[The Sun 21/01/07]

Miss Sydney Sarah Song Crowned Miss Chinese International 2007

Miss Chinese International 2007 was crowned yesterday, with 21 year-old Sarah Song from Sydney taking two awards and everyone by surprise. Hong Kong representative Aimee Chan did not make it into the top five.

The contest broke from tradition and took place in Foshan and the top three places went to Number 12 Sarah Song (Sydney), Number 20 Ivy Lu (Johannesburg) and Number 4 Sherry Chen (Toronto). Winning the newly renamed contest, Sarah also took the award for 'Chinese Culture Ambassador' and her win came as a surprise to the audience. When she performed her walk of honour, her cape accidentally fell off. Afterwards, she admitted that she was also surprised at the result and talking about being a dark horse, she says: "Maybe I am quite low key usually. (Why did you think you won?) Maybe I was not too nervous and I was quite relaxed, so I could show my best." First runner-up Ivy was not disappointed at not being able to receive the winner's crown from her elder sister, Ina, who won last year's contest: "I still won an award, so I feel I have already given 100%."

At the beginning of the show, when the girls were introducing themselves, there was a lot of stuttering and among them, Aimee, who can speak fluent Cantonese seemed to be the worst of all and this left her a little embarrassing. Maybe this reduced her scores, in this the second year after Tracy Ip, where the Hong Kong representative has not entered the top five spot or won any of the other awards. Afterwards, Aimee indicated she was disappointed. "My performance today was not very good, but I did my best and I was already happy to get into the top ten. I don't think the result was surprising."

During the swimwear section, the contestants wore some SM feel black swimsuits and although they were mildly sexy, it was still difficult to hide Aimee and Number 3 Suzanna Wu's 'soup bowl' breasts. As they walked, there was no natural movement in their figures, unlike Ivy, whose figure was far more natural. Aside from this, judge Charmaine Sheh revealed that Sarah was her choice for the winner, but she would not indicate directly why Aimee did not win: "She was quite calm and very gracious. (What did she lose on?) This year, the other contestants were very strong and were good at everything." Sonija Kwok praised Sarah for a very good question and answer interview, so she will not show any favouritism for Aimee.

http://the-sun.on.cc/channels/ent/20070121/20070120235850_0000.html



[Ta Kung Pao 21/01/07]

Hacken Forced to Mime at MCI Performance

Hacken Lee was the performing guest at the Miss Chinese International Contest held yesterday evening, but as he was suffering from flu, his voice was only at 60% and of the three songs he sang, only two were performed live as the more difficult song "Princess and Prince" was too hard and he had no choice but to mime to a recording.

Hacken said before the show: "Yesterday when I was in Qingyuan, I could barely speak and before I had already contacted the producer, saying I would cut my performance by half if I could not sing. (Were you worried about the performance being substandard?) Of course I am afraid, so I went to see the doctor and also a Qigong expert and drank some herbal remedies, but the only way to shake flu is by resting, so I will be returning to Hong Kong straight after the show." Hacken believes that this illness was brought on whilst filming for "Beautiful Kitchen Goddess" and he was working too hard. Talking of this year's contestants, Hacken says he has seen them all before and hopes that Aimee Chan will make it into the top three and win some acclaim for Hong Kong, but this may be more difficult with the show not being held in Hong Kong. Talking of his wife Emily Lo taking the first runner up at this contest in 1993, has he spoken to her about this contest? He says that the times are different now and in the past, the pageants were more formal, but there have been a lot of gimmicks in recent years and his wife had the advantage of being the host in those days.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/01/21/UL-681517.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 21/01/07]

Louisa So Takes a Break

"Beautiful Cooking Goddess" Louisa So joined celebrity chef Lee Kam Luen yesterday for a promotional event at the Mongkok Flower Market as judges for the 'Student Healthy Lunch Box Competition'. With the recent move towards healthy eating, Louisa indicates that she is a bit of a health freak at heart and says: "When I eat, everything has to be in proportion, which is 3 parts starch to 2 parts vegetables and 1 part meat. Also eating plainer is good for your health." As well as taking care over eating well, Louisa also exercises well and every week, she will go at least once to play badminton, because only regular exercise can bring good health. As for the modern trend in organic foods, is she a supporter? She says she would like to give it a try.

Talking of her performance, Louisa says she is currently taking a break and she will not have a new TVB series until after the Chinese New Year in March. After this series is completed, around June, then she will be concentrating on rehearsals for her stage production "Secret Love of Plum Blossom Field", which will open in August. Asking whether she will be going away whilst she has a break, she says she has not planned to go on vacation and should be staying in Hong Kong for the new year celebrations.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/01/21/UL-681511.htm



[Ta Kung Pao 21/01/07]

Sammul Chan Almost Falls Ill in Hengdian

Sammul Chan is currently filming in Hengdian for mainland series "The Last Princess" and although he had known it would be cold there beforehand and packed a whole box of warm clothing, he found out when he arrived that the cold and wet weather there was harsher than he had envisaged and the clothes he had brought were inadequate to keep out the cold, almost leaving him feeling unwell. As a result, when had some time, he rushed to buy himself some extra jackets and coats. During this trip, the shop assistants recognised Sammul because his series "The White Flame" has been airing lately on Anhui's Satellite Channel and as soon as they saw the handsome Sammul, they immediately rushed to have their photo taken with him. Of course, they also gave him a discount and rushed through his order, having the custom made coat completed in just half a day.

http://www.takungpao.com.hk/news/07/01/21/UL-681510.htm