Teo En Ming Wants To Be Famous So He Can Spread The Word About His ‘Persecution’
Have you ever seen this iconic image floating around on social media or online forums?
Source: Teo En Ming on Facebook
Though the image has gone viral — after all, it’s a distinctly unusual scene — not many people might have heard of the man in the picture, Teo En Ming.Â
Regardless, many on the Hardware Zone forums believe he is famous, and there are all sorts of answers as to who he is.
Some say he’s well-known in certain communities as someone who snaps pictures of girls at every event, mostly in skimpy outfits. Others say he’s the “president of the universe who likes to take long mundane videos”.
He’s even been interviewed and profiled back in 2017 and 2018, where he revealed that it was his dream to be a Japanese adult video (JAV) actor.
What has the 45-year-old been up to since?
We explore the story of an everyday Singaporean who wants to be famous, but is plagued by voices in his head telling him he’s being ‘targeted’.
Teo En Ming finally secures IT job, but still dreams of being a JAV actor
Whether you’re familiar with Teo En Ming or not, we can all agree that his full name, Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming, sparks questions. Yes, he did get his name legally changed to include Turritopsis Dohrnii.
Turritopsis Dohrnii, for the uninitiated, is a type of immortal jellyfish.
Why that name in particular? “Because it’s cool, and Teo En Ming is too common of a name,” he states. Sometimes, he’s referred to as Turritopsis, but most of the time, people at government institutions simply address him as “Mr Teo”.
He also has an alias — Time Traveller. Like all of us, however, he travels through time at exactly 60 minutes every hour.
It’s been years since he told Singapore media outlets he wanted to be a porn actor, and this dream still holds in 2023.
But there’s something different about him now. Once known as the 40-year-old virgin, an aspiration of his would have been to lose his virginity, but that’s already happened. In January this year, in fact.
And for ‘just’ S$1,050, Teo, 45, got to live out his dream of intercourse with a JAV actress. “It was a good experience,” he recalls. Perhaps this will even bolster his JAV actor applications, which have yet to bear fruit.
Given his finances, he can’t indulge in escort services too often, but he would like to meet a JAV actress escort “at least once a year”.
Back to reality, we learn that Teo finally secured a stable job as an IT consultant in 2020 after years of instability. It’s not his dream job for sure, but it will have to do for now.
Diagnosed with schizophrenia, believes he’s a targeted individual
Our conversation takes a darker turn as Teo opens up about issues he’s been suffering from.
For starters, he’s clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia. He tells us that as early as 2007, he began to hear ‘vicious’ thoughts in his head 24 hours a day.
Way before the pandemic started, it was his belief that he had become a Targeted Individual (TI).
These are individuals — Teo claims there are ‘millions’ around the world like him — who are being persecuted by the government through ‘mind control’.
@teo.en.ming ♬ original sound – TurritopsisDohrnii Teo En Ming – TurritopsisDohrnii Teo En Ming
This led him to quit various jobs, and he could not hold on to a stable job for years, until 2011 when he decided to “go public” with his “persecution”.
Then, the voices decreased in frequency, he claims. But Teo believes mental illness was “created by the government to punish and torture people”.
He added that many of those like him do not live long, and they experience a host of medical issues, which we will go into next.
Can’t sleep alone due to fear of ghosts
Teo also admits to having phasmophobia — a fear of ghosts — he is unable to sleep alone at night. Hence, since his father passed away in 2020, he’s moved to a stay-in care centre where he can stay with others in the same room.
Where most people would choose a private ward, a Class C ward suits Teo’s needs more.
Although Teo’s vision is ‘fine’, he has recently experienced brief moments when he is unable to see — most recently, last Monday.
He also presents with knee pains that prevent him from standing for long periods, as well as “atypical chest pains” that are apparently not heart-related.
All of these, he believes, are side effects of being a Targeted Individual. In the past week alone, Teo has had to visit an eye specialist, and he now has an appointment for an MRI scan.
Ultimately, his goal is to live to the age of 50. Then 60, then 70, and so on.
His role model? Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who, at the ripe age of 98, can still get around most places on his own.
Most people when they turn 60 or 70, they are either bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound already. . . so I really admire him a lot because he’s so healthy, alive and kicking even in his 90s.
And if his eye issues are resolved, he might try his hand at submitting applications to be an actor in the JAV industry again.
Takes pictures with pretty girls in Singapore to further his goal of becoming famous
Worldwide fame still eludes Teo despite his best efforts to spread the word that he’s being ‘persecuted’. But in our little island city, he is known as an EDMW legend for a good reason — he’s taken pictures with almost every female celebrity in Singapore.
In his free time, he attends car shows, exhibitions, and various events where celebrities are present, to “see pretty girls”.
Source: Teo En Ming on Flickr
“Many guys like to take pictures of pretty girls, I mean, most guys,” he states matter-of-factly.
But that’s not his sole aim. Besides being part of his hobby, his pictures and videos are also to further his goal of becoming famous.
Teo with actress Chantalle Ng. Source: Teo En Ming on Instagram
To that end, Teo makes it a point to ask for as many selfies as he can with various celebrities, both local and overseas.
Teo with MediaCorp actress Hong Ling. Source: Teo En Ming on Instagram
“More people can get to know me when they watch my YouTube videos or see my Instagram photos,” he claims. In his mind, selfies with celebrities are also a platform for him to get noticed.
Teo with actress Apple Chan. Source: Teo En Ming on Instagram
As such, he attends events practically every day, even conventional ones like new Charles & Keith outlet openings.
Even though Teo isn’t picky with who he snaps shots of, he does have his favourites — two of them being MediaCorp actresses Hong Ling and He Ying Ying.
Source: Teo En Ming on Instagram
And yes, he does pay models to do photoshoots with them, although he says this is standard industry practice.
Though Teo can hardly afford to do photoshoots too often, he is still proud that he managed to do one with Jayley Woo in 2014 before she became a MediaCorp actress.
A man who wishes to live out his dreams despite his challenges
Whether Teo’s plan has worked is anyone’s guess, as he currently has 1,554 followers on Instagram after making 1,544 posts over the years.
But it’s certainly true that his celebrity selfie posts garner more ‘likes’ than those he posts of food, so maybe he’s on to something there.
While many may laugh at Teo, with some even shunning him at events, he still pursues his goals day by day and hopes to save up enough money to live out his dreams.
Behind Teo’s schizophrenia which affects his grasp of reality, is a relatively ordinary man who’d like to make a living and live out his dreams of being extraordinary.
His main priority, however, is to spread the word about his “persecution”. To that end, he has to “become world famous”.
Taking pictures with pretty girls is simply a means to an end — to share his story with users from as many places as he can online. You name the platform, and he’s on it.
You’d think someone who has, in his own words, “never had a happy moment” in his life, wouldn’t want to live long.
Yet, like his immortal jellyfish namesake, he wishes to live forever and live on in history. Whether he succeeds is another question entirely, of course.
But one can’t help but appreciate the grind, as many lesser beings would have given up by now with the circumstances he has.
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Featured image adapted from Teo En Ming on Facebook and Instagram.
