[Ta Kung Pao, The Sun & Oriental Daily 01/02/05]

After "War and Beauty", the latest TVB production to be pestered by gossip appears to be "Rouge and Powder" as the reports yesterday suggested accusations of arrogance and rule breaking by Yoyo Mung. However, as the cast filmed a funeral scene on location in Ma On Shan yesterday, Yoyo, Gigi Lai, Moses Chan, Anne Heung and Mandy Cho all seemed to get along fine, chatting and laughing and with Mandy even helping Yoyo out with her hairclip.

In response to the allegations, Gigi says she has not seen the actual report, but was asked about this by the press earlier and she had to ask them in return what was happening. She says that she does not have many scenes with Yoyo in the show, but she is a very lively and direct person and very tomboyish, so she makes a good friend because this type of person is less scheming. When asked about the suggestion that her "War and Beauty" co-star Sheren Tang has upset TVB and therefore been left out of some high profile TVB events, Gigi responded: "I don't want to comment as I am not a TVB executive. I think it is just publicity."

Mandy has worked together with Yoyo before in "Split Second", but they did not have many scenes together. This time, they have more chances to work together and she has not heard anything bad said about Yoyo. She feels that all this gossip about fighting and hatred is quite amusing.

Yoyo herself responded by saying: "Nothing of the sort has happened, for fear of sounding cliched, we are all getting along very well. Even producer Mui Siu Ching has denied it and I don't believe that the crew or fellow cast members would say that about me."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-2-1/UL-360568.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a11cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050201/20050201010106_0003.html



[Oriental Daily 01/02/05]

When one is popular, the gossip will follow and earlier whilst 'Yu Fei' Sheren Tang was away from Hong Kong, news reports broke suggesting that on the grounds of only winning the 'veteran' award at the TVB Anniversary, she refused to film TVB series "Rouge and Powder" or to shoot a special "Jade Idols" special, leaving TVB executives rather unhappy and pondering over freezing her work.

After returning from New York, Sheren took part in a radio broadcast in the early hours of yesterday morning before holding a press conference, where she faced the negative press rather with a relaxed air: "It was because my schedule clashed that I couldn't film 'Rouge' and I did request leave from TVB, but everyone is too sensitive. It is not a great deal and this is a false report anyway. As for 'Jade Idols', they didn't invite me on the show and after taking my vacation, my schedule is very packed, so when the company asked me to fit them in, I couldn't."

Sheren says that she does not believe that TVB are so petty that they will freeze her work, especially as this is a very normal occurrence: "Some people just have a very wild imagination. Many people think that I will be annoyed at not winning the female lead award, but in fact I have not been angry at all. This was all in 2004 and after seeing the Tsunami disaster, then I would be silly to be annoyed by these minor incidents. It is all material, so don't make it all so complicated." When asked if she feels that she has too strong a character and this will make her lose out? Sheren laughs: "I have lost out for so many years already, so I cannot be a celebrity, just an artiste. A happy artiste, I don't need to be smart, but I do have intelligence."

Sheren does not think too much about incidents of last year as she prefers to look forward and set new targets for herself: "Recently, my health has not been too good. After filming so much, it is hard on the body, so from March and April onwards, I will take more rest and balance my work, my home life and my health."

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a15cnt.html



[The Sun & Oriental Daily 01/02/05]

Kam Shek Kai is the manager of Michael Tao and Halina Tam and yesterday, he married his girlfriend of many years Yu Fung Chu, holding a 34 table banquet in a hotel in the evening. However, Michael was unable to attend the ceremony because he was busy filming and the couple's matchmaker Kiki Sheung was also absent because of work.

Best man Marco Ngai and chief bridesmaid Fiona Yuen led the group of celebrity "Brothers and Sisters" including Halina Tam, Gilbert Lam and Louis Yuen as they played games with the newlyweds, the funniest and most disgusting of which was a 'poo in a nappy' made from bananas and chocolate sauce that the groom and his 'brothers' were forced to eat when they picked up the bride. As Halina was having so much fun, she almost forgot that he was her manager and when Gilbert and Marco mocked: "Are you not afraid that you won't get paid if you play tricks on your boss?". However, Ah Kai's words: "It is the best day of my life, everyone gets paid!" brought a sigh of relief to Halina.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050201/20050201010415_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a03cnt.html



[Oriental Daily & The Sun 01/02/05]

Saturday's Miss Chinese International Pageant achieved average ratings of 24 points, which was quite respectable, but there have been criticisms that some of the girls' swimsuits resemble lingerie and the Hong Kong Broadcasting Authority has received 8 complaints about the show, all aimed at the swimwear section of the show.

Complaints included the swimsuits being too revealing and degrading to women, unsuitable and a bad influence to children. TVB's External Affairs Assistant Chief Tsang Sing Ming responded to this, thanking the viewers for their comments, but TVB itself has not received any complaints as yet. He adds that the swimsuits worn by the girls are of an international fashion standard, but TVB will take on board the experience and there will be lessons learned from the post-event production review.



The winners of the pageant were out and about again collecting their prizes from the sponsors and in total received $228,000 of watches, $100,000 of skincare products and health foods and $100,000 in cash. When asked about their comments on the swimsuits, they all said that they were fine. Kate Tsui added: "For the show to only receive 8 complaints from the whole of Hong Kong, then that is a small number really. It is a very personal opinion." She wore a black swimsuit on the evening and she said jokingly: "I didn't really notice the other girls in their white swimsuits because we were very rushed and I had to watch a tape to review the show."

