GE2020: Tan Chuan Jin reveals his fear of lizards and that he rocks out to Avril Lavigne

Who would've known that the Speaker of Parliament regularly rocks out to Avril Lavinge?

Tan Chuan-Jin revealed his guilty pleasure in jamming out to her hit single "Girlfriend" over a Facebook and Instagram live last night (July 7) — now a regular nightly livestream aptly named "Donut Time" due to his love for the sugary treat.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/TanChuanJin1/videos/603630443890652/[/embed]

Several other deets about the 51-year-old were thrown out too in an impromptu "10 things about me" session (though he actually mentions 13 things instead).

For one, he's a huge movie buff and is particularly fond of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, having read the books back in his university days thinking it would've been impossible to turn it into a movie.

Tan is also terribly scared of house lizards. "Don't ask me why, I just really freak out," he says, recounting the time he walked into the kitchen and came face to face with a lizard.

He turned around and ran out screaming before slamming into the wall, he shared, and that left him with a bump on his forehead.

The rest of the session saw him sharing interesting tidbits of his life, such as being schoolmates with several famous personalities, like Hossan Leong, Mr Miyagi and Mr Brown, and how he kept a cowardly dog named "Hero".

ALSO READ: Tan Chuan-Jin is cool with being part of the gender-swapped GE2020 candidates

Here are some of the other less well-known things about him that he divulged.

1.  He can play the piano but wants to learn how to play the cello.
2.  He's 100 per cent Hainanese but considers his proficiency to be equivalent to that of a 12-year-old.
3.  The back of his head is flat, but he doesn't know why.
4.  His favourite Chinese film is In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai.
5.  His favourite comic series is Calvin and Hobbes.
6.  His favourite comic superhero is Batman.
7.  Contrary to what people think, he doesn't run marathons.
8.  He used to play football in school, but the team regularly lost to their rivals.
9. He was a cadet scout in primary school before he joined the debate society in secondary school and junior college

Since his first livestream, Tan has gotten a lot more comfortable appearing live in front of the camera, though he was still interrupted by the sound of his boiler and got distracted by pictures of doughnuts sent by viewers last night.

He also gave viewers a reason to tune in to his livestream on July 8, promising to do a live mukbang of himself eating doughnuts on the final day of campaigning. 

As for how he plans to spend cooling-off day?

"I'll probably spend the whole day sleeping."

rainercheung@asiaone.com