\n<\/p>\n
Lee, meanwhile, revealed that he started his first part-time job when he was only \u201cfive to six years old\u201d, a revelation that left the rest shocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed in HDB, so I helped my father sell ang mo tan (rambutan). We carried the ang mo tan, then we went along all the corridors and shouted [in Hokkien], \u2018Ang mo tan, anyone wants to buy ang mo tan?\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
His customers were mostly aunties and uncles living in the estate, but Lee also admitted he was free labour. \u201cGot no pay, because father take mah,\u201d he said matter-of-factly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For anyone who has ever been roped into helping with a family business as a kid, we\u2019re sure this sounds all too familiar.<\/p>\n
After completing his national service, Lee went on to sell chee cheong fun at a stall in Taman Jurong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI passed my N-Levels and failed my O-Levels. Then after army, I was about 18 years old [when I started working],\u201d he revealed.<\/p>\n
When Suhaimi teased him about not passing his O-Levels, the ever-witty Lee fired back: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t want to pass, not that I didn\u2019t pass. Because I know in the future, I will be a very popular celebrity, so I don’t need to study. I didn\u2019t want to waste my mother\u2019s [money on] school fees.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Singh, his first part-time job he took on at just 11 years old was also helping his father out.<\/p>\n
His father worked as a \u201cbank jaga<\/em>\u201d, or a bank security guard, and Singh recalled that he would sometimes sleep at the bank as part of the job.<\/p>\n On Saturdays when banks operated half days, Singh would head down to look for his dad. His dad would hand him a full set of keys before heading home to rest, leaving him in charge of locking up the bank and waiting until night, when the family would return, have dinner together, and sleep there.<\/p>\n \u201c[You could] sleep anywhere you want in the bank, so we slept next to the safe lah. The next morning we would all have breakfast, then the whole family would go away and I would be alone. I watched TV the whole day, until at night, my father come back, I give him back the keys, and Sunday night I go back home,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like Lee, he didn\u2019t get paid for that job.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike the others, Singh’s path into showbiz began almost immediately. While serving national service, he joined the Music & Drama Company. He started his stint as a backup dancer after and was talent-spotted at his first job, a Haw Par Villa in-house musical that he attended on the very day he collected his IC after ORD.\u00a0<\/p>\n