'Rather awkward': Star Search contestant confuses Marcus Chin with China actor with similar name

Everyone makes mistakes, but very few of us have them immortalised on camera.

In the latest episode of The Dream Competition, a Mediacorp show taking us behind-the-scenes at Star Search 2024 with the top 20 contestants, 19-year-old hopeful Lee Ting Xuan made an egregious error during an interview segment with local veteran actor Marcus Chin.

The 71-year-old appeared as a guest on the show, with each contestant getting to ask him questions. They'd begin with two, and if they weren't good enough, the interview would end.

Ting Xuan was the first to raise her hand, noting that she didn't get to perform during the previous class, and asked Marcus: "I saw online that you've opened an eatery called Tian Tian You Yu, I wanted to ask what inspired you to start this eatery?"

That was her first mistake, as Marcus responded: "You don't have to ask this question anymore, it's closed. The business has shuttered," which had mentors Dennis Chew and Guo Liang laughing and hiding their faces in shock.

"You should respond immediately," Guo Liang, 53, prompted her.

Instead of salvaging the situation with a follow-up related to Marcus' answer — the mentors had told the contestants beforehand not to ignore their interviewee's responses — Ting Xuan got flustered and asked if she should carry on with the same topic or ask a new question.

For her second question, Ting Xuan got Marcus — whose Chinese name is Chen Jianbin — mixed up with an actor from China who has a similar name.

She said she understood he was born in Xinjiang and asked what inspired him to pursue his career in Singapore, which left Marcus visibly confused.

"That's my twin brother, Chen Jianbin, the last character in our names is different," he quipped. "You got it wrong, you've gathered the wrong information!"

Ting Xuan said in a separate interview that she had found "two versions" of Chen Jianbin while doing her research and realised their names were slightly different.

A clip also showed her telling fellow contestants: "Is that Chen Jianbin? That's not the person I researched" when Marcus walked in, which raises the question of why she decided to volunteer herself to be the first interviewer anyway.

Dennis, 51, was unimpressed with Ting Xuan's performance, saying: "It was rather awkward. She should reflect on it."

The good and the bad

The other contestants had their turns afterwards, and it was a mixed bag.

The round's winner was Tiffany Ho, 19, whom Marcus found to be "warm and approachable". He was also impressed by one of her questions, where she asked him how his first performance went.

On the other hand, 28-year-old Ler Ka Ying tried on a cutesy persona that "went a bit overboard" according to Dennis, and she admitted that her "body language wasn't natural" and she might have been trying to cover up her nerves with it.

"Marcus, after 45 years in the industry, have you thought about compiling your experiences into a movie?" asked Christopher Ng.

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Marcus responded: "I'm not confident in doing that because I'm not Andy Lau. The sales would be dismal", to which the 24-year-old said he "understood".

Guo Liang shut Christopher down and told him he should not have said that, explaining: "It implies you agree that he shouldn't film a movie, that he is indeed not on par with Andy Lau."

"There's another way you could have responded, 'You're too humble!'," Marcus suggested.

He added in a separate interview that contestants needed to figure out a way to "inject humour" into their interviews to prevent them from turning into a "dry back-and-forth".

Little did Marcus know that his advice would lead to comedy, albeit unintended, as several of the contestants started saying "You're too humble!" and "You're too modest!" at his responses, to laughter from all present.

The Dream Competition streams on Mewatch with the live finale held on Nov 24.

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drimac@asiaone.com

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