that I think matter. So there are perhaps a couple of chicks that I missed out in the process.

This is my first time to do this so I’m going to try to make things fine and dandy. If I was going to do a 2009 version of what I’m doing right now, there would be a nip/tuck battle involving Jennylyn Mercado and Valerie Concepcion.

Bangs was one of two girls featured on their
anniversary issue! 

What you are about to see are my takes on FHM Philippines’ best produced cover girls in 2010. I will try to look on the awesomeness of the pics, the concepts behind it, the hotness meter, and how it affected their careers. Yup, it’s important for us to check out the rise of that chick to superstardom because that’s basically the reason why girls pose for the mag. They don’t just randomly “slut out” because they want to bare their bodies with nothing in return!  

Here are the Top 7 covers that I liked the most. I could have ranked them all but I chose the covers that I liked.

Game starts now!

(By the way: I’m going to grab a lot of pictures for this article so please don’t be mad at me.)

Big Brother's former bedspacer

7 SAM PINTO

I never really saw her in Pinoy Big Brother, thanks to that really, really creepy gay person and Melason but it seems as if she generated a lot of buzz from that show. It shocked me to see how quickly she bolted out of her former network. Just like most of the picks here, she is currently a mainstay in Bubble Gang (as part of the Bubblets alongside Jackie Rice, Ellen Adarna, and Gwen Zamora). Anyway, indeed she’s pretty but what she did in the July 2010 issue of FHM was just okay for me. Except for the hose pics, there was nothing for me to awe at. There is something missing in the shots. While yeah, she did look stunning in her pics... it felt safe. It felt too safe for my liking. She reminded me of that other English-speaking former PBB housemate Rizza Santos. But even in her safest, she still ranks up top. That’s the beauty of a fresh face gracing the covers of FHM.   

Her Starstruck batch produced
two covers this year! 

6 IWA MOTO / BANGS GARCIA 
It’s really hard for girls to return to FHM and be new anew! Especially if they do repetitive poses! That’s why it is easy to resist buying another Rufa Mae Quinto and Katrina Halili cover. Maybe if they do something new, maybe I’ll try to buy their cover but deep inside I am regretting this expensive habit. These two are notorious for gracing the covers within a short period of time. Nonetheless, Iwa Moto and Bangs Garcia were tasked to serve as cover girls in FHM’s tenth anniversary issue! The duo bested former Maxim cover girls Saicy Aguila and Daiana Menezes, Julia Clarete, Janna Dominguez, Ornusa Cadness, and Eurasia for the cover spot. I hoped they reserved Daiana and Julia for another issue because an Eat Bulaga issue would have been a better theme. With regards to Iwa and Bangs, they did enough to wow readers. Iwa probably launched mild road mishaps by posing skimpily in Antipolo. Those karimans should also taste “less oily” with Iwa posing grandly at that “lucky” Ministop outlet. Bangs probably gave those ping pong players marital problems because of her wicked curves. The pilots could also blindly offer her a seat on the cockpit after that very awesome shoot amidst the grounded planes. The only bad thing to come out from this issue is that both careers seemed to “mellow” after the issue came out.

Sister Act worked in this version.

5 EHRA MADRIGAL / MICHELLE MADRIGAL

When was the last time the Philippine entertainment industry saw sisters of this magnitude? Toni and Alex Gonzaga are pretty but they barely show skin (although Toni Gonzaga has already posed for FHM). The Baretto Sisters had their moments but in separate timelines. So the next sister team are the tandem of Charmaine Arnaiz and Bunny Paras? Rachel and Lani Lobangco??? Hmmm... The November 2010 issue was good for various reasons. The sisters graced the covers side-by-side to wow people. The issue made up for the not-so-good shoots of the two in their previous covers. Ehra’s hair looked fantastic even if it look swishy and uncoordinated. This is welcome change for her considering most of her endeavours in 2010 were disastrous (Diz Iz It!!!). Michelle looked hot without the somewhat gray-skinned tone. Hopefully this spread would give their careers a boost next year.

Look out 2011... 

4 ELLEN ADARNA

The mag is awesome in persuading a girl to pose half-naked and they succeeded again in discovering a girl of her stature. Well technically, Ellen Adarna is a very popular personality in the internet and apparently I need to brush up on my researching skills. FHM saved their best for last with the debut of this current Bubble Gang Bubblet. The Cebuana graced the December 2010 issue and she was beautiful in it. Unlike various chicks that tried to pull the jacket pose, she did this without looking slutty. Actually, she gave the issue an aura of sophistication and her fine cover shoot set the tone that the entire issue looked seriously awesome. She looks hot but at the same time she looks posh. The corset shot and the polo outfit made her resemble a 50’s pinup star a la Bettie Page and Jayne Mansfield. Her normal poses still looks mightily fine. I honestly have no clue on how popular Ellen Adarna is until this issue. The fact that she is an accidental star that became famous because of having too many internet stalkers makes her FHM’s best find of 2010. Now that she’s into TV and film, there are more avenues for us to check out her skill. Hopefully her talent would give her a long career.

