Singapore — After 35 (and counting) seasons, Crimewatch is finally gaining traction with Gen Zs.
This time, it is not because of the clip The Woman Was Too Stunned To Speak that went viral worldwide, but rather a scene from the show’s 2013 Crimewatch.
Who appears in the clip?
According to Mothership.sg, the clip features two young women.
The first woman is a Star Search finalist, Jernelle Oh, a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) graduate in linguistics and multilingual studies.
The second young woman is Shanice Koh. She is a 22-year-old student at NTU’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information. Also, she studied theatre at SOTA (School of the Arts Singapore) and is a freelance actress/model.
What’s going on with the clip?
The clip posted by SaintHoax, which runs for 30-second, was uploaded on Twitter on Dec 21.
When I send music to my bestie and she blatantly ignores itpic.twitter.com/qMFaduu6I1
— Saint Hoax (@SaintHoax) December 21, 2021
In the clip, Jernelle and another actress portrayed gangsters, or more accurately, ah lians, who are embroiled in conflict, trading insults and refusing to apologise. Jernelle and the other actress, Shanice Koh, agreed to face off “tomorrow, 4 pm at Pioneer Mall,” according to the footage.
After 8 years
In an interview with 8 Days, Jernelle said that this was not the first time the scene garnered attention from netizens. In October 2020, local content creator Sneaky Sushii reportedly featured the same episode in a video.
“It went semi-viral, and my friends sent me that too,” Jernelle explained, before adding that the scene’s audio is currently gaining traction on TikTok.
“People started using the audio to recreate the scene in their own ways for situations that they find funny. For example, there will be people saying like ‘When you want to watch a movie with your friend, but she has already watched it with her other friend’, and things like that,” she added.
The actress also joined the trend, recreating the scene eight years later. The TikTok video was posted on Dec 15 and has since accumulated 1.7 million views and 299k heart reactions.
In a TikTok video uploaded on Dec 19, the actresses re-enacted the scene and received 1.9 million views.
Additionally, on Dec 26, Jernelle shared another TikTok video in which she expressed gratitude to her followers for the best Christmas present. This video has accumulated 39.2k views.
The feeling
Jernelle is unconcerned about the scene being dubbed “cringeworthy”.
“I thought I did okay when I saw it eight years ago. But now that I’m rewatching it again, at the start, I did find it cringey. But the more I see [the scene], the more I become immune to it, ‘cos the cringe part doesn’t affect me anymore,” she said.
“I think everybody has a side that is more loud and rude, it’s just whether or not you’ll show that side on a daily basis. So, while I was acting as that role, I really let go, and became the ah lian that I can find deep inside me,” Jernelle added.
However, Jernelle’s significant takeaway from this is that she is now recognized not only for her role as Chai Lai in The Heartland Hero but also as “the girl from that Crimewatch meme.”
The Heartland Hero airs on Ch 8 weeknights at 7:30 pm. You can also watch episodes on meWATCH. /TISG