[The Sun & Wen wei Po 09/07/06]

The second Mr Hong Kong Contest held by TVB took place last night at TVB City and at the very last moment, Number 1 Francois Huynh beat Number 2 Otto Chan Chi Kin and last year's winner Matthew Ko to take the title for this year and in a way seeking revenge for his elder brother Stephen, who lost out to Matthew last year. Francois wins over $400,000 worth of prizes and cash.

In the same format as last year, the result was decided in a vote by the ladies in the audience and also the viewers at home. Guests at the show included models Rosemary, Amanda S as well as female artistes such as Angela Tong, Christine Ng, Yoyo Mung, Fala Chen, Yoyo Mung, Bernice Liu and Myolie Wu. Singers were represented by Ella Koon, Rain Li and Yumiko Cheng and Miss Hong Kong winners Tracy Ip, Sharon Luk, Carrie Lam and Shermon Tang were also present. After the frenzy of last year, Christine seemed to have calmed down a bit this year,but she still had the chance to get close to the men this year as Francois and Matthew both had to hold her whilst skipping. Christine laughs: "I have wanted to do this for so long!" She explained that she had to tie in with her character in "Welcome to the Family", so she has to tone down her behaviour this year.

The first round for the contest was the 'special talent' round, where Number 12 Billy Lam Yau Fei came top with 219 votes, but Number 6 Kenneth Wong Ka Lok, Number 10 Siu Cheuk Ming and Number 14 Leung Wai Kuen were eliminated. For the 'style' group, Francois took the lead with 208 votes and the three who were eliminated were Number 3 Bryan Pun Kwok Kei, Number 7 Chan Leung Wai and Number 13 Lam Kwan Ming.

The second round was the swimwear round and whilst the girls did plenty of staring, Billy received 284 votes, whilst Number 8 Ho Siu Kai was ousted. In the other group, Francois led again with 285 points and Number 11 Wong Tin Chau was eliminated.

The third round consisted of some Brazilian dancing and Billy continued to take the lead with 421 points, leaving Number 4 Leung Kwok Yin to go out. Francois won this round again for the other group, where Number 5 Yiu Ho Ching was eliminated.

After the elimination rounds,Francois firstly emerged as the winner of the 'Style' group and Otto was selected as the winner of the fitness group. They then went head to head with Matthew, who gave a performance of hip hop, but he slipped and fell over, losing out on retaining the title. Quizzed by the audience about whether he felt he should pull out because he has not done anything since winning last year, he pulled a face and did not answer.

The highlight of the event was when the fourteen contestants paraded in their swimming trunks, showing off their muscles and as they came out from the pool, they were even more alluring with the water sliding off their bodies, raising a few screams from the female audience. In the question and answer session, hosts Carol Cheng, Kathy Chow and Anna Yau did their best to ask awkward questions, such as asking the men to predict what they find the most unattractive out of the three 'Men's Pains' of impotence, poverty and baldness. Francois guessed that Carol would find impotence as the worst of the three, to which she asked: "Which area would be impotent?" For Francois, who hails from France, his Chinese is not very good, so he was hesitant with his response, leaving some of the women a little confused. Otto selected the same answer, but was no match for the quick wit of Carol.

New Mr Hong Kong Francois is very excited and he feels that his dancing won it for him. Talking of his brother Stephen losing out to Matthew last year and whether he as had the last laugh this time, he denies this. Matthew was very disappointed that he did not win for a second year.

Otto was not disappointed at losing out at the final hurdle, because he was very surprised to emerge as his group winner. For Billy, who lost out to him at the last round, he said that his dancing let him down, but he has enjoyed the experience and made lots of friends. He is interested in staying in showbiz.

For Myolie, this is her first time in the judging panel for Mr Hong Kong and she wore a low cut evening dress, shocking some of the audience with her extra weight. She says: "I daren't wear anything too low cut, because I was afraid that my flab would ooze out." She says that as her body is too plump, she cannot wear designer clothes any more. As for her criteria for judging, she says: "I will choose someone with inner beauty, they don't have to be muscly, they need a good figure."

Bernice broke her usual sexy attire, wearing a watch worth $260,000 with a rather conservative outfit. She explains that she has just finished filming so she did not have too much time to get ready. She felt that the men were all very fit and she will be concentrating more on a healthy image. She felt that the Brazilian dance was very difficult. As for the men's bodies, she laughs: "Last year I didn't get to touch them, if I get the chance, I would like to have a feel of their muscles."

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