... continued from page three
Adam Bakthiar
A lot of people, including his mum, has hassled him to get a girlfriend. He knows he wouldn't be happy if he just went out there and get involved and he'll never settle for second best.
This very eligible bachelor feels very strongly indeed about this matter. He doesn't rule out the possibility of meeting somebody soon but it's got to happen naturally.
"I'm very independent and I don't need to be with somebody to feel good," he says. "In my previous relationships it was never because I needed it but it was because I wanted it. You meet somebody and it clicks and that's the way it should be."
He lives with his parents in PJ. His only other sibling, a younger brother, is in Australia. When he moved back into the family home he had to adjust to having less privacy but he loves his parents dearly and wants to be closer with them.
That's the filial side of the many-faceted Adam.
When he is at home he watches some movies and plays around with the cats, all four of them. Once in a while he goes for a drink with the studio crew and at other times it's to a barbecue at a friend's place or to a restaurant for a long dinner with friends. Sometimes they go to a club or bar.
That's a far cry from the days when they used to pop down to the night spots every night and never be bored.
"Thinking back now I don't know how that could have been possible," he says. "It was crazy but we grew out of that phase. I'm not so keen on going to such places. Perhaps I'm mellowing out."
At 25? He's a kidder, alright.
He spends whatever other spare time he has on sports. He likes to play tennis and golf. He works out regularly at the gym and he loves water sports.
His other passion is travelling, something that his parents instilled in him. He has been submerged in different societies from a very young age and during the holidays he was always somewhere overseas.
"Very few people travelled the way we did and that kind of life was a bit unrealistic," he says. "It has made me a little restless and spoilt but it has also been a fabulous learning experience."
So whenever there is an opportunity to get away, Adam is the first person out. He usually drives to Penang, Langkawi or to the east coast to do a bit of snorkelling, scuba-diving or waterskiing. If he has a longer break, he heads for a foreign destination and all the better if it's winter there because he also enjoys snow-skiing.
Another comfort zone he feels he has to break out of is he has never travelled alone.
"It's always with my family or friends. With my group of friends, the minute somebody mentions going somewhere, everyone wants to jump onto the bandwagon. What I would like to do is to go backpacking on my own but I'm sure if I wanted to do that, there'll be five people who will say 'Yea, let's go backpacking.'"
His rapid pace of life suits Adam fine but he does have plans in the pipeline. One of them is to brush up on his language skills. It was only in his last year at the Garden School that Bahasa was taught and he guiltily admits his command of the language is awful being half-Malay too. He hopes that with greater fluency he can flip in and out of languages on the show. He does that a bit now but it's just one-liners and he yearns to be more spontaneous.
He also wants to polish up his French which he studied in school and improve on his German which he took up a while back.
Another area that Adam wants to focus on is going more into production and management and eventually start his own production company. He would continue with his performance on screen and perhaps, do a talk show or read the news but he wants to get more involved in producing or directing.
He is not sure if he will go back into stockbroking but he will always actively have some connection with the market, perhaps as an investor. Everyday he checks on the stocks when he reads the papers although he doesn't have any investments at the moment. He monitors the situation closely and he doesn't want to lose touch with that side of his life as he's genuinely interested in it.
Like Selina, Adam doubts he will venture into singing or acting.
"I have a terrible voice for singing and my Bahasa is not good enough for acting," he claims. "But if my Bahasa is up to scratch and there is a fabulous script and the money is good, maybe yes. I would love to go overseas to try out acting if I could or maybe take up a course in acting but that's a bit far fetched at the moment."
Adam also has his fair share of people coming up to say 'Hi!" when he is about town.
"A lot of people think Selina and I are married," he quips. "So they usually ask me where is she. They presume she would be a part of my social life."
One thing that Adam has gotten used to even before his debut on Gold Quest is people staring at him.
"Perhaps they recognize me from the commercials that I did but I guess they probably think I look European and are wondering what mix I am."
To prove his point, the waiter who was serving us had asked our photographer where Adam was from. When informed that he was the fella on Gold Quest, the chap shook his head and said he had never seen him on TV. Yet he had been staring at Adam from the moment he walked in!
There has been some funny moments like the time he was out shopping and a guy with an ice-cream stopped him. This is how it went.
"Hi, Adam. How are you?"
"Oh, hi. Ah...where have I met you before?"
"No, we've never met."
"Okay." (letting out a sigh of relief)
"I watch your show everyday."
"Thank you."
And they both went their separate ways.
"That has happened so many times because I don't switch into thinking people recognize me from TV," says Adam. "I meet a lot of people and I'm constantly wondering where we might have met before. To make things worse, I'm terrible with names and I'm so embarrassed about it."
Now, of course, he attracts more attention, even in pitch darkness. When he goes for a movie, he hears people behind him saying in hushed tones 'Mr Gold Quest! Mr Gold Quest!'
Being recognized has been a confidence booster and he does not feel threatened as yet by the invasion of privacy. He acknowledges that, on the whole, the public has been kind to him and feedback has been favourable except for the odd newspaper article.
