‘I was in cold storage’: Jade Seah speaks out on f-word blunder from 2008
The local host let slip the profanity while she was covering the Summer Olympics on Channel 5.
It’s been 15 years since local host Jade Seah’s infamous blunder on national television, but that incident traumatised her so much that it took her “more than 10 years to talk about it”.
For the uninitiated, while covering the 2008 Summer Olympics on Channel 5, Seah uttered “f—-” after she fumbled the name of a Chinese athlete.
The scene had shifted from the studio coverage to a recorded clip of a basketball match when the f-word was heard round Singapore.
In the latest episode of Seah’s Wonder and Wellness series, released late last month, the 40-year-old said she needed to recall her memories of the incident because she “put it out of my head”.
Her co-host, actress Sheila Sim (who recently talked about her own challenges with burnout), pointed out that she didn’t and was in fact, so affected by it that it became “so uncomfortable” for her.
Seah said, “To be honest, still don’t know if I said it but I accept that, okay, it was me. And it was so uncomfortable because I felt like I really had failed.
“As a presenter, to say something like that - even though your mic was supposedly switched off - you kind of failed because you should be entirely sure you’re not going to be heard.”
Being in 'cold storage'
The second reason why she was affected was due to the negative comments she received about her hosting.
People were criticising her looks, hosting skills and for looking “stiff”.
Though Seah knew she was very young then, both in terms of age and experience, she was still traumatised.
It also caused her mum to be really upset because while she supported Seah’s career, she didn’t like the idea of her “being in the limelight”.
And, prior to the bad press received because of her flub, Seah had only got “positive, if not neutral press”.
“I still had to go back to work because the show had to go on,” Seah added.
However, when it rains, it storms, and her troubles didn’t end there.
Seah admitted, “Wah, I was in ‘cold storage’ that year. I was slated to host a lot of government events and jobs and then they would have nothing to do with me. So that didn’t help the ‘cold storage’.”
It was “a lot” of work that Seah missed out on and she was only two years into her career then.
She said, “At that point I was getting magazine covers then suddenly it’s like [gone].
“So that affected [things], but I think more than just the career because it is possible to bounce back from that and I think I have, but it was the mental side of it. And like I said, a lot to do with the family and that mental anxiety.”
Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.
