I am not and have never been a social escort: former FHM Model
A Singaporean freelance model who recently appeared on a MediaCorp dating show is denying claims that she is a social escort.
Refuting the allegations made by users of some online forums, Belinda Teo, 21, told Yahoo! Singapore in an interview Thursday afternoon, ““I have never worked as an escort.”
The second runner-up of FHM model Singapore 2011, who has been working in the industry for about three years, said she has was surprised by the “ridiculous” claims and did not see this coming when she decided to appear on the dating show “Love in Progress” on Channel 8 on Monday.
“I have been called ‘so flat’, or ‘so ugly’ and looking like a ‘typical girl’… but I never expected this,” she said.
Teo – along with the top male contestant – each received a $3,000 cash prize each, besting four other participants aged 21 to 25 years old. But almost immediately after the show was aired, an online forum posted pictures of her and saw people taking personal potshots at the model.
Someone on the forum claimed to have recognized her from “booking” her services as a social escort three to four years ago – when she could have been 16 or 17 years old.
“The forums are so contradictory,” Teo said, addressing this point, and asserted that she has never submitted her photos to any escort agency before.
The number of the alleged escort agency that posted her pictures did not work when tried.
The finalist of Miss Universe Singapore 2012 was left reeling in anger after seeing the posts and initially took to her Facebook page to clarify her stand.
As the news spread like wildfire, Teo also received Facebook messages from strangers making fun of her and asking for her rates.
In particular, a person in particular going by the Facebook name of “Roy Chuang TheSecond” called Teo a “prostitute” and a “social escort”.
The freelance model of reputable agencies like Elegance and Phantom Model clarified that Roy Chuang is her official photographer who takes care of all her photo shoots, but she has no idea who is behind the page “Roy Chuang TheSecond”.
Despite that, Teo has seen an outpouring of support from her friends – some of whom had posted on her Facebook page telling her to “be strong”.
“Some of my friends tell me ‘why are you so stressed? You should be happy, it’s free publicity,” said the actress-wannabe and graduate of Henderson Secondary School.
But she said that despite it being a rumour, “I’m not proud of it.”
She has no intentions of quitting the industry though she said that she has not been sleeping well these few days.
“If I quit now, people will think I’m guilty. I can’t give in,” the Singaporean said in half English and half Mandarin.
“I hope this thing will come to an end.”
