987 DJ Joakim Gomez Got Into Fights With Singapore Idol Hecklers Back When He Was The “Most Hated” Contestant On The Show

For the uninitiated, season 2 of local singing reality show Singapore Idol, which aired 17 years ago in 2006, was a cultural phenomenon.

The season, which eventually saw Hady Mirza crowned the winner, saw an unlikely contestant in Joakim Gomez, who was just 18 then.

Joakim, who made it to the Top 5, was critiqued for his weak vocals. Even the judges, Dick Lee, Florence Lian and Ken Lim, threw in snide comments about how he had made it that far because of his looks.

On a recent episode of For Real For Real, a series where guests share heartfelt stories about their lives, Joakim, now 35 and a 987FM jock, looked back at his time on the show.

Watch Joakim share 3 comments from the Singapore Idol judges that he still remembers today.

Joakim admitted he “made it very easy” for people to hate him, and that he was just “getting by” through his looks.

“I used to say I regret Singapore Idol, but honestly, now I don’t. I consider it a baptism of fire,” he said.

Though it might appear easy for Joakim to joke about his Idol experience now, he shared that it took him years to work through it.

“There was a point in time [when I was on the show that] I wanted to stay home and not even leave my house,” he said, adding: “The comments got to me, people in public were coming up to me and saying: ‘Eh, you suck!’ I remember once I was walking by Orchard Road, this guy just threw a bottle at me and all that.”

Joakim shared that he did get into “a few” fights here and there with hecklers, adding: “Thankfully, nothing too serious that made the news.”