Personally he is not jealous of other game shows and their hosts and he respects them for the way they do their job. Even when people ask him to comment on a show, he never puts it down and will never comment on a host's performance.
Adam is always immaculately dressed on the screen, thanks to his sponsors, among them Hugo Boss and Zegna, and he happens to like their designs too. He appreciates beautifully tailored clothing.
He likes clothes by Donna Karan, Polo, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Canali. He loves Italian designers, specifically their cuts. He says he can't afford any of them even at 50% so he has his local tailor copy their designs.
"But for certain cuts of suits they hang perfectly and you can tailor it here but it'll never look or feel the same," says Adam.
For the interview, he is dressed in what he calls his working clothes long sleeves and slacks but minus the tie which is probably stuffed into his pocket. He wears a jacket in the office when the air-conditioning gets a bit cold. When he doesn't go out he likes to be in his jeans, deck shoes and T-shirt. That's how he dresses to the set too.
In real life, Adam is far wittier than he can be on screen. On the show he tries to joke around on a different level as he knows his kind of humour can be taken the wrong way. And what kind of humour is that?
"Very British, very dry, and certainly, not slapstick.
"When I'm amongst my friends that's the kind of conversation we have and a lot of times people would wonder if we were really friends," he says gleefully. "We have a good giggle that way. That's how we have a kind of an affection for each other and that's how we feel comfortable with each other."
He also insists there is an introverted side to him although the image he projects on his shows is quite the opposite.
"People say I'm shy but it depends on the time of day," he confides. "I'm not a morning person so don't speak to me until I've had my coffee or eaten. Then I can go yakkity-yak. I get moody sometimes but only my closest friends see that side of me. Professionally, I never display it when I'm not happy."
When it comes to culinary delights Adam loves Asian food. His favourite Malay home cooking is his grandmother's rendang. He is also a fan of Northern Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisine.
"After that, it has to be Italian," he pronounces emphatically.
"It's not ostentatious, it's not heavy but it fulfils your appetite and it tastes nice. If it's European food at home it's always Italian."
Much as he enjoys food, Adam's pet hate is cooking. He used to cook in college but he finds it the biggest chore. He cooks well and when people eat his food they say yum-yum but he never enjoys his own cooking. He likes to eat other people's home cooking and he loves going out to restaurants.
As for music, Adam is very much a Sting man with a little bit of ABBA, Level 42 and Phil Collins. Every now and then he listens to some commercial stuff, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson. He loves soul music and when he is driving he puts on some classical jazz. He detests heavy metal and anything loud.
As for vices, he says he has none if you don't take into account the habit of spending money on good things.
"I don't mean to be shallow and materialistic but I like quality stuff," he says unabashedly. "I shop maybe once or twice a year but I never throw things out. I still wear clothes from ten years ago. I spend a lot on travelling and my parents think that's a vice."
Gosh, don't you just love to hate those squeaky clean types?
He doesn't smoke nor gamble but thank goodness, he does look at pretty girls. That's his favourite pastime when he is overseas.
"In European culture, you sit at a sidewalk cafe, drinking one cup of coffee and staring at people for hours."
He admits to being too fussy and fastidious but Selina calls that meticulous.
"Since we share a changing room I certainly appreciate that as I can't stand untidiness," she says. "If he wasn't so meticulous I would be picking up after him as if I were his mother."
She hastens to assure me that they don't change in front of each other though. Apparently there is a partitioned area where they do that but you can still see the head and the legs.
With his hectic schedule it's understandable that Adam feels mentally and physically drained at times. That's the way with Selina too. That's when they sit in the dressing room or destressing room as Selina calls it and stare at the white wall. After reflecting a bit they go out and mix around with the crew. If they're meeting contestants they automatically switch on to the bright and breezy mode.
Being so alike in that sense, there has been no friction in their relationship. Of course there's the occasional flying comment when one or the other has had a rough day and is a little edgy. But it's just an expression and it's always said in total privacy.
Selina voices the same sentiments.
"It's bound to happen especially when you spend a lot of time together." says Selina. "But the good part is we talk it out and after that it's over."
Each of them raves about the other's finer points and it's obvious that they are good friends. To Adam, Selina is an ideal partner. She is flexible and they click with each other mentally.
When they're doing a show they don't decide who will say what or who will ask what question. They try to gauge who is going to pick up the conversation next and they do that quite well now.
"She's not inhibited and we can laugh about things," says Adam. "It's so much harder with a lot of acquaintances that I have. I've got to behave differently with them but I can relax with Selina."
He is also glad that she had not adopted the role of Vanna White.
"What is the use of having somebody who is just constantly coming in with the gold and clapping? I may be anchoring the show but whenever she is in the picture I feel that she should have more to say."
Adam feels there shouldn't be a sexist situation whereby he is the man so he does the talking. And he thinks that it's good they have projected that through TV.
"Women also have a vital role in the media and I don't see why women shouldn't be the anchor person but that might take some time for it to happen here."
He sure knows how to win his way into a woman's heart. And that's life between two partners who are gamed to make a game show a success.
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