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PEP: Steven Silva, Sarah Lahbati big winners in StarStruck V


They dreamed, they believed, and they survived. After 15 weeks of grueling artista tests, 23-year-old Steven Silva and 16-year-old Sarah Lahbati were declared StarStruck V's Ultimate Male and Female Survivors, respectively. The announcement was made during the Final Judgment of GMA-7's reality-based artista search held Sunday night at the Araneta Coliseum. Placing second to Steven was Enzo Pineda who was named First Prince while Rocco Nacino came in third to bag the Second Prince title. Sarah's lone competitor, Diva Montelaba, automatically became the First Princess. Steven and Sarah got the highest combined text and online votes from the viewers and scores from the StarStruck Council, composed of Lolit Solis, Iza Calzado, and Floy Quintos. Sarah averaged 94.6 percent while Steven had 93.5 percent. Diva scored 91.4 percent, Enzo got 90.2 percent, while Rocco had an average of 88.3 percent. Steven and Sarah each won P1.5 million cash prize and an exclusive contract with GMA Network, with a minimum guarantee of P3.5 million. Enzo, Rocco, and Diva, on the other hand, will each receive P200,000 cash prize and exclusive contracts with the Kapuso Network. The rest of the Avengers were also given GMA contracts. Steven struggled in the early part of the competition, often criticized for his lack of energy and his difficulty in speaking Tagalog. But it turned out that the strength of this Filipino-Chinese-Portuguese, aside from his singing voice, was his fan base. In fact, when the accumulated viewers' votes of the six remaining finalists in the first nine weeks were revealed, Steven's votes were way higher than any survivor. This somehow cushioned his campaign in the competition and eventually sealed his victory. Sarah, on the other hand, had the highest average score from the StarStruck Council in the first nine weeks of the competition, but she had the second lowest accumulated votes from the viewers. But the beauty and golden voice of this Filipino-Morroccan proved to be irresistible for the viewers and the StarStruck Council. - Philippine Entertainment Portal Thumbnail photo by Noel Orsal, courtesy of PEP.

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