Singapore Idol 3: Ryan Lee: HE HAS been called ‘oppressive’ by his fellow Idol hopefuls.

Aug 31, 2009 Author: puzzle | Filed under: Ryan Lee, Singapore Idol 3

Netizens call him a ‘diva’.

Just four episodes into the new season of Singapore Idol, there’s already someone to hate.

Ryan Lee, 18, a Hwa Chong International School (HCIS) student, has emerged this season’s villain for his attitude towards other Idol contestants.

He is one of the show’s top 24 contestants this year, which include local songwriter Clement Chow’s son, Benjamin (see report on next page) and Gabrielle Ferdinands, the daughter of Mel Ferdinands, who was in ’70s band Gypsy.

But looking at his behaviour on the show over the last few weeks, Ryan may be jeopardising his own chances at the title.

In last week’s episode, he threw not one, but two hissy fits.

The first was over a group member who couldn’t master a song’s rhythm during a rehearsal – Ryan was seen impatiently coaching him, snapping his fingers dramatically, before giving up on the rehearsal to complain to other contestants.

He threw a second tantrum when fellow contestant Syltra Lee singled him out for having a ‘character problem’.

When he doggedly pursued her after her confession to ask her to explain herself, she said he was ‘too loud’ and ‘didn’t fit in’, which led to him exasperatingly asking the camera: ‘How can someone not fit in when they’re too loud?’

Contestant Theodore Teow confessed in yesterday’s episode that he felt Ryan had an ‘oppressive’ personality, as he used strong language against others in the competition.

‘Tough childhood’

‘He’s just not nice to people,’ he said.

But is he just misunderstood?

In Wednesday’s episode, all seemed well between Syltra and him, who were ‘randomly’ picked to duet on an original song.

When The New Paper caught up with him at the unveiling of the Top 24 yesterday, he was friendly and open, speaking honestly about a difficult childhood.

Hated online, on the show

He also revealed he has made peace – somewhat – with some of his greatest foes on the show, Benjamin and Theodore.

So he’s not quite Mr Nasty… or maybe he is.

When asked about the barrage of negative remarks netizens have been posting about him online, he said with wide-eyed disbelief: ‘Firstly, their English is such a failure. Secondly, if you don’t like me, why would you take the time to write about me?’

Some netizens are so upset with his behaviour that they have vowed not to vote for him. One notable quote from a netizen: ‘Even my sickly grandmama buay tahan (Hokkien and Malay for ‘cannot take it’) until almost stood up from the wheelchair with her hand searching for a stick when she watched him.’

Paul Twohill had his hair issues, and Joakim Gomez, his singing – but has any other Idol hopeful been so hated?

Contestants, too, have come out to express their dislike for him on camera.

Theodore said: ‘I’ll be quite regretful if he became the Idol.’

After that episode aired last week, Ryan got a phone call from Theodore, apologising for ‘bitching’ about him.

Though the two seemed to have patched up since, Ryan felt the call was ‘hypocritical’.

‘I always think if you’re going to talk about someone, then you have to be able to deal with it, and take it when it comes back to you,’ he said.

He was also frank about his skirmish with Benjamin, whom he called ‘weird’.

‘I told him, frankly, that I would help him cross a road, I would help him get a chair, but when it comes to his personality? I just don’t like it,’ he said. ‘I mean, I don’t hate anyone.’

He said he holds no grudges against anyone who passes judgment on his personality. In fact, he rather enjoys it.

‘It intrigues me! It’s so interesting being at the other end of the bitch wand,’ he said.

Part of Ryan’s ambition with his Idol journey is to be an inspiration for his four younger siblings, two of whom are step-siblings from his mother’s second marriage.

Ryan, a Singaporean, confessed he had a difficult childhood – his parents divorced when he was only three.

He took a while to get used to his new dad, a French man, who was sometimes tough on the Lee children when they misbehaved.

‘We argued a lot, but everything’s fine now,’ he said.

His parents are supportive of his Idol journey. His Indonesian mother ‘giggles’ at his antics on-screen, he said.

‘She sees me on TV and she’s, like, in awe, like ‘Oh, that’s my son!’ he said.

