PUBLISHED ONMarch 20, 2023 9:08 AMByJolynn ChiaWe know the Ah Boys to Men cast are on good terms, but there was more we didn't know.
Earlier this month, AsiaOne spoke to actor Noah Yap at the premiere of Mediacorp drama Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage and asked about his friendships with the rest of the Ah Boys to Men (ABTM) cast.
The 29-year-old shared: "We are all very close, the whole bunch of us… We meet once a week, or once every two weeks.
"Honestly they are the only friends I hang out with, I don't have any outside friends. I think it's the same for them. So we only have each other."
If you are curious about whether they get into any shenanigans reminiscent of the ones their characters experienced in the ABTM series, you may be disappointed.
Elaborating, he expressed: "We do usual stuff, we don't do anything crazy… we have dinner, watch movies, play board games... very wholesome activities."
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Basically, their choice of board games are those with combative or deceptive elements, like Salem, Avalon and Werewolf.
"We like to play games that make us fight each other. Fight, as in we'd literally fight and quarrel. It's damn fun. If it's too wholesome, then the game is…" he hesitated, implying that it would not be as enjoyable.
"Even in Monopoly, I can 'destroy' other people, right? So it's fun," he added.
The buddies go on snowboarding trips as well, around once a year, and they have been to Japan, Canada and New Zealand. However, Noah shared that he broke his wrist two to three years ago and the wound is still visible.
Fortunately, he fell with his wrist "in the right direction", he recalled. If it had been facing another direction, he would have broken his wrist altogether.
He was thankful that it was a hairline fracture and he recovered soon after going through surgery. It also makes for good conversation starters, Noah said.
The Ah Boys To Men movie series started from 2012, and has four installments. It also stars Joshua Tan, Maxi Lim, Wang Weiliang and Tosh Zhang, and kickstarted their showbiz careers. Noah added that the tight group of friends also included actors Rao Zijie, Aden Tan and BunZ.
Since the last instalment of Ah Boys to Men ended in 2017, both Noah and Joshua have been appearing in multiple Mediacorp dramas. In December 2022, Joshua entered a new stage in life when he married Zoen Tay, a 25-year-old doctor.
Noah joined them on their honeymoon in February and offered more tea regarding the trip in the interview.
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Besides clarifying that the couple had invited him and he obliged as they were good friends and he was simply being spontaneous, Noah also shared more about what they did on the honeymoon.
As Joshua is more of a planner who likes to stick to a schedule, Noah and Zoen wanted to challenge him.
"It's fun to drag Joshua out to clubs. He usually sleeps at 10pm and Zoen is unhappy about that," said Noah.
"Zoen and I dragged him out to the club to drink and dance. So you see by the end of the day, his face damn black and he looked drained."
No surprise then that by the time they finished clubbing, it was Joshua's usual waking time.
"He's overseas so why sleep? [He already] sleeps in Singapore. Zoen and I wanted to help him to be more spontaneous and adventurous," he concluded.
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Noah also shared more about his ongoing projects. At the moment, he is filming the Channel 5 long-form drama series Sunny Side Up, where he plays Benny Boo, and will make his appearance in one to two months' time.
In May this year, he will be doing a musical titled Monster and the Mirror, where he plays a fairy godfather/delivery Ah Beng, who sings, dances and acts. It is his first musical since nine years ago when he did his ABTM musical.
Titoudao: Dawn of a New Stage is available free on demand on meWATCH. New episodes will be available on March 21 on meWATCH and every Tuesday at 9.30pm on Channel 5. It will also be available on Mediacorp Drama's YouTube page from March 21.
Sunny Side Up is currently streaming on meWATCH, Channel 5 and Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube channel every Monday to Thursday, 7.30pm.
jolynn.chia@asiaone.com
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