Romeo Tan Used To Wait Outside Mediacorp To Catch A Glimpse Of Stars Like Thomas Ong & Cynthia Koh
Romeo Tan's fan club, The Juliet Club, has over 10K followers on Instagram.
But did you know that the 36-year-old star was once an ardent star chaser?
He shared this little-known fact on this week’s episode of Hear U Out, which also happens to be the last ep of this season.
“I feel that chasing celebs is something that every kid would have experienced at that point of time. Maybe some people don’t like doing it, but there are also a group of them who do," he said.
No prizes for guessing who was Romeo's favourite celeb back then
“A lot of it had to do with my childhood habits,” he continued. “I used to watch TV a lot so I’d notice these actors. Or people in class would say, ‘Eh! I really like this actor!’ and people would start talking about how they had their autographed photo and so on. At the time, a lot of shops sold such photos which cost 30 to 50 cents each.”
The adoration for the actors he saw on screen led Romeo to spend quite a bit of time waiting outside the Radio Gate at Mediacorp‘s old Caldecott campus just so he could catch a glimpse of them.
Romeo then went on to show host Quan Yifeng an album filled with photos he snapped of the stars then. And guess what? The pics are all still in pristine condition.
Guess Romeo already had quite an eye for photography back then
“We used film cameras and you wouldn’t know what you shot, so you’d just keep pressing [the shutter],” Romeo laughed. “The really pretty photos were pics that I bought. It’s not possible for us to get Cynthia Koh or Fann Wong to lean against a pillar for us to take photos of them.”
Other celebs spotted in Romeo’s album include Ann Kok, Thomas Ong and Zoe Tay.
Just in case you’re wondering, these stars have no idea that Romeo used to idolise them. Well, until now that is.
We wonder how much Romeo spent on these pics
When Yifeng asked Romeo if he has any pics with his idols, he said, “There wasn’t any time for that. When you’re at the radio gate, you see the group of people who look like zombies and who rush over [when the celebs arrive], so you’re lucky enough to be able to take one or two photos. Some people ask them for their signatures, but taking a photo with them is impossible.”
The rest of Romeo's collection, featuring a very amused Yifeng
The photo album isn’t the only keepsake Romeo has from his idol chasing days.
He also showed off his CD collection, which included the soundtrack of Return Of The Condor Heroes as well as the solo albums of Ann Kok and Zoe Tay.
And that, folks, is fandom.
Catch the rest of Romeo 's interview on Hear U Out on meWATCH. Click here to watch Part 1 and here to watch Part 2.
Photos: Romeo Tan/Instagram, Mediacorp
