‘Why was it not me?’ Romeo Tan and Desmond Tan recall old rivalry among 8 Dukes of Caldecott Hill

About a decade ago, the term “8 Dukes of Caldecott Hill” was coined to refer to eight promising Mediacorp actors: the late Aloysius Pang, Desmond Tan, Ian Fang, Jeffrey Xu, Romeo Tan, Shane Pow, Xu Bin and Zhang Zhenhuan, who goes by Zhang Zhenxuan now.

Debuting as a boy band, they sang Backstreet Boys’ I Want It That Way at the 2014 New Year’s Eve countdown party, Celebrate SG50.

When it came to working as a group, there was always rivalry and this was confirmed by Desmond in the latest episode of Dishing with Chris Lee Season 2, which aired on July 15.

The other guests in the episode were Romeo and Felicia Chin, who was one of the 7 Princesses of Mediacorp and is married to Jeffrey.

Desmond, 37, shared that when he first heard about the formation of the group, he was resistant to it because he had “strong opinions” about his career and life.

“I didn’t want to be grouped with the rest and have a standardised career. Everyone also joined showbiz at different times, so I was resistant to this back then,” he said.

Christopher, 52, also took the opportunity to ask if there was rivalry between Desmond and Romeo.

“The so-called rivalry with him, it was actually work rivalry, which the media hyped up,” Desmond revealed.

When asked how he felt when someone in the group did better than him, Desmond replied that he would be “a bit unhappy” back then.

“I would think that I could do better and be frustrated with myself. Because I’m a competitive person.”

Romeo, 39, shared: “Back then, there was more comparison, such as, ‘Why him? Why did he get the spotlight? Why was it not me? Why was everything good happening to him?'”

However, both of them felt that all of that didn’t matter now.

“It’s overrated,” Desmond added.

Romeo said that he actually feels happy whenever a member does better than him now.

“I feel that I’ve moved past that stage. I no longer lament about why it wasn’t me,” he shared, which Desmond also agreed.

In separate interviews later, Romeo and Desmond said that it was a good conversation because they never had a heart-to-heart talk with each other before.

“When you’re constantly comparing, it’s hard to be good friends. But now, we are no longer in a state of comparison. He has his strengths and I have mine. So comparing is probably a thing of the past,” said Romeo.

Desmond said: “Since the start of the 8 Dukes, we didn’t have many chances to chat. In addition, our image was similar, and the roles we accepted were also similar, so there was always a comparison or rivalry.

“But when talking about it, I think those words are a bit strong, because honestly, we weren’t unhappy with or disliked each other. We were just busy with our own careers and work.”

“After a decade, I think we had to let go of some things and accept others. Everyone’s life demands, career demands and goals are also different. I feel that the competition is no longer with others but with yourself,” he told Romeo.

All episodes of Dishing with Chris Lee Season 2 are now available on demand for free on mewatch.