Welcome to my last post about the Pleasantly Surprised fan meet! You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here if you've missed the begining of my tale (Part 2 in particular has some cute Puff and Jasper moments)...In my last chapter, I'd just finished talking about the Hi-5 meet and getting the opportunity to Hi-5 Puff, Jasper and the crew (and to talk to them very briefly!)
So after everyone had completed the Hi-5ing, Jian-An announced that the crew would pose as a group for the audience to take photos. You may have noticed, but these photos are by the far ones I took! Why? Well, because the crew posed properly (or at least moved a little less :D) and they turned on the right lighting for photos...and everyone just had fun for the cameras....
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Ba Yu pulled Yorke's hand so he was poking her on the cheek, Puff made a funny pose to show Jasper and then they laughed so hard that Puff was leaning on his shoulder for a few minutes laughing (Sorry wasn't quick enough to catch that shot!...Or I caught the tail end of that happening in some of my pics)...Verna was doing her signature hair twirl...ahhh, everything I loved about the crew can be found in these photos...We were allowed to take several and then they moved to the other side of the room so that those audience members could take pics too...There were a few more group pictures that would have been perfect if the girl in front of me hadn't suddenly stood up! Sad stuff....but I do like the shots that I took anyway :)
I feel like the other side of the room got the advantage with these group photos because it was confusing for everyone...the crew were trying to figure out the best poses and trying to get in sync, while the audience were trying to figure out how to take the best photos...Even in the first couple of photos, they were still trying to alter the lighting!...But by the time they shifted over to the other side, everyone was ready....but ah well, I can't really complain. I posted one of these pics on instagram recently and Stanley Mei 'liked' it!!! Yayyyy!!!
OK photos now go back to the normal lighting as they turned off the nice bright lights...
I like this shot of Sean's face..ahahaha
After these photos had been taken, it was time to wrap up the event with everyone's goodbye speeches....It was so sad! I wanted the event to go on for longer, but by then, it was getting late. So they started the good bye speeches with Jasper's speech. He thanked everyone for their support with the show and the fan meet. He also thanked the crew for all the fun times. He'd had a lot of fun playing Ah Jie and acting with Puff and would miss his Pleasantly Surprised family a lot.
Jian-An then turned to Puff and asked if she'd like to say some final words. She thanked Jasper and the crew for being a fun group to work with (she said it was like being back in school again - every work day was like playtime!)...She said everyone had been family from the beginning of filming till now and she would continue to catch up with every one after the series. She also thanked the audience for showing so much love to Pleasantly Surprised. Then she ended her thank yous by thanking the filming crew and director for all their physical labour and hard work. To which Jasper added his thanks too. Puff said that Kai Qi would always be a character that she'd love and felt honoured to play.
Jolin also thanked all the audience for supporting the show and for coming out to meet the crew. He would miss everyone and miss his awesome character, Hao Wei, even though he didn't get the girl. He said that they'd captured all the good times in the behind the scenes clips and SPOP, especially this month's issue (which summarises the whole Pleasantly Surprised series and has all the missing photos from the August photo shoot)...and he said that if we missed them, we could always go back and look at these beautiful memories...He would be flipping through SPOP himself (ahaha, good marketing plug Jolin!) :D
Mason, speaking from Jolin's arms, had a really cute little speech thanking everyone for watching the show every week...he said "Thank you everyone for staying up late every week to watch Pleasantly Surprised!" to which everyone laughed (Pleasantly Surprised aired at 11:00pm in Taiwan, so it must have been late for Mason. Wayy past his bed time!)
Lene talked about how amazing it had been to be part of the Pleasantly Surprised crew. She also talked about how she thought it'd be impossible for her to pull off a "cute" character (Haha, she usually plays the seductive/ sexy girl and sometimes the mean, psychotic female characters). But she'd learnt a lot from Le Xuan, and she ended her talk with a cute curtesy, blowing a kiss to the audience. Sean had a speech that made people laugh...He thanked everyone for loving Head Chef as a character because he felt that Head Chef was meant to be a really unlikeable person, given that Head Chef was always trying to be clever and talking himself up all the time! But he was really happy that so many fans had told him that they liked Head Chef. He also thanked all the fans for loving all of the other characters on Pleasantly Surprised and for following the show for the past 6 months...
