Every year's Miss Hong Kong Contest leaves some happy and some disappointed and hailing from San Francisco, Mandy Cho Man Lai has proven her favourite status and been crowned "A Winner with Four Awards", but Selena Lee Sze Wan did not even make the top three. After the contest, it has all been like a dream for the contestants.

The Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2003 drew to a close with its final at the Hong Kong Coliseum yesterday as 20-year old Mandy Cho Man Lai was unanimously chosen as the winner, gaining four awards including "Miss International Goodwill", "Best Swimsuit Figure" and "Diamond Skin Award". Newly crowned Miss Hong Kong Mandy felt happy and excited, describing the experience like a dream as she smiled: "I never thought I would win so many awards, I think I won because I was not as nervous after a backstage crew member told me to treat it like a game, so I felt a lot more relaxed."

This year's top three can be described as half favourites winning as Number 11 Rabee'a Yeung Lok Ting took the 1st runner up and Number 20 Priscilla Chik Doi Doi took the 3rd place position. Conversely, Number 18 Selena Lee Sze Wan was toppled as she failed to reach the top five after sweeping the "Miss Photogenic" and "Miss Talent" awards in the semi-finals. After the competition she says she doesn't feel disappointed and felt that she performed well, but maybe she just didn't strike a chord with the judges. Rabee'a Yeung's choice of winner was Selena, so seeing her good friend lose out, she felt a little disappointed for her. She feels that her own success was because she was very calm. As for Priscilla Chik, she wasn't surprised at her award, saying confidently: "I thought all along that I would come third."

One of the judges, Aaron Kwok commented that the 2nd and 3rd place contestants displayed a confident performanc and were not unexpected winners and Mandy was very calm and gracious. Dodo Cheng was asked about the failure of favourite Selena and she said that she wasn't very clear about this, but the decision of the top three was unanimous because Mandy and Rabee'a's performances were very good and the elevator used to announce the top five was no problem, just there to build the atmosphere.

The show last night was opened with a piano performance from Maksim and a curtain of water fountains as the contestants appeared in their swimsuits in an attempt to grab the ratings, especially with the sexy swimsuit designs. During the section where the contestants chose their own swimsuits, Number 7 Wang Chung Hei appeared in her bikini and captivated the audience with her assets, but some comments were raised about the "safety" of the swimsuits with possibly not enough cloth at the bottom as Eric Tsang immediately commented: "It doesn't matter if there is not enough coverage as long as the top section is 'bounce' resistant." Also Rabee'a Yeung's swimsuit was criticised for having too much cloth and Stephanie Au's was accused of resembling underwear!

http://www.singpao.com/20030824/gossip/433341.html

[Ming Pao]

Amidst rumours about their relationship, Sammul Chan and Myolie Wu were among the guests at a public activity yesterday and as Myolie accepted an award on the stage, the MC joked about her relationship and she was met with boos from Sammul's fans in the audience. However Myolie helped to clear the air a little by saying that the rumours are not true.

Myolie and Sammul did not seem awkward as they appeared together at the event and were also not worried that the fans would be angry. They have been handling the situation carefully, even when they met in the car park by chance, they split up and entered separately so that the fans would not get the wrong idea. Myolie says: "My boyfriend trusts me a lot, saying that the more people who pursue me, the more it proves I am pretty." Although her boyfriend doesn't know Sammul, Myolie says she will introduce the two if she gets a chance.

With Sammul about to set up his fan club, he is not worried that the fans will not be happy about the rumours and he is not dating anyone anyway. Will he reveal his love affairs? Sammul says: "It depends, if she is not from the entertainment circles, then I need to protect her like I do with my family."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030823/12/trdy.html

Sammul Chan is a big kid and loves his toys, still playing with his figurines and never growing up. However despite his childish ways, he is still totally serious when it comes to work and he has been praised by Alan Tam who says he has great artistic potential. He himself is also very ambitious, seeing Chow Yun Fat as his target and hoping to make a career for himself.

