Rebecca Lim Has Puked Almost Every Day Out At Sea While Filming C.L.I.F. 5

It's going to be a long, long day. Rebecca, along with the rest of the cast, which includes Pierre Png, Shane Pow, He Yingying and Cynthia Koh, had started the day at 8am and filming is scheduled to last till evening. But thankfully we manage to get hold of Becks during her lunch break for a quick chat.

8 DAYS: We hear this is your first time dragon boating, so how would you rate your dragon boating skills?
REBECCA LIM: A nine out of 10. (Laughs) No lah, I have very good teammates so I didn’t really feel that I had to exert that much and (the boat could) still move. But I must encourage myself. Self-love. So it was not too bad. And also because we have professional dragon boaters on the same boat so it was much easier for us.

So how has it been joining the big C.L.I.F. family?
I enjoyed watching the first four seasons so when I knew I was gonna be a part of the fifth season I was very excited. But the excitement didn’t last extremely long 'cos about three weeks before we started [filming], I found out I was supposed to play a police coast guard. And I have severe sea sickness so that was why I was a bit nervous yet excited and apprehensive.
How apprehensive were you?
I think the apprehension got worse after the orientation, where we had to be on a boat for a few hours. I think I started to puke about two, three hours in. I was just hoping that the days on set will be a little bit better but they weren’t. We have like a score chart among the actors and the crew to see who pukes the most. And I’m number two. The number one is the sound man. It’s been challenging physically and psychologically as well, because I have a lot of lines to say whenever I'm on the boat — a lot of very formal, technical lines — so I really had to get my mind straight whenever I felt like puking. (laughs)

Do you take medicine for your seasickness?
Yeah. I think it helps a bit psychologically. But it really doesn’t do anything. So far I think out of the one month that I've been out at sea, there was only one day where I didn’t puke. That day we had a little mini celebration when we were back on shore (laughs).

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We know you're a hockey player but are there any water sports you're into?
Me, the sea and water don’t go well together (guffaws). I’m a land sports person. I only had one experience wakeboarding and it was terrible — I had a concussion. I hit my head against I don’t know what. It was my first and only time wakeboarding and there was a mini competition among my friends. I knew I was gonna fall into the water, but I didn’t want to fall so quickly. And then I had a concussion. That was my last memory of doing water sports. I just blacked out and the next thing I knew I was already on the boat with my friends [who were] taking pictures [of me]. Oh, when I woke up, my nose was bleeding. It was so long ago, like after my A-Levels.

Have you been training up to play a coast guard?
Not exactly. I think my last two productions were a gradual introduction into C.L.I.F.. My role in The Bridge (a HBO-Viu mystery drama where she played a detective) was a very physically demanding role. And 'cos of that I started to work out and exercise. And my last role before C.L.I.F was for The Good Fight, which is about Chinese martial arts. And that kinda trained my stamina to prepare for this.

Did you continue practicing martial arts after that?
Nooo… Unfortunately no. I wish I had time but I went straight into C.L.I.F., after The Good Fight. Like one day after (filming for) The Good Fight ended.

What sort of physical activity, other than dragon boating, has this role put you through?
A lot of running, like a lot of running. Just endless running. Also we did a redman drill, which was very physically demanding. I did it with Shane, and because we had to do it while wearing our helmets and everything else to protect ourselves, it was very difficult to move.

Were you worried that you would get seasick on the dragon boat?
Actually it's been okay. We were just discussing whether I would rather be on the police boat for a day or out in the sun for a day. I think I would rather be here for an entire day 'cos at least I don't get seasick.

You would really rather be out in the sun?! So how do you keep yourself from getting too tanned?
I’m already very tanned, like a few shades more tanned already. I've already given up on applying foundation, because I have to keep buying a new shade every two weeks. I just apply lots of sunblock, and then whenever I can shade myself I shade myself. Just lots of sunscreen and a lot of vitamin C. Lots of water as well. We’ll bring our water bottles on (the boat), and I'll make sure that I have my daily dosage of vitamin C 'cos that helps the skin to rejuvenate and to produce collagen too. Anyway, now that I'm a few shades darker, it kinda makes it look a little bit more realistic that I’m a police coast guard (laughs).

Photos: Laura Chia

C.L.I.F 5 debuts Sep 23, 9pm on Ch 8 and Toggle.