‘Mark Lee is definitely more handsome’: Christopher Lee gets roasted by SGAG’s Xiaoming

Who wore it better, Christopher Lee or SGAG’s Xiaoming? 

The 52-year-old veteran actor invited the online influencer, Xenia Tan and Xixi Lim onto his latest episode of Dishing With Chris Lee, and asked them if they noticed anything different about him when they arrived on the kelong (offshore platform) where the show was filmed.

“You’re wearing sunglasses!” remarked host-turned-actress Xenia, 30, with Christopher adding that he “heard it’s a requirement for influencers”.

Sunglasses happen to be Xiaoming’s signature accessory, and the actor also ribbed the former, who had previously asked host Quan Yi Fong on her show Hear U Out if he was “more handsome” than Christopher.

The actor asked the women to vote on who was more handsome without sunglasses, and upon the reveal, actress-host Xixi, 36, curtly told them, “Okay, please put them back on”, to laughter from the host and guests.

Xiaoming — whose real name is Adrian Ang — seized his chance to roast Christopher in return later on as they discussed filming in public and being recognised by passers-by.

Influencers have to be ‘thick-skinned’

“For your current situations (as influencers), everyone has a filming device, right?” Christopher asked the trio. “Whenever you take it out, do people give you weird looks and wonder what you’re filming?”

Xixi responded that influencers have to be “thick-skinned” because of that.

Christopher followed up by asking whether the trend of whipping out one’s mobile phone to film when something happens is okay, and Xixi shared that it was acceptable as long as they filmed themselves.

“But it’s not very nice to film other people,” she added.

Christopher agreed that “secretly filming another person is the worst behaviour” but added that the public may not understand that the rule also applies to celebrities.

He also finds it difficult to ask people to stop, adding they may become unhappy and retort: “Why can’t I film you? So what if you’re a celebrity?”

Xixi then asked if Xiaoming, 37, would admit who he was if people recognised him in public, and the latter replied that he would.

Christopher shared that he is okay with revealing his identity these days compared to in the past, and joked that he might even haughtily retort, “Don’t you know I’m Christopher Lee?”

In a surprising revelation, however, the actor stated that he still gets mistaken for other celebrities.

“Till now, people still mistake me for Li Nanxing,” he shared. “It was even worse one time, they called me Mark Lee.”

Xiaoming cackled and blurted that the pair are “worlds apart” before doubling down: “Mark Lee is definitely more handsome.”

Christopher jokingly gestured for Xiaoming to leave the table and the latter said he would jump into the water in repentance.

When it came to their private lives, Christopher, who’s married to Fann Wong, also shared one relationship tip with Xenia, who’s engaged to actor Shawn Thia.

“A couple shouldn’t pick at the littlest things after marriage. For example, I won’t ask my wife to change, and she wouldn’t want me to change either. But we can change out of our own accord, for them.“

‘You need a strong heart as an influencer’

While Christopher is Xixi, Xenia and Xiaoming’s senior in showbiz, he asked them to dish out some advice to viewers who may want to pursue a career as influencers, as they prepared a scrumptious dish of soy sauce chicken and rice.

“If they enjoy filming videos, they shouldn’t quit their jobs immediately,” Xenia said. “If they really enjoy it, they can [test the waters first]. They can make a career change if it gives them an income.”

Xixi added: “They’ll still have something to fall back on.”

One also needs to be made of sterner stuff, or have a “strong heart”, as Xixi puts it, in order to be an influencer.

“Because everyone’s comments will come flooding in immediately if your video goes viral. Your heart has to be strong enough to withstand them.

“And you have to decide that you won’t disappear after just one video.”

Xiaoming shared that, for him, being an influencer was all about “being yourself since you’ll have to upload videos every day”.

“You can’t try to be someone you’re not,” he added. “Otherwise, you’ll easily lose yourself and become someone you don’t want to be. You’ll start to feel unhappy when filming these videos.”

The guests also discussed the setbacks they’ve faced, and Xixi recalled being disheartened when videos she had put a lot of effort into didn’t get the results she desired.

“I’ve started looking for jobs,” she quipped.

Xenia on the other hand, never thought of quitting to pursue teaching — a career path she’d envisioned for herself before becoming a host — but described how hosting jobs were lacking during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Instead, she wrote and pitched a 10-episode script which got rejected. Nevertheless, she told Christopher — who expressed interest in being cast for her show — to find her when she “improved”.

Though Christopher joked he might be retired by then, he later revealed that he never wants to give up acting.

“I’m certain I’ll continue acting until I can no longer do so,” he added. “Even if I retire, it won’t be a full retirement.”

He shared that he only truly began to enjoy the career when he hit his thirties, and that he was struggling before that.

“But don’t think that you won’t learn anything in the process,” he told them. “You’re already slowly learning something, you’re slowly improving.”

Dishing with Chris Lee 2 streams on mewatch and will be shown every Monday at 8pm on Channel 8.