Ever since he was young, Sammul has loved his 'Nau Dan' figures and has quite a collection of them at home. However when he moved house he lost many of his collection. Some have also been lent to friends who have never returned them and feeling awkward in asking for them back, they are destined to 'never be seen again', making him quite upset. As well as this toy, Sammul also likes to collect first edition cartoon figures with his favourites being "Sing Dau Si Sing Chi" (Power Rangers) and "Gwai Yi Chun Bok Si" (Strange Doctor Chun). Sammul has a small tip for readers as it turns out that some large Japanese department stores can offer some nice surprises and it is not difficult to find some suitable toys there.

Whilst he was studying, he used a lot of his spending money on "Nau Dan" toys as he started collecting them in his primary school days. He says that often it can take him a long time to go and find them because some are limited editions that may not be found in Hong Kong, so as soon as he started working, he went out to Japan to look for the object of his desires. Luckily, Sammul has a sister who loves him very much and now she keeps a look out for her brother's favourite item and buys it for him so he doesn't need to worry any more. When asked whether he had ever thought about opening a toyshop, Sammul says he hasn't.

Although he likes playing with toys, Sammul takes his work very seriously and professionally. His series "Lut Ching San Yan Wong" (Survivor's Law) has just finished airing and as one of the lead roles, he responds modestly to the good results: "Actually I feel I could have done better and I will keep working hard." He never imagined that the show would do so well and each time he goes out there will be people who will greet and talk to him, just like seeing an old friend. When asked whether he is pleased that the company is promoting him, he says: "There is no such thing as promoting or not promoting, but I have to thank the company for all the opportunities it has given me, especially to the producer Leung Ka Shu, because I have learned so much from him and after the show, my workload has increased significantly."

Sammul has been with TVB for four years now and before that he was a DJ. You would never know that he and Raymond Lam have both been in the 'passer by A' roles together with no lines and have now moved to the lead roles, so they are both pleased with their current progress and will often call each other out for dinner. As they are both the young generation of male leads, is he afraid there will be comparisons between him and Raymond? He says he is not afraid because they have different appearances - Raymond is dark and solid whereas he is a bit lighter and smarter. Sammul hopes that he can continue progressing in the entertainment industry and gain some results in his acting, trying out different roles and gaining the recognition from the audience. His role model is Chow Yun Fat and he sees Fat Gor's success as his target, vowing to gain results of his own.

Headmaster of the music industry Alan Tam had earlier praised Sammul, as it turns out that Alan had heard Sammul's song and felt that his voice is very good and coupled with great looks, he wants to help promote him. Gaining the support of Alan, does Sammul feel pressurised? He admits that the pressure is there, and he does want to launch a singing career as he has previously sung some children's songs and gained awards for this, however he is still looking for a suitable record company at the moment. Sammul is very thankful to Alan because he offers him a lot of feedback on his singing and helps him along - he hopes that one day he can do both acting and singing well.

After finding fame, Sammul has been the target of many media reports, even revealing some of his personal life with magazines chasing his father for an interview, Sammul responds restlessly: "I know it will be like this as I am an artiste, but I am most unhappy about them hassling my family, going to my father's workplace to look for him as this will affect his work. If there is anything you want then come and find me, don't bother my family."

Recently there have been reports that Sammul has been living with Myolie, he says: "Actually we are just neighbours upstairs and downstairs from each other, beforehand we didn't know we both lived there." Have the reports affected you? He replies directly: "No, we are still friends and there is nothing to hide. In fact, we call each other more now because whoever leaves first will check for the press and let the other know!" Just like a radar station!

When asked what type of girl he likes, he reveals: "I don't have a set criteria, but the first thing must be that she needs to have a great personality and not too much hassle because my work is often unstable and often it will be a long time before we can see each other."

http://www.singpao.com/20030824/gossip/433058.html
http://www.singpao.com/20030824/gossip/433061.html

Hacken Lee and Alan Tam have taken their "Jor Lun Yau Lee" Tour to North America as they have visited Las Vegas, Vancouver and Toronto and land in their final destination of Atlantic City. Yesterday was Alan's birthday and Hacken and his fans celebrated Alan's Forever 25th Birthday with him. Birthday boy Alan had the lucky stars shining over him as he won money in Vegas, whereas the god of food looked over Hacken as he tucked into a HK$30,000 seafood feast before having a go on the tallest free fall roller coaster in the world - with so much leisure facilities, this really was a luxury tour!

