No, he hasn't quit MediaCorp.
And no, he's not a show-off even though he owns a supercar.
Local TV host-actor Gurmit Singh has had people on the street ask him point blank if he has left MediaCorp.
Little wonder since the 46-year-old has all but disappeared from local TV screens in the last seven months.
While he was in local stage production Cinderel-Lah! last November, Gurmit's last high profile TV gig was Channel 5 talent show One Moment Of Glory, which ended in November.
He was conspicuously missing from April's Star Awards where he was nominated for Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes but didn't win.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon for the upcoming President's Star Charity (PSC) show, he told The New Paper: "There are also rumours that I've migrated to Canada."
In reality, the funnyman has been nursing a soccer injury since March after driving his right foot into the ground instead of kicking the ball.
He dislocated his inner ankle, broke all the ligaments there and fractured his fibula. He also had a titanium plate inserted and was hospitalised for three days.
The PSC show will be Gurmit's first TV appearance after his three-month medical leave. It will air on Channel 5 on July 31.
Besides co-hosting it, he will be singing a medley of 35 songs in five minutes withrapper Sheikh Haikel, TV host-actor Hossan Leong and actor Daren Tan.
Gurmit will also be hosting this year's National Day Parade.
Describing what had happened on the soccer field, he said: "At first, I heard a loud pop. I saw my foot dangling. I sat down and put my hand on my ankle to protect it. I must have pressed it too hard because it popped again."
Which turned out to a good thing because the doctor told him that by popping it back, recovery would be faster and it would heal better.
That was the first time he has had an operation, although he had dislocated his left shoulder when he was a kid.
"I think the scariest thing was going under the general anaesthesia and not knowing if I'd ever wake up again."
After being bedridden for two weeks and on crutches for six weeks, Gurmit had to use a cane for support.
He joked: "I think (local TV actor) Christopher Lee saw me and copied me."
Lee had turned up at April's Star Awards with a $100,000 diamond-encrusted crocodile cane.
Asked if Gurmit's performance for the PSC had to be changed because of his injury, senior producer Sebastian Leang, 33, said Gurmit's segment had always been a song item and it was planned two months ago when Gurmit was already injured.
Gurmit said that while he does not know of any major projects that had to be shelved because of his injury, he nearly could not make it for a sold-out luncheon in Malaysia and filming a video ad campaign for Singapore Workforce Development Agency. Slight changes were made due to his condition.
When the cast was removed after six weeks, Gurmit said his right leg was half the size of his left because of muscle dystrophy.
There was no sensation in his leg and he was "walking like a horse" for a while.
"I was horrified. It looked like someone had stolen my leg overnight. I remember sitting in the bathtub and staring at my leg."
While Gurmit doesn't need a cane anymore, he still sports a slight limp when he walks.
He also wanted to clarify that he is not "hao lian" (show-off in Hokkien). After a local magazine published in May a picture of his Lamborghini Gallardo that he bought last December, he has been called "arrogant", even by a friend.
"I was very saddened by that remark. It's very easy for people to jump on the wrong idea or label me as hao lian. I don't like to be seen as pushing it in your face like 'Oh, look at how successful I am'. People see me driving the car, but they don't have to announce it to the world."
While he declined to reveal how much he paid for it, the supercar is said to cost over $800,000 brand new.
But these past three months have refreshed his perspective on life - he has realised he needs to spend more time with his family. Wife Melissa and their two children had been so helpful that he felt "embarrassed" for inconveniencing them.
"(This episode) shows that just like that, so many things get screwed up. And the thing is, it's just an ankle, you know.
"I guess all this happened for a reason. When you come out of it - and come out of it alive - you have the sense that you're blessed and shouldn't take things for granted."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