I can't say I remember Ba Yu's speech very well, sorry! Too much going on!...But when Yorke came to speak, with all the sentimental speeches that had happened, Verna couldn't contain herself and had started to cry...and because of that, she triggered off Puff. Puff was crying so much that she had to duck behind Jasper and Jolin for a cry.
At first Jasper wasn't paying too much attention I guess because speeches were still going on and maybe he wanted to give Puff some space. But then Puff was really crying quite a bit....And those standing on that side could notice. Lene pulled back to check that Puff was ok. Jolin was patting her back. Jasper, out from his trance, turned around to check on Puff too. As people in the audience were handing out tissues, someone on the side (I think an editor for SPOP) grabed some tissues and tapped Jasper to give them to her. At first, I thought he might just be giving her tissues. But then I saw a swift hand movement close to her face, like he might be wiping her tears!
I think it might have happened perhaps as something funny to cheer up Puff, because Lene laughed and a few others of the cast turned to look. Even Verna, who was looking from the other side and crying pretty hard herself, couldn't help but laugh. It was a quick moment, and as they were turned around I couldn't see everything, but I caught a photo I think just before or just after it happened. I thought it might have been just my eyes, but the girl next to me hit her friend pretty hard and hushed excitedly, "He's wiping away her tears!!!" So I think I'm not the only one who saw it happen...Anyway...this picture is the closest I got to what happened...
In terms of the speeches, everyone had their turn to say something. The only other two I really remember was Verna's speech and Stanley Mei's speech. Stanley had a lot to say about how fun it was to work this crew. He said that in real life, he thinks he's a really boring person and usually goes to work and then goes home. But these guys taught him how to have fun and they really bonded so much that they'd often hang out after work and he'd really miss them! Aww. Verna burst out crying and talked about how touched she was that everyone had come out to support the crew and the show. And she sobbed, and then said really loudly, "I love all you guys!" which was met with much applause and love. Because Verna was crying so much, Mason went up to her gave his favourite big Jie jie a hug! Awwwwww!!!!
Deyn, I think mentioned, that he hoped everyone would work with each other again in the future. And I don't remember Zooey's speech, but she was crying so much that Ba Yu ended up giving her a hug :) I've recorded Vic's speech (it came a little late to my head that I should have recorded the speeches!) and I'll upload it onto to YouTube hopefully when I have time. I also have the dance that Puff, Jasper, Mason and Jolin did when she first came...
After that the actors all took a deep bow and then stood for the Closing song of the series. Jian-An joked with Sean about whether or not he wanted to sing along. Everyone in the audience waved their mobile lights up in the air like candles. The actresses were still crying, especially Verna, but some of the crew were also singing including Puff...and then from my right side came screams...And I realised that Jian-An was handing out signed Puff and Jasper Pleasantly Surprised posters to each of the actors for them to throw into the crowd. Jasper threw his poster out to the right side of the room so there was no way I could have caught that. It was too crazy with the fans on my side too (as in people snatching and flying out at others), so I didn't end up catching any :( But it's alright I guess! After the posters were gone, Jian-An announced that the crew were going and they all waved as they left the stage, Puff being the first to leave and Vic the last. (Probably for her safety too as some fans were a little...scary with how much they loved her.)
Everyone got a free gift on the way out, which was a heart shaped coaster of either Puff or Jasper (the picture being the promotional picture for Pleasantly Surprised). I got a Puff one, but swapped it for a Jasper one on the way out when I saw that the guy giving them out had only one more Jasper one left (Sorry Puff! They wouldn't let me have two.) When I left the building, I found fans gathered at the doors waiting for the stars to leave the buildings. I joinned them too, feeling a little guilty for being so fangirly. But I didn't act crazy or anything....I mean, there was a girl that walked out of the building with short hair, glasses, a cap and a long cardigan...and fans fully rushed up to her screaming, "Puff!!! Puff!!!" It was sorta scary! I had a feeling that Puff, Jasper and maybe even Lene wouldn't leave from the front entrance (for their own safety). And I was right (except for Lene). But I did see Mason as they rushed him out of the building. I also saw and took a pic of Jolin, Deyn and Yorke leave to catch a taxi together.