Hacken hasn't taken a break in a long time because he has been so busy with his work, so what better than to take advantage of his US and Canada tour to go and have some fun in Vegas with his girlfriend Emily Lo and best friend Joey Leung. The most memorable time was having a turn on the highest freefall roller coaster plummeting a great 109 storeys, that's several thousand feet. Hacken reveals that after going on that ride, Joey had to calm himself by reeling off non-stop swear words. He laughs: "Before we went on it Joey was very cheeky saying he was not scared, but afterwards it was him who was the most frightened and as well as going weak at the knees, he kept swearing so much - I have never known him to swear so much in all the years I have known him!" The footage of them on the ride will be recorded on their "Lek Yan San Sai Gei" (Smart People Century) VCD and because they were shouting so loudly all the way, Hacken was a little worried about his voice!

Hacken reveals that because their schedules for Vancouver, Toronto and Atlantic City were very tightly packed, they had to take the night planes straight after the shows onto the next venue, making him feel like a refugee. However they met a lucky star in Vancouver where the forty cast and crew piled into a restaurant to eat, the owner offered them a free meal that would have cost over HK$30,000 comprising crabs and lobsters to the utmost luxury!

Apart from this, Hacken's co-star in TVB series "Miu Gai Ma Hing Dai" (Streetfighters) Gigi Wong has been living in Vancouver for a long time and when she found out that Hacken was on his way, the hospitable Gigi not only provided them with daily soup, she also invited Hacken back to her home, making her neighbours in Vancouver mistake them for being really mother and son and asking Gigi for concert tickets!

http://www.singpao.com/20030824/gossip/433097.html

Miss Hong Kong 2003 Results Stop Press
Full reports to follow....

Winner: Number 2 Mandy Cho Man Lai
1st Runner Up : Number 11 Rabee'a Yeung Lok Ting
2nd Runner Up: Number 20 Priscilla Chik Doi Doi

Other Top 5 Finalists: Number 10 Ivy Tam Ching Man and Number 17 Carrie Lee Ka Yee

Miss International Goodwill: Number 2 Mandy Cho Man Lai
Best Swimwear: Number 2 Mandy Cho Man Lai

Other awards previously presented:
Miss Talent: Number 18 Selena Lee
Miss Photogenic: Number 18 Selena Lee
Perfect Team Award: Acting group - Number 2 Mandy Cho, Number 9 Jasmine Lim, Number 15 Alice Chan, Number 17 Carrie Lee and Number 19 Stephanie Au
Diamond Skin Award: Number 2 Mandy Cho
Beautiful Figure Award: Number 17 Carrie Lee
Tourism Ambassador: Number 11 Rabee'a Yeung

For latest updates, visit this site:
http://www.misshkbeauties.com

[Oriental Daily News]

Roger Kwok appeared yesterday together with Kiki Sheung at the costume tryout for new show "Gak Sai Jui Wan" (Spirits of a Previous Life) and responded to comments that his character in "Mei Lai Joi Mong" (Not Just A Pretty Face) imitated the characterists of Hollywood star Jim Carrey. Roger admitted that there were similarities, but he didn't do this on purpose. He has always admired Jim and maybe he subconsciously acted like him.

Roger's character in "Pretty Face" is a rather nasty person and he reveals that he will become even more evil but he is not worried that he will become disliked by the viewers because later he gets what he deserves and he believes this will recapture the sympathy of the viewers.

As for Joey Yung's rather outstanding character in the show, Roger is not afraid that she will steal the show because he admires Joey's talents and from the start her character leads the show but it will even out later.

Also, Kiki Sheung will be playing Roger's mother in the new show and because she is only a couple of years older than Roger, her appearance seems more like a big sister than a mother, so they can only add some wrinkles via make up to make her look older, but she doesn't mind a bit as Kiki says: "Actually, playing a mother isn't any breakthrough, I am an artiste and it is just acting, it's not a big deal."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030821/10/tq7b.html

[Wen Wei Po]

Steven Ma has now completed his promotional tour of China for his first Mandarin album, having visited six cities including Zhuhai, Beijing, Tianjun, Xian, Shanghai and Zhengzhou. At each place was held fans meetings and album signings as well as an interview with the local media.

