WE HAD been told that Channel 5 was looking for hot hunks in trunks for their new show Polo Boys, which was incentive enough to trudge down to Bukit Timah on a sweltering Saturday morning.
Our efforts were rewarded handsomely when one of the auditionees pointed out that the show's stars, Adrian Pang and Nat Ho, were in fact mucking about in the pool.
In their swimming trunks.
Ooh la la!
Asked to jump out of the pool for this interview, the two did their best 'shy guy' impressions.
After many 'no lah's and 'so shy's, they were herded out of the pool in all their barely-dressed glory.
'I hope this doesn't disturb anyone,' joked Adrian.
Giving his best perplexed face, Adrian was elusive when The New Paper asked him what he was doing in his self-described 'skanky' trunks.
'I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here, actually,' he said, laughing.
It's a sentiment that may be shared by others - Adrian, an award-winning theatre actor, is well-known for his dramatic roles and will return to our screens in April as a blind man heavily burdened with secrets in the 40-episode drama Red Thread.
But in person, he is usually self-effacing, and seems to be as genuinely puzzled about his new incarnation as a pool hunk in Polo Boys as we are.
'I haven't been a boy in decades,' joked the 40-year-old.
Stars train hard to look beefy
In the show, which will debut in July, he plays Greg, a freewheeling playboy-type whose youthful folly results in a son he's not prepared to care for.
He leaves his son, Keong, with his grandparents but returns just as the boy is starting at university.
His return home is met with animosity by the grown-up Keong, played by Nat Ho, so Greg decides to meet his son on his grounds - in this case, the school water polo team.
'He (Greg) is basically your typical long-lost, wayward father. And having been away so long, it's no surprise his son wants nothing to do with him,' said Adrian.
Added the show's managing executive producer Tan Wei Lyn: 'Adrian is a fine actor, so of course he will be doing much of the major heavy lifting in terms of the drama side.'
But she also promised 'a fair bit' of scenes involving a whole polo team's worth of almost-naked men.
'TV is about aesthetics,' she said. 'What is a show about water sports without bare bodies?'
Bare bodies that are sculpted, one would hope.
Both Adrian and his co-star Nat, 25, admitted they were 'lepak' (Malay for slack) during their school days, and were involved in non-sports activities like drama, debate and choir.
But they've started on their own training regimes to make sure they look 'good enough' for local TV.
Nat has just taken up muay thai.
That may explain the improvement over the pasty complexion he showed off a few weeks ago on an episode of Channel 8 drama The Dream-catchers, where his character was forced to model in a pair of tight red undies in front of a large crowd.
Is acting without much clothes on going to be Nat's forte?
'Huh? No lah,' he replied, embarrassed. 'But that scene (for Dream-catchers) was damn embarrassing lah!'
More embarrassment may be on the way for the duo when they debut on television with their bare bodies, but they say it's par for the course.
'We can't stop people from saying what they will,' said Adrian.
Look convincing
They will try, however, to do what they can to 'look as convincing as possible'.
Their pre-show preparation involves working with the national polo team, with whom they have twice weekly, three-hour sessions in the pool.
'It's a tough sport. Both of us have had to un-learn a lot of natural things, like how to catch a ball. It's all different in the pool,' said Adrian.
Added the father of two sons, Zachary, 8, and Xander, 7: 'I actually just want to make sure I can still keep up with my boys.'
Speaking of which, what does his wife Tracie think of his foray into TV hunkdom?
'She thinks it's hilarious, of course,' he said, grinning madly.
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
