Mediacorp actor Benjamin Tan, 31, earned his first Star Awards Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste trophy last month after five years in showbusiness.
When 8days spoke to him backstage after his win, Benjamin candidly revealed that he created 10 accounts to vote for himself. Of course, that was far from enough to guarantee a win. His fan club, Bentective FC, went all out to ensure their idol made it on stage, and Benjamin promised to “repay them for everything”.
And repay them he did.
On May 3, Benjamin treated 11 of his fans to a vegetarian dinner at Desker Road’s Fo You Yuan restaurant. Why a vegetarian meal, you might wonder?
His fans actually went on a vegetarian diet for almost a month before the Star Awards, so he would be blessed by the Gods to get his first win.
Speaking to 8days, Benjamin revealed: “I didn’t know beforehand that they were going to do this for me. I came to know about it when my fans tagged me in their IG stories. Initially, I thought it was a one-off thing. I remember they had a vegetarian meal on March 28 as it was the birthday of The Goddess of Mercy.
“However, I found out they actually went vegetarian for a long period. They also tagged me on numerous occasions, around four times, whenever they visited the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple at Waterloo Street on the weekends to pray for me,” continued Benjamin.
“I am really grateful because even for myself, the most I did was pray in my mind at home and hope for the best.”