Hopefully she wouldn't get
stuck on villain roles

3 JACKIE RICE

Jackie Rice vowed to clean up her act. Notorious for preferring night outs over work, her career took a 180 turn when she took her work seriously. She started posing for men’s mags through that July 2009 Maxim issue. Those shots were awesome but FHM managed to outdo that in their January 2010 issue. Pitting her beauty against pristine surfaces, her beauty managed to score severely strong signals that she is a chick to watch out! Her wet t-shirt poses were enough to catch attention while the second phase of her shoot delighted people even more. It is easy for her to pull off such poses because she has this innocence in her face... and yet, a vicious mean streak seems to creep in! This is why she is effective in both hero and anti-hero roles. The after effects of shoot proved to be awesome as she landed mainstay status in Bubble Gang (she gets to have those kinky punch lines), she got a mini-series where she played lead, and she got to headline a primetime series in Ilumina.  

She's brave.
Hopefully she'll burst on top of the
entertainment scene. 

2 MAX EIGENMANN 

I love this June 2010 issue for various reasons. First of all, it features an artsy chick. You’ll probably see her banging to the tunes of chick rock in some bangin’ joint! I don’t know who demanded what in the way this was handled but there is an underlying concept in this shoot that probably created a spark on the think-tanks of the mag to go all out and “unrestrict” their selves! The poses Max did feels like those FHM fashion segments placed near the end of the magazine where you see a man and a woman posing chicly and there is a blurb or a caption underneath the models which basically says how much and where you can buy their clothes. Anyway, she had awesome poses. Using a male model as a prop wouldn’t work if you are not down with the idea but it seems like she internalized the role to fit her character. Imagine those pics where a man is touching her boobs, or ramming her to the back, or putting her in a precarious sado-masochism RPG manoeuvre TO A SWEET EX-TEENYBOPPER TRYING TO SHED HER CUTESY IMAGE!!! THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE BALLS TO DO IT! By the way, I said "balls" metaphorically! What she did here to knock this shoot out are awesome facial expressions, brave poses, and nerves of FN steel! The best thing for me is that she managed to tell a story (tame the aggressive living prop) with her face and actions! That’s hard! Actresses these days look awkward when they deliver their lines... and much less when they act with no speaking lines (basically they are frogs in front of rampaging tricycles). I think what’s lacking in her career is a follow up after that shoot where her talents could seriously ooze. Because with the way this turned out, yes, she has serious potential.  

Have I said "Hail to the Queen" already?

1 ANGEL LOCSIN

The Angel Locsin issue was good for a lot of things. For one thing, it featured the curves that the FHM faithful have been waiting for since she first posed for the magazine. The ultimate men’s mag partnered with Folded and Hung, a mighty clothing line to give you a daring version of Angel. Admit it – ever since she moved to her current station, she hasn’t been the ratings grabber that she once was. After Lobo and Only You, she slipped down the ranks to the point where Bea Alonzo, Kim Chiu, Erich Gonzales, and Christine Reyes were getting better breaks than her. One of her movies bombed as well! It sucked because this was the girl that scored major hits from Mulawin, Darna, and Asian Treasures. The best place you can see Angel is through commercials but basically that’s a given considering the fact that despite the bad press mounted against her, she is still a major name. The Folded and Hung billboards planted conveniently inside Metro Manila were enough for people to ogle at her beauty. The FHM cover made her relevant again and it created a buzz that mimicked Angel’s Click days where everyone was talking about that tomboyish chick that looked so cute! The cover tore out the bitter aftertaste of that ghastly May 2008 Maxim issue where she looked fine on the cover page but as you browse the pages, you get disappointed because she looks like a drag queen that is too uncomfortable to undress! Besides, that issue failed to take off and this issue did. When she reclaimed the throne as FHM Philippines’ Most Sexiest, it basically solidifies the fact that you shouldn’t count this tri-media star out! Her star shines so bright anew with the success of her current soap inspired basically by Twilight, Imortal. Sure, blame much of the girlish shrieks on John Lloyd Cruz but like I said, Angel Locsin’s stock is hot these days.  

Her braveness should be commended.

So this ends the article. Sure, Max Eigenmann is not a household name yet but the concept for her shoot and her “game-ness” for that shoot is superbly brave. In the end however, Angel bared more and people loved her even more. It also made her relevant and those factors are enough for her to be my top cov...

And yeah, she’s voted as the Most Sexiest of 2010!

Returning to the hanging paragraph.... these factors are enough for her to be my top cover. Rufa Mae Quinto, Kristel Moreno, Bianca Manalo/Cesar Montano, Priscilla Meirelles, and Jef Gaitan/Wendy Valdez complete the 2010 roster of cover girls.   

If you like or hate how this was listed, speak up. 


Hey, maybe next year, Christine Reyes will again grace the covers. 

Game over!