Then Stanley took a cab by himself. Ba Yu, Verna and Lene came out together and shared a cab.
And finally Zooey came out to catch a cab by herself (Everyone else must have driven or had private drivers and escorts...). Then that was the end! I was really happy seeing these guys live and I feel blessed that everything went reasonably well. As I mentioned before, I do wish I'd had the opportunity to do some things differently (e.g talk more to them), but it would have been difficult given how ushered we were from spot to spot. Hehe, I also wish I had captured more Puff and Jasper moments, but it was harder from the left side of the room. Nonetheless it was a great experience and I had heaps of fun...and I touched Jasper!!! I hope you've had fun reading about my fan meet experience...Thanks for re-living the journey with me! You Pleasantly Surprised fans rock as much as the cast do :)
Ba Yu pulled Yorke's hand so he was poking her on the cheek, Puff made a funny pose to show Jasper and then they laughed so hard that Puff was leaning on his shoulder for a few minutes laughing (Sorry wasn't quick enough to catch that shot!...Or I caught the tail end of that happening in some of my pics)...Verna was doing her signature hair twirl...ahhh, everything I loved about the crew can be found in these photos...We were allowed to take several and then they moved to the other side of the room so that those audience members could take pics too...There were a few more group pictures that would have been perfect if the girl in front of me hadn't suddenly stood up! Sad stuff....but I do like the shots that I took anyway :)
I feel like the other side of the room got the advantage with these group photos because it was confusing for everyone...the crew were trying to figure out the best poses and trying to get in sync, while the audience were trying to figure out how to take the best photos...Even in the first couple of photos, they were still trying to alter the lighting!...But by the time they shifted over to the other side, everyone was ready....but ah well, I can't really complain. I posted one of these pics on instagram recently and Stanley Mei 'liked' it!!! Yayyyy!!!
OK photos now go back to the normal lighting as they turned off the nice bright lights...
I like this shot of Sean's face..ahahaha
After these photos had been taken, it was time to wrap up the event with everyone's goodbye speeches....It was so sad! I wanted the event to go on for longer, but by then, it was getting late. So they started the good bye speeches with Jasper's speech. He thanked everyone for their support with the show and the fan meet. He also thanked the crew for all the fun times. He'd had a lot of fun playing Ah Jie and acting with Puff and would miss his Pleasantly Surprised family a lot.
Jian-An then turned to Puff and asked if she'd like to say some final words. She thanked Jasper and the crew for being a fun group to work with (she said it was like being back in school again - every work day was like playtime!)...She said everyone had been family from the beginning of filming till now and she would continue to catch up with every one after the series. She also thanked the audience for showing so much love to Pleasantly Surprised. Then she ended her thank yous by thanking the filming crew and director for all their physical labour and hard work. To which Jasper added his thanks too. Puff said that Kai Qi would always be a character that she'd love and felt honoured to play.
Jolin also thanked all the audience for supporting the show and for coming out to meet the crew. He would miss everyone and miss his awesome character, Hao Wei, even though he didn't get the girl. He said that they'd captured all the good times in the behind the scenes clips and SPOP, especially this month's issue (which summarises the whole Pleasantly Surprised series and has all the missing photos from the August photo shoot)...and he said that if we missed them, we could always go back and look at these beautiful memories...He would be flipping through SPOP himself (ahaha, good marketing plug Jolin!) :D
Mason, speaking from Jolin's arms, had a really cute little speech thanking everyone for watching the show every week...he said "Thank you everyone for staying up late every week to watch Pleasantly Surprised!" to which everyone laughed (Pleasantly Surprised aired at 11:00pm in Taiwan, so it must have been late for Mason. Wayy past his bed time!)