The happiest thing for Steven on this tour was to find that many of his television series have been aired in many different areas of China, so as he arrived at each place, the fans would refer to him with different character names. For example in the North where they have just aired "Healing Hands" and "Duke of Mount Deer" they are referring to him as "Xiao Xuanzi", because his series have gone down well with the local viewers the record has sold extremely well and together with the proposed airing of his series "Where the Legend Begins" in Shanghai in September, this has all contributed to his confidence in the distribution and he is now working on promoting a second Mandarin album on the Mainland. There will be a whole new image for his audience in his new album.

The tour has been very tightly scheduled and at the first five places there was little time for him to look around, but at the last stop Zhenzhou, after he finished his work, Steven decided to stay for a couple more days to do some sightseeing. Steven first went to Kaifeng to try their famous soup dumplings and see the Shrine of Judge Bao. He also visited the ancient historical imperial temple "Dashang Imperial Temple" to look around and request a blessing for his family.

http://steven-channel.com/news/wenweipo/20082003_wenweipo.htm

[Ming Pao]

After taking the awards for "Miss Photogenic" and "Slimmed Beauty" in last year's Miss Hong Kong Contest, Cerina De Graca has been invited to become spokesperson for a slimming company an has been filming her advertisement with renowned photographer CK.

In the ad, Cerina will be appearing riding a horse and at one point the horse became quite moody, but luckily they finished without any hitches. As well as this, the changeable weather has also been a problem as Cerina says: "Whilst filming it was like we were in competition with the weather, we needed it to look good as well as complete the shooting quickly so it was quite a challenge for the photographer." Because the location was in the countryside, Cerina had previously prepared her mosquito repellant but was still unable to get away without any mosquito bites.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030821/12/tq1i.html

[Ming Pao]

Ada Choi returned to Hong Kong yesterday from Shanghai revealing that she is back to do some modelling for her clothing sponsors and will be back for only two or three days before returning to Shanghai to finish filming local TV series "Shui Yuet Tun Tin". As she hailed herself from the Miss Hong Kong contest, what does she think of this year's contestants? Ada says: "I haven't really paid much attention to them, if I have time I would rather use it to rest, however Monica Chan will call me sometimes and fill me in on the Hong Kong Entertainment news."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030821/12/tq14.html

[Ming Pao]

Sonija Kwok, Charmaine Sheh, Shirley Yeung and Patrick Tam were filming for "Nameless Angels 3D" in Sai Wan Pier yesterday in a scene where Patrick is held hostage by Shek Sau and as police officers, the three girls have to rescue him.

With recent rumours alleging that Sonija has bought a new home for $6.8 million and paid to move in with her currently jobless boyfriend Deric Wan, Sonija responded: "I haven't seen this report, I have moved house but I am living with my mum, what the report is saying is not the truth and this is in the hands of my lawyers." Was your boyfriend angry when he saw the report? "No, he wasn't angry. We wouldn't read this magazine anyway and will not take any notice." Sonija points out that her boyfriend is very busy and not jobless like the report alleges: "I don't care how much money he makes though."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030821/12/tq0w.html

After taking a month off work to look after his poorly son, Liu Kai Chi was back to work yesterday at the costume tryout for TVB's new show "Choi Hung Kiu" (Rainbow Bridge). He has obviously lost some weight but he is thankful for hte support and care that all his friends, colleagues and even people who he doesn't know have offered him. These people include people from Hong Kong and even people from America and Canada who have called him or written to him to offer their words of support. He says that the biggest surprise was from some prisoners who wrote him a letter and as he cannot write back to them, he wants to thank them through the media.

When asked about his son's current condition, Uncle Chi says that his son has undergone 33 days of chemotherapy now and his condition is stable. In the past month he has been the runner, bringing the resources to and from the hospital where his wife has been doing all the hard work, staying by their son's side as they fight the battle. As a father, the hardest thing for him was facing the bone marrow extraction operation that his son has to go through, Uncle Chi explains: "Every time he has bone marrow extracted, I hear him calling out in pain for his mum from outside the operating theatre and this is very emotionally painful. However this will do good for his growing up because we have protected him too much in the past and he has really toughened up now."

