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SINGAPORE : When I travel, there is one respect in which I am totally Singaporean: I am convinced that every other person on a foreign street is a potential mugger.
This, no doubt, is due to years of listening to my mother's "don't put all your cash in one place, clutch your bag tightly, and don't talk to strangers" speech every time I get ready to get away from it all. She has even bought me a "Pervert Alarm". Seriously.
So when I found myself in Los Angeles for work, I tried to listen to the little voice of logic that said: "Paranoia is irrational, think happy thoughts." But it was drowned out by the other little voice that kept whispering: "Don't Americans have guns?"
As it turned out, I was in very good paranoid company. The cast of "Criminal Minds" - A J Cook, Paget Brewster, Joe Mantegna, Matthew Gray Gubler and Shemar Moore - also suffer from the occupational hazard of a serial killer-oriented imagination.
This is perfectly understandable when you have played a criminal profiler in FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit - studying and anticipating the next moves of the country's most twisted minds - for four seasons and counting.
"Just within the first six episodes, I have seen three classes of serial killers I've never even heard of," said A J Cook, who plays Agent Jennifer "J J" Jareau, of this new fifth season.
There is even a "Criminal Minds" spin-off in the works. No details yet, but Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays Special Agent Dr Spencer Reid, is hoping it will be a comedy.
After all, even serial killers have a sense of humour, don't they?
A J COOK | AGENT JENNIFER 'J J' JAREAU
Does being on the show make you extra wary of strangers?
Even though most of the cases are based on real cases, I have to play this mind game where it's not real and ignorance is bliss. If I think about it too much, I'll get freaked out and wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
I think I'm a little more aware of the sickness of the world. Hopefully I will be able to protect my family a little more and be on the lookout for the crazies.
It's horrible because we're not supposed to profile people, but I can't help it now when I'm out, especially if I have my (one-year-old) son. I'm like, 'That person looks kind of creepy', and 'That person is acting weird'!
When was the last time you wanted to kill someone?
Have you driven around LA? (Laughs)
MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER | SPECIAL AGENT DR SPENCER REID
What should I do if I met a serial killer?
Never go to a second location with a kidnapper because you will be killed. If they're like, 'Get in the car, I'm not going to kill you' - you are going to get killed. Don't get in the car. Don't get in the trunk, ever. If you do get in the trunk, there is a tail light. Punch it out and stick your arm out. F***ing serial killers are such d**ks.
Fire-starting, bed-wetting and killing small animals - those are all precursors that I think 98 per cent of serial killers do before the age of 15. So if you go on a date with a guy and he tells you, 'By the way I was wetting my bed and starting fires' ... And if he is killing small animals at the dinner table - bad guy to be on a date with.
PAGET BREWSTER |SPECIAL AGENT EMILY PRENTISS
Do you find yourself profiling people on the street?
Yeah. I've actually had to let that go because it will drive you crazy. But if I go to (the gas station), I'm sitting there watching people, going, 'Well, I can tell by the indent on the left ring finger that he was married, probably recently divorced.'
Have you always had an interest in criminology?
I got the show because I knew everything! I started in this business doing a talk show in San Francisco in '94, and I had a stalker who was extremely violent. He broke into the TV studio with knives and I was locked in a bathroom. It was terrifying and I started reading about stalking and about sociopathology. So I was paranoid for a long, long time - but it got me this job and I love this job!
Was it worth being stalked?
Oh, not really - but I'm going to try to make it sunny!
SHEMAR MOORE | SPECIAL AGENT DEREK MORGAN
Both you and Matthew used to be models. Do you guys face off about who's hotter?
Matthew actually made money that counted. Matthew is so pretty he's almost a girl.
Modelling was something that I got into because I just didn't want to wear a suit and tie for a living. Because of my sports schedule (in high school), I couldn't get a full-time job (to help his single mother out) - so I got into modelling.
But I was such an athlete that my legs were too big, my butt was too big. So, I might have been cute by the pool and the girls might have been like, 'Hi'. But when you'd take my picture, I looked like a chubby monkey.
So to answer your question, if there was a competition, I'd like to think I've got a little swag, but he's got me beat in the pretty department.
JOE MANTEGNA | SPECIAL AGENT DAVID ROSSI
Why do you think the show is so popular, and what can we look forward to next?
I would like to think of our show as a thinking man's crime show, in the sense that it is not just a shoot-them-up. We get into some pretty heavy detail. And then just the chemistry of the people. One of the benefits when Mandy Patinkin left ... was that it forced the show to examine itself and say, 'How much of a star-driven vehicle is the show?' And I think we discovered it wasn't a one-man band - it's a total ensemble and every character has a real identity.
Criminal Minds is available on demand through SingTel mioTV's Season Pass. For details, visit www.singtelustv.com or call 1800-555 6000.
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