Celebrities are careful about being nice and friendly, especially when they’re in public. But the people most likely to call them out on bad behavior are the ones who work closely with them. And no, your loudest detractor isn’t necessarily going to be your co-star.
Try the company bus driver.
Recently, a bus driver known as Captain Huang was on Hong Kong host Sammy Leung’s podcast Good Morning King where he recalled his nasty experiences with a certain “A-list actor”.
He first recounted the time he drove the actors to a location to shoot a food-themed variety show and all the artistes had to alight when they arrived at the destination. However, said A-list actor decided to return to the bus later to take a nap.
“After he was done filming his parts he went to sleep on the bus. He occupied the entire last row lying across the seats, with his legs hanging on the footrest and he didn’t bother to close the door,” recalled the driver.
When the rest of the crew returned, the driver tried to adjust the seats so that they could move the equipment onto the bus. The actor, who was sleeping, suddenly yelled: ‘What are you guys doing?'”
The team then went to their next location, where the crew asked to alight in the middle of the road due to space restrictions.
When everyone else alighted, Captain Huang thought the A-list actor had no intention to do so he thought he could drive off. But the moment he did, said actor got really upset and complained: “What are you doing? I haven’t alighted yet!”
The driver shared that the A-lister was merely a newbie when that incident happened.
Captain Huang also chastised the actor for being stingy.
According to him, the actor once said that he was going to treat everyone to a meal after an outdoor shoot.
But the actor later went to the stage supervisor, singled out six people from the group, which presumably included the bus caption, and snarled: “These six are not direct TVB employees, why should I treat them?”
At this point host Sammy interjected and concurred that it was bad form: “That’s not okay.” The other guest on the show, Hong Kong actress Kaki Leung, added: “Even a B-lister like me would treat!”
The stage supervisor later said that the actor thought the former was trying to “cheat his money”, which prompted Captain Huang to pay for the meal immediately.
“Here’s HK$120 (S$20.50) for the six of us. If it’s more than enough then tell him I’m buying him tea and tell him not to be so stingy,” snarked Captain Huang.
After hearing this part, a listener, Ah M, also a TVB driver, called in to the show to say that he too had faced a similar situation.
“The person he was talking about might not be the same as mine,” conceded Ah M, adding to the intrigue.
“There was once our crew went out for a shoot and when we were eating… this particular actor was in a good mood and said he was going to treat us. We were so happy and the drivers sat down to eat together. No one expected him to suddenly say: ‘Only the food’s on me, captain!’. That’s ridiculous – he wanted us to pay HK$2 (S$0.34) for drinks. I might as well pay for [the meal] myself!” snarled Ah M.
Sammy then quipped: “This type of A-listers are great! They are so prudent!”