[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/11/06]

Kevin Cheng Reacts to the Criticisms of Award Fixing

TVB Best Actor and Best Actress Kevin Cheng and Charmaine Sheh appeared on the Anniversary special episode of "Deal or No Deal" yesterday together with Vinci Wong, Raymond Cho and Law Koon Lan, and they both spoke about the negative press that has followed their success. Kevin has been criticised as undeserving by over 80% of internet comments, who say his acting experience is still young and mediocre and the awards were fixed. As for Charmaine, the critics have said that she only won because Sheren Tang, who has far superior acting ability, did not sign for TVB.

In response to the comments about fixing, Kevin replies graciously: "At every awards ceremony, there will be those that agree and those who hold a different point of view. We should respect each of them and I will accept all well-meaning criticism. I am fortunate that these people are prepared to give me feedback and I am happy to have won an award. I now feel more pressure to push myself even harder and think about where I can improve even more." Asked if he thinks this award has come a little prematurely, he just says: "I respect the decision made by the company and the organisers. (Do you think this has been a good thing or a bad thing?) It is after all good luck and good fortune. People's roads are never always smooth, but you don't give up when you are down and cannot not proud when you are high. I will not boast if I win, nor complain when I lose. This year I will work even harder than last year."

When Charmaine heard about the doubts hovering over Kevin's award, she said empathetically: "There will be a lot of positive and negative press, but the result has been decided and people should accept this graciously, these things are subjective and everyone has their own opinions. (There have been suggestions that Sheren didn't win because she didn't sign to TVB?) This has nothing to do with it! I cannot control who wins, on the day of the ceremony, I was sitting there as frightened as nervous as everyone else." Also there have been reports that when Charmaine left the official celebration party early to attend her own private party in Causeway Bay, none of her friends from the industry attended and she has been dubbed as 'winning the award, but losing on friendship'. She replies quietly: "After the TVB party, it was already 3am and I nearly didn't make it to the Causeway Bay party. After being busy all day, the other girls all wanted to go home and rest and some had to go to work the next day." Asked if good friend Benny Chan attended to congratulate her, she says: "It was too late, a lot of friends had to go to work the next day. (Has Benny called you with congratulations?) Yes." Charmaine was then asked whether the chances of her renewing her contract with TVB had increased after winning this award. She smiles: "I have already said there is still two years to run on my contract, maybe in two years time I will get married? No-one can know what will happen in the next two years. (Will you be marrying Benny Chan?) There are a lot of men in Hong Kong, but if I do get married, I will let everyone know."

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/11/13/UL-649772.htm
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20061113/20061112233845_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/11/06]

Ada Choi Not Disappointed at Anniversary Result

Ada Choi and Flora Chan attended a charity event yesterday at a slimming centre for Meg Lam's Mental Health Charity. As spokesperson for the company, Ada talked to the public about anxiety and depressive illness and led a yoga session with the 350 participants.

Ada hopes that this event will increase awareness of depressive illness and she says that she often feels stress during her work, but she turns to her religion for comfort and shares her troubles with her church-mates. She says that if you do some stretching and balancing exercises, then this will be beneficial to your physical and mental health, especially when she hears about university students committing suicide or family murders and tragedies, it makes her cry. She feels that there is often too much pressure on Hong Kong people and they cannot take the stress, so there is a need to take your health into your hands.

Ada does not feel disappointed at not winning this year's Best Actress award at the TVB anniversary and she will not be unhappy about this because awards are not important to her and she will not give herself pressure over this. However, she feels sorry for Charmaine, because after winning the award, you will become the target of the paparazzi. She also feels that Charmaine deserves her award, because she worked very hard for her series. Ada watched "Maidens' Vow" and with such a big contrasts in environment and periods in the show and often having to swap between roles, this is extremely challenging for an actor.

As for favourite Sheren Tang losing out, Ada says she has received a text message from Sheren and she indicated that she was already very happy to be in the top five. Asked why she did not take part in the celebration and Charmaine's party afterwards, Ada says that she had been rehearsing since the afternoon and after standing all day, she was extremely tired. So after the show had ended, she immediately went home to rest. She adds that she did not receive an invitation from Charmaine, but this is not a problem because they both know the situation and she believes Charmaine knows she will congratulate her.

Flora donated $20,000 to the charity at yesterday's event and she revealed that she will be returning to TVB next year to film a series for them. Asked if she will be marrying again soon, she says that if she has the chance, she will. She admits she is having the happiest of times at the moment, but she was not wearing a wedding ring at the event. She says: "If two people are happy together, progressing together, then marriage is inevitable and will happen sooner or later. There is nothing special about this, apart from me being an artiste. If the second marriage happens, I will make it even better."