His friends’ mothers, he claimed, are ‘in love with me’. His friends, he said, know what he’s like.

‘I come from an international school, and the environment there is just so much more relaxed,’ said Ryan, who is in the Integrated Programme at HCIS. ‘We say things, we joke around.’

Are the Idol contestants just too sensitive?

‘I think they can’t handle me,’ he said, before breaking into laughter. ‘I’m just kidding.’

‘I think maybe they’re just not able to accept that kind of personality yet.

‘I’m just being me. There’s no point hiding things, and then later wondering ‘Oh, I should have done that’.’

But for a show that banks much on likeability – a factor that judge Ken Lim brings up frequently – Ryan’s out-and-out diva behaviour is not just an anomaly. It’s almost Idol suicide.

But it would be an understatement, though, to say that Ryan is at all concerned about the negative publicity.

His take on it?

‘I’ll have my supporters.’

- Additional reporting by Nurul Asyikin Mohd Nasir, newsroom intern

‘Sex-tape rumour is hilarious’

FROM her very first audition, she was known as ‘crying’ Charlene.

But will Idol hopeful Charlene Torres-Tan now be known as ’sex tape’ Charlene?

The 20-year-old National University of Singapore undergraduate has been featured prominently on Singapore Idol due to her moving story – she is close to her mother, who recently suffered a stroke.

Charlene has been shown sobbing on camera several times while talking to her mother over the phone.

Someone, though, may be trying to cast doubt on her good girl reputation.

In March this year, a sex tape surfaced on the Internet, allegedly of a pair of NUS students having loud sex in one of the campus’ resident halls. Word then spread around campus that the girl involved was Charlene.

The Life Sciences student told The New Paper yesterday that the video was a ploy by a heartbroken admirer to get back at her.

‘This guy was chasing me in my first year (of university),’ she said.

Apparently, she had tactlessly expressed her lack of interest to him.

So what did the supposed unrequited lover allegedly do?

‘He got another girl to pose as me in the video,’ she said. ‘I believe that the girl imitated me and did quite a bad parody of my laughter.’

She said she has confronted the suspected culprit but he denied it.

Charlene spoke candidly about the speculation that the girl was her, saying that she’s not too concerned about it.

‘You know when it (the rumour) starts and everybody says it’s you, the story gets quite funny after a while.’

Especially when people were alleging how wild she could be in bed.

‘People come up to me and make sounds to agitate me. After a while, I didn’t care. I decided that I shouldn’t be affected.’

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Singapore Idol 3 – Benjamin Chow: ‘I’m not faking it’

Aug 31, 2009 Author: puzzle | Filed under: Benjamin Chow, Singapore Idol 3

REALITY shows are tough.

If you think audiences are going to be nicer to you because you walk with a crutch, talk to Benjamin Chow.

The son of local songwriter Clement Chow – prolific jingle-writer and the man behind songs like Count On Me Singapore – has had a rough time proving that he is not faking a condition that requires him to use a crutch.

The same night the show debuted, the national serviceman’s Facebook, e-mail and instant messaging accounts were allegedly hacked.

The hacker posted a message on Benjamin’s Facebook claiming he was faking his condition.

The reason? To ‘trick the Singapore Armed Forces’, and get out of doing his National Service (NS).

‘Why would I do that?’ he told The New Paper yesterday. ‘I still go to work, from 9pm to 5pm.’

He is currently serving as a clerk and is set to complete his NS this December.

He said he developed early osteoarthritis, before his NS days, after he persisted with dancing activities on an injured ankle.

But he anticipated that the crutch would become an issue, even before his Facebook account was hacked into.

‘When I auditioned, I told the producers I was ready to produce my medical records in case anyone had any doubts whether my condition was real,’ he said.

He is more worried, though, about how he will come across on TV. A stage actor for some years, he said he knows ’stage presence is everything’.

‘I know my crutch affects posture, movement, how I express myself,’ he said. But he’s not giving up. ‘I have a story to share, and I want to do this to inspire others.’

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Singapore Idol 3: Charlene Torres-Tan: ‘Sex-tape rumour is hilarious’

Aug 29, 2009 Author: puzzle | Filed under: Charlene Tan, Singapore Idol 3