Winner Leanne Li and first runner up Fala Chen both wore pink swimsuits and did not think that they were too revealing. Leanne smiles: "That is what swimwear is like!" As for Fala, she responds: "Every beauty pageant has a swimwear section for the judges to look at the contestants' figures. I felt very comfortable and I saw the other girls were very happy too."

Second runner up Jessica Young and 'Miss Friendship' Jolene Chin both wore white swimsuits, but did not think that they were disadvantaged. Jessica even says: "It was not like underwear, the material was like swimwear and I felt it looked quite good." Jolene added: "It was okay and the sparkly sequins were quite unusual."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20050201/20050201010604_0003.html http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a08cnt.html



[Ta Kung Pao 01/02/05]

The five new Miss Chinese International Award Winners: Leanne Li, Fala Chen, Jessica Young, Kate Tsui and Jolene Chin continued their tour of sponsors to collect their prizes yesterday and winner Leanne was presented with a diamond watch worth $90,000, with the other four ladies receiving watches worth between $4000 and over $60,000.

Leanne admits that this is the first time that she has been given such an expensive watch and she will keep this in her security deposit box and only wear it on special occations. When asked what her family have given her, she said articulately: "They have given me love and that is enough." When it was mentioned that she resembles Miriam Yeung, Leanne says that she does have this feeling and when she saw Miriam performing at the music awards earlier, she had hoped to be able to have her photo taken with Miriam. Can she sing Cantonese songs? Leanne's thoughts turned to Faye Wong as she replied: "I know how to sing Faye's songs, she has a very unusual voice." When asked if she sees Miriam as her idol, Leanne smiled: "I like them all!"

First runner up Fala received a watch worth $63,000 and as she has not eaten very much in the run up to the pageant, she indicates that she went for a massive celebratory meal the night before with her friends and family.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-2-1/UL-360571.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 01/02/05]

Ella Koon was spotted in TKO TVB City yesterday as she joined the rest of the cast from "Revolving Doors of Vengeance" as they headed out to film on location in Laoag in the Philippines.

Seeing her with her case, Ella was asked by the reporters what she had prepared and she indicated that as she suffers very easily from allergies, she has brought plenty of mosquito repellant as well as shorts, tops and bikinis. When it was mentioned that she could go sunbathing on the beach and meet some handsome guys, Ella joked that she would like to try nude sunbathing, but now she is in showbiz, she is afraid of being photographed, so she daren't do it now.

When she was warned about the local hygiene standards, Ella says that she will be careful: "I will not eat the local chicken." Also she knows that the sex industry there is rife, but she likes to have massage and is worried that she might end up in the wrong plcae. She laughs: "It happened once when I was in Dongguan and the receptionist asked me if I wanted 'traditional' or 'non-traditional' massage service. I didn't understand and when I asked again, she indicated that the 'non-traditional' side had more men queuing."

Talking of the casinos in Laoag, will Ella take time out for a flutter? She says: "It depends if I have time or not. I was in England the first time I went to a casino and it was very spooky because I guessed correctly every time, but I did not bet very much." Ella will be spending the Chinese New Year period in Hong Kong and she says happily that she has not been in Hong Kong for the new year in the past couple of years, so she has lost out on a lot of lucky packets. Hwoever, as well as receiving lucky money this year, Ella has also prepared around $10,000 to hand out to her colleagues and staff.

Co-star Ron Ng filmed a promotional clip for new series "Lost in the Chamber of Love" before setting out for Laoag and he says that apart from filming, he will be spending all his time in the hotel. However, he is not worried about the local hygiene problems: "Two years ago I already had a hepatitis innoculation and this is active for 8-10 years, so I am not afraid of what I eat."

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-2-1/UL-360560.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 01/02/05]

when the news broke earlier that Law Ka Ying was suffering from the third stage of liver cancer, his friends around him were very concerned. Now Ka Ying is resting and facing his illness optimistically.

Ka Ying's partner Liza Wang was filming yesterday at TVB City for "My Sassy Mother-in-Law" and when asked about him, Liza said that she did not want to say any more and asked the press to give Ka Ying a little space so he can concentrate on getting better. She says: "Please don't disturb him, usually he has a good relationship with the media, so please don't follow him around. He had to go to the doctors today and there were still reporters following him." When Liza was asked if she was worried about his condition, she says that there is no point in worrying about these things. At the moment, the only thing to do is to work with the doctor. When it was mentioned that Ka Ying had earlier joked about Liza not making him any soup, she immediately responded: "I don't have any either! He has his family to look after him."

Christine Ng only found out about Ka Ying's condition after reading about it in the press and she says: "I have great admiration for Liza, she has not been affected by this and Ka Ying is very strong and determined. Although he is suffering from the third stages of cancer, I believe that with the current advances in science, he will recover." Christine indicates that she has a body check every year because it is easy for women to develop problem with their breasts. If you are always unhappy then it is easy to become ill, so the most important thing is to be optimistic and happy through each day.

TVB announced its ratings yesterday for last week and "Wong Fei Hung - Master of Kung Fu" maintained an average of 30 points. The finale of "Shades of Truth" pulled in an average of 29 points, peaking at 31 points. The premiere week of "Jewel in the Palace" reached 25 points and Saturday's "Miss Chinese International Pageant" only pulled in 24 points.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2005-2-1/UL-360573.htm