| Subject: VA VA VINCE |
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ROMAR
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Date Posted: 06:39:11 08/24/03 Sun
Aug 15: Va Va Vince!
Rina Omar
VINCENT Chong, known affectionately to fans of reality show Akademi Fantasia as Vince, can easily be regarded as the first Malaysian superstar.
He is, after all, the people's choice, winning majority votes nationwide to emerge as the champion. And why not? Blessed with good looks, a voice that can melt polar ice caps and a down-to-earth character, he's destined to make waves in the entertainment industry - and in the hearts of women everywhere.
But he's still in shock. After nine weeks of being shut away from "civilisation", glimpsing the world briefly only whenever contestants battled for vocal prowess and showmanship weekly on stage, it's to be expected.
"It's been just ... amazing," he said. "I didn't expect the programme to have so much impact. I've seen girls screaming ... thousands of fans ... and I'm still shell-shocked. Even my sisters had to sign autographs on the night of the finals, pose for a couple of hundred pictures with fans, people bugging them for phone numbers ...
There were fans in the thousands, waiting outside our hotel after the event! "I thought that this sort of thing only happens to Michael Jackson (laughs). I was like, oh my goodness! What is happening? What did we do? What's so great watching our faces every day on TV? (laughs)."
While the country gets to peep into their lives, they, ironically, could not look back into the rest of the world.
"For nine weeks, we were not told anything about the outside world. We were totally isolated, left ignorant about everything. Initially it didn't bother me, being cut off from the real world, but after a while I did feel pretty lost without my handphone.
"There was no TV, we couldn't get newspapers - even our nasi lemak wrappers were checked to see if the newspapers were last year's ... That's how strict it was. No leakage of information at all.
"There was no contact allowed with the crew members as well. They had to stand still or turn their backs when we were around. We weren't supposed to get any information about what was going on outside - how big the show was, how popular the students were, the racial issues on the forum - so we would stay focused," he elaborated.
(continued)
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