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/11/13/UL-649764.htm
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20061113/20061112235040_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 13/11/06]

Hong Kong Disney Princesses Revealed

Disneyland Hong Kong held a vote earlier to select which of six artistes and models would be most suited to play their princess characters in the forthcoming Princess Parade. The results were announced yesterday and Annie Lau was chosen to be Snow White, the slimmed down Myolie Wu was selected as Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast', Shirley Yeung emerged as Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid', Mandy Cho took the role of 'Sleeping Beauty' Aurora, Ankie Beilke was elected as Jasmine from 'Aladdin' and model Amanda Strang was given the role of Cinderella.

Talking about her role of Snow White, she says that her own personality is very different from Snow White's but their experiences are very similar where she has received a lot of help from people as Snow White did. As Snow White has 'skin as white as snow', Annie says she has been keeping out of the sunshine and wearing sunscreen and hats, wearing long sleeved clothes and carrying an umbrella to avoid tanning her skin. Annie wore a top that did not quite match her gown yesterday and she explains that she has been filming for a movie where she has to have a fake tattoo on her arm, so she has covered it up to avoid giving a bad impression to children.



Myolie wore a leopard print dress and wore a tiara to the event. Although she has successfully slimmed down now, many people still refer to her as 'Fat Tin'. Talking about going away with nothing from the TVB Anniversary Awards and many people feeling sorry for her, she says she will look to next year and hopes that everyone will vote for her again then. Myolie says she has not really paid much attention to the comments on the internet, but she will keep working hard so as not to disappoint her fans again. Myolie did not take part in Charmaine's celebratory party and she explained that she had to take a plane at 6am the following day, so she had to go home to pack her things, but she did congratulate Charmaine.

Shirley indicates that Ariel's love story is quite similar to her own in that it is very romantic and she has given up a lot for her love. Asked what she has given up for Gregory Lee, she smiles not that much and says she has been very happy in the three years she has been with him and he often buys her little gifts. Talking of the debate surrounding the results of the anniversary awards, Shirley says that the event was very good this year because it was linked with the sales presentation. Does she feel the winners deserved their awards? Shirley says she will not think about this matter. She is happy she won an award and she will not bother about other things. She feels that every artiste has given for their work and everyone should admire this from a different perspective and give fair comment.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/11/13/UL-649776.htm
http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20061113/20061112233809_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao 13/11/06]

Claire Yiu Wore Five Dresses at Wedding - Thomas is all Smiles at Reception

Claire Yiu and Thomas Lam were married on Saturday at Tuen Mun's Gold Coast Resort and they held a forty-table banquet in the evening attended by many showbiz names including TVB Executives Virginia Lok and Catherine Tsang, producers Lo Wing Yin and Chik Kei Yi and artistes including Yoyo Mung, Cheung Tat Ming, Leung Si Ho, Kenny Wong, Nancy Wu, Raymond Cho, Charles Szeto, Natalie Tong, Meg Lam and her husband Tsang Chin Cheung and Tina Lau.

In the evening, Claire and Thomas posed for photographs with Claire wearing a pale green wedding gown. Throughout the course of the evening, she changed into five other gowns designed for her by her sponsors and asked which was the sexiest, she said none of them because her father and mother-in-law did not want this. However, the red dress that she left in the morning in was the sexiest dress. As for her jewellery, she says that as she had five outfits, she had also been sponsored with five sets of jewellery to match.

Thomas was smiling all evening and he says that he has a good tolerance for alcohol, but his competition was too strong and he was afraid of not being able to beat them. As there were many different drinks on offer, Thomas says that many of his friends have not driven to the reception.

Yoyo Mung arrived with Catherine Tsang and asked what gift she had prepared for the newlyweds, she smiled that cash is the best gift. Asked when it would be her turn, she said awkwardly to ask questions about those getting married today because she does not want to think too far ahead. When it was mentioned her answer was very similar to her boyfriend Ekin Cheng's, she smiled: "How do you want me to answer?" She was extremely happy because she got to know Claire after filming "Split Second" and they have similar personalities and she finds Claire very cute. She also praises Thomas as a very good man and every time Claire invites her out for dinner, Thomas will be there to pick her up.

Wearing a black deep-V dress, Nancy Wu says she has given a cash gift and she got to know Claire after doing a wedding gown fashion show together. She laughs that she has instructed Claire to be well-behaved and more stable after her marriage and to have some children soon for her to play with. When asked if she has any courters, Nancy says she has not found anyone at the mment because she has a lot of series to film and she will leave romantic matters to fate.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/06/11/13/UL-649763.htm



[The Sun 13/11/06]

Konnie Lui takes 2 Awards at Miss International

Miss Hong Kong second runner-up Konnie Lui has been representing Hong Kong at this year's Miss International Pageant held in Beijing on Saturday and she took the award for "Miss Friendship" in addition to her earlier award for "Most Alluring Smile".

Miss Hong Kong winner Aimee Chan was at an event yesterday and she indicated that she was very happy for Konnie and she will be meeting Konnie at the airport when she returns. "I really miss her and of course I am very happy for her winning two awards! (Do you feel any pressure for the forthcoming Miss Chinese International Pageant?) No, I will make more friends and gain more experiences."

http://the-sun.orisun.com/channels/ent/20061113/20061112235127_0000.html