Emerald Hill’s Xiu Jie Kai, 42, Had A Massive Glow Up Since His Schoolboy Days

Taiwanese actor Xiu Jie Kai may be a newly minted Hyrox finisher, but who knew he was nowhere near as fit when he was a kid?

In an Instagram story, Emerald Hill’s 'er shao ye' posted a picture of himself from his childhood and captioned the throwback snapshot, “Chubby since young, always with that grumpy look”.

Wait, there is no way Jie Kai is chubby today, especially with those chiselled features.

Also, we wouldn’t have guessed it was him either if he didn’t say so himself.

However, netizens were quick to comment that he looked like a "grumpy mantou" (steamed bun).

One even asked, “Was he irritated that someone called him a mantou?”

This isn’t the first time Jie Kai has shared photos from his childhood.

He once posted a picture of himself alongside his younger daughter, Bobo, and wrote, “If you want to know how I looked growing up, just look at Bobo!”.

Jie Kai is married to Taiwanese actress, Alyssa Chia, 50, with whom he has two daughters nicknamed Bubu, nine, and Bobo, seven.

He is also a stepdad to Alyssa’s 18-year-old daughter, Angelina from her previous marriage.

Still, netizens pointed out the difference in past pictures with one commenting, “But you didn’t look like a mantou in the picture with your daughter.”

Hey, the ‘mantou bun’ picture looked quite cute, right?

Photos: Mediacorp, lefthtere036/IG

Catch Jie Kai in Emerald Hill on mewatch and weekdays on Ch 8, 9pm.