Lene talked about how amazing it had been to be part of the Pleasantly Surprised crew. She also talked about how she thought it'd be impossible for her to pull off a "cute" character (Haha, she usually plays the seductive/ sexy girl and sometimes the mean, psychotic female characters). But she'd learnt a lot from Le Xuan, and she ended her talk with a cute curtesy, blowing a kiss to the audience. Sean had a speech that made people laugh...He thanked everyone for loving Head Chef as a character because he felt that Head Chef was meant to be a really unlikeable person, given that Head Chef was always trying to be clever and talking himself up all the time! But he was really happy that so many fans had told him that they liked Head Chef. He also thanked all the fans for loving all of the other characters on Pleasantly Surprised and for following the show for the past 6 months...
I can't say I remember Ba Yu's speech very well, sorry! Too much going on!...But when Yorke came to speak, with all the sentimental speeches that had happened, Verna couldn't contain herself and had started to cry...and because of that, she triggered off Puff. Puff was crying so much that she had to duck behind Jasper and Jolin for a cry.
At first Jasper wasn't paying too much attention I guess because speeches were still going on and maybe he wanted to give Puff some space. But then Puff was really crying quite a bit....And those standing on that side could notice. Lene pulled back to check that Puff was ok. Jolin was patting her back. Jasper, out from his trance, turned around to check on Puff too. As people in the audience were handing out tissues, someone on the side (I think an editor for SPOP) grabed some tissues and tapped Jasper to give them to her. At first, I thought he might just be giving her tissues. But then I saw a swift hand movement close to her face, like he might be wiping her tears!
I think it might have happened perhaps as something funny to cheer up Puff, because Lene laughed and a few others of the cast turned to look. Even Verna, who was looking from the other side and crying pretty hard herself, couldn't help but laugh. It was a quick moment, and as they were turned around I couldn't see everything, but I caught a photo I think just before or just after it happened. I thought it might have been just my eyes, but the girl next to me hit her friend pretty hard and hushed excitedly, "He's wiping away her tears!!!" So I think I'm not the only one who saw it happen...Anyway...this picture is the closest I got to what happened...
In terms of the speeches, everyone had their turn to say something. The only other two I really remember was Verna's speech and Stanley Mei's speech. Stanley had a lot to say about how fun it was to work this crew. He said that in real life, he thinks he's a really boring person and usually goes to work and then goes home. But these guys taught him how to have fun and they really bonded so much that they'd often hang out after work and he'd really miss them! Aww. Verna burst out crying and talked about how touched she was that everyone had come out to support the crew and the show. And she sobbed, and then said really loudly, "I love all you guys!" which was met with much applause and love. Because Verna was crying so much, Mason went up to her gave his favourite big Jie jie a hug! Awwwwww!!!!
Deyn, I think mentioned, that he hoped everyone would work with each other again in the future. And I don't remember Zooey's speech, but she was crying so much that Ba Yu ended up giving her a hug :) I've recorded Vic's speech (it came a little late to my head that I should have recorded the speeches!) and I'll upload it onto to YouTube hopefully when I have time. I also have the dance that Puff, Jasper, Mason and Jolin did when she first came...
After that the actors all took a deep bow and then stood for the Closing song of the series. Jian-An joked with Sean about whether or not he wanted to sing along. Everyone in the audience waved their mobile lights up in the air like candles. The actresses were still crying, especially Verna, but some of the crew were also singing including Puff...and then from my right side came screams...And I realised that Jian-An was handing out signed Puff and Jasper Pleasantly Surprised posters to each of the actors for them to throw into the crowd. Jasper threw his poster out to the right side of the room so there was no way I could have caught that. It was too crazy with the fans on my side too (as in people snatching and flying out at others), so I didn't end up catching any :( But it's alright I guess! After the posters were gone, Jian-An announced that the crew were going and they all waved as they left the stage, Puff being the first to leave and Vic the last. (Probably for her safety too as some fans were a little...scary with how much they loved her.)
Everyone got a free gift on the way out, which was a heart shaped coaster of either Puff or Jasper (the picture being the promotional picture for Pleasantly Surprised). I got a Puff one, but swapped it for a Jasper one on the way out when I saw that the guy giving them out had only one more Jasper one left (Sorry Puff! They wouldn't let me have two.) When I left the building, I found fans gathered at the doors waiting for the stars to leave the buildings. I joinned them too, feeling a little guilty for being so fangirly. But I didn't act crazy or anything....I mean, there was a girl that walked out of the building with short hair, glasses, a cap and a long cardigan...and fans fully rushed up to her screaming, "Puff!!! Puff!!!" It was sorta scary! I had a feeling that Puff, Jasper and maybe even Lene wouldn't leave from the front entrance (for their own safety). And I was right (except for Lene). But I did see Mason as they rushed him out of the building. I also saw and took a pic of Jolin, Deyn and Yorke leave to catch a taxi together.
Then Stanley took a cab by himself. Ba Yu, Verna and Lene came out together and shared a cab.
And finally Zooey came out to catch a cab by herself (Everyone else must have driven or had private drivers and escorts...). Then that was the end! I was really happy seeing these guys live and I feel blessed that everything went reasonably well. As I mentioned before, I do wish I'd had the opportunity to do some things differently (e.g talk more to them), but it would have been difficult given how ushered we were from spot to spot. Hehe, I also wish I had captured more Puff and Jasper moments, but it was harder from the left side of the room. Nonetheless it was a great experience and I had heaps of fun...and I touched Jasper!!! I hope you've had fun reading about my fan meet experience...Thanks for re-living the journey with me! You Pleasantly Surprised fans rock as much as the cast do :)
Hellooo! Fellow Aussie here ;) Thanks for sharing your story at the fan meet. Sounds like an awesome experience! I really wanted to go too but knowing there'll be so many people and only had a few days notice... they really need to announce these things earlier so people can plan!! *sigh*
ReplyDeleteYour photos are really good by the way, will definitely miss this crew now that PS had finished airing. :(
Yayyy! It's awesome to meet another Aussie! Thanks for reading my posts and for leaving your lovely comment :) It was great fun and probably the craziest thing I've done in a long time :D And I totally agree with you - it would have been helpful if they'd announced it earlier! Barely had time to buy tickets and organise the trip myself...And the 8 hour wait!!!
DeleteThough if you're ever in Taipei during the airing of a drama you're watching, be sure to check the Facebook pages of SETTV, SPOP etc., they seem to organise a lot of signing and meeting events! The day after the Pleasantly Surprised fan meet, they were having an SPOP signing with George Hu and the cast of Love Cheque Charge (But I couldn't stay because I had to fly back for my shift the next day!)
I'm really happy that you liked the photos :) It'll be sad without the Pleasantly Surprised crew entertaining us every weekend but hopefully these guys will go on to do some awesome new projects soon (although like you, I'll really miss them acting together and having fun behind the scenes!)
It seems like I only go to Taiwan for fan-related activities lol, but I think PS was the first SETTV drama I followed live. Normally, I lose interest 'chasing' it every week or like Love Cheque Charge - started just now so quite behind already!! If 4ever ends up releasing anything again tho~ will definitely think about it!!
DeleteAhaha, I've never really done fan-related activities...just randomly bumped into celebrities sometimes. But yeah, like you, PS was definately the first SETTV drama I have followed while airing from an early time :) And the leads and all the other cast members made it fun, so I guess that's why I had to do it...perhaps social media channels helped too because I was finally able to find the fan meet dates and information quite easily!
DeleteHehe do you enjoy Love Cheque Charge? I did enjoy all the George and Annie dramas, but I don't know if I can start on the series...Might feel bummed out that I missed the signing if I get too involved :D
Ah yes, I'm sure 4ever will be doing loads more fan meetings from now on. Those guys are so awesome!
I never bump into celebrities on the streets!!! I wonder why I'm always so unlucky LOL.
DeleteYeah I'm enjoying Love Cheque Charge (or maybe just George)... Yuan Ai Fei is ok, but not really shipping them. Oh wells there will always be next time for more fangirly adventures. ;)