Uncle Chi says that his son has a tube running from his right arm to his heart and will be like this for eight or nine months so they need to look after him carefully in this time. They also need to be prepared that the condition will be very volatile in the next two years. When asked whether he has any economic problems, Uncle Chi says that the government hospitals are not too expensive and there should be no problem with the medical fees, but he will be spending some money on the best food for his son but they are usually very thrifty, so they should be able to handle it.

http://www.singpao.com/20030821/gossip/431470.html

[Ming Pao News]

Joyce Tang was at a shoot for the winter collection of her sponsor's clothing range wearing 20 sets of clothes and earning her six figure fee. As it is fashionable to be slim, but Joyce daren't not eat for the sake of slimming because the producer of her new show will not let her do this, saying that if her face is too slim she looks evil. Luckily there is a slimming company who are sponsoring her to lose weight without dieting, just using machines to help her tone and in two weeks she has lost 10 lb as they negotiate a spokesperson contract.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030820/12/tp7n.html



[Ming Pao News]

Yoga is trendy, so Nnadia Chan is joining the fashion and has bought herself a set of videos to learn the art and as she shows off her inverted pagoda position, she is making her family want to learn as well. Nnadia finds that after learning Yoga, she has become less tired and more beautiful and she is very happy about this so she will encourage her family by showing her results.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030820/12/tp7o.html

[Ming Pao]

TVB's new series "Fei Chui Yan Sang" (Jade Destiny) was filming yesterday in Happy Valley Cemetary where Flora Chan and Kevin Cheng were paying their respects to the grave of Damian Lau's character and his daughter. It turns out that even though he wasn't involved in the scene, Damian also appeared at the cemetary and against any superstitions, he had his photo taken next to his 'grave'. Damian laughs that you cannot be superstitious in acting, but is afraid that his mum might scold him if she finds out.

He reveals that in the seventies whilst he was still in the Lai Dik training classes filming "Nin Ching Yan" (Young Person) there was a scene where he had to grieve for a dead father and take the ashes onto a plane, he forgot whether he asked the director for a lucky packet or not, but a week after the show was aired, his own father passed away. He feels that this is rather creepy and daren't tell his mother about this. However, if he has to film any show in the future where the mother passes away, he will always remember to get a lucky packet off the director.

After Flora finishes filming "Jade" she will be heading out for a promotional show in Thailand with Gallen Lo before coming back to start a new series with Roger Kwok. This is the first time they have worked together and her biggest challenge is that her character will be confined to a wheelchair. She has already started to learn how to move around and up and down stairs on a wheelchair. She has had many opportunities to work with TVB's male stars and says that when she worked with Francis Ng in "Chung Seung Wan Siu" (Triumph in the Skies) she found him to be the most absorbed in his role. She also says that she was once a guest in Andy Lau's concert and hopes that she will have the chance to film with him.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030819/12/tofk.html

The day before yesterday was Jessica Hsuan's 33rd birthday and although she hasn't spent the day this year with her boyfriend, her parents flew in from abroad especially to celebrate with her and look out her newly bought luxury home. Jessica also received a designer watch worth $46,500 from sponsors, with a sapphire crystal for its face and encrusted with 103 diamonds, weighing a total of 0.865 carats.

Although Jessica didn't even receive a bouquet for this year's birthday, but she was very pleased with her presents. She says she was most pleased with her mother's present, of a set of panther shaped sea-blue diamond jewellery, worth a six-figure sum for them both to use.

Jessica says she spent her birthday peacefully with a few close friends and hopes that she will find a new boyfriend in the coming year. Her birthday wish is to work hard and buy more property to rent out in preparation for her retirement. She says that her father has not hurried her to get married and is very open minded and doesn't even mind if she has children before marriage. However she does not have this intention, but is interested in sponsoring a child.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030819/12/toez.html

[Ming Pao]

Cast members from TVB's new show "Mei Lai Joi Mong" (Not Just A Pretty Face) Roger Kwok, Tiffany Lam and Belinda Hamnett took part in a radio interview yesterday. In the show, Roger will not only have emotional dealings with Joey Yung, but he also pursues Tiffany and is attacked unsuccessfully in one scene by Belinda. Roger indicated that he will be watching the first episode with his girlfriend. At the beginning of the year, Roger said that if "Ngong Fu Sing Lung" got good results he would be passing out lucky packets, and this resulted in him having to pay out. When asked whether he will vow to marry Cindy Au if this show does well, he laughs that he daren't make this promise because this will be tempting fate. As for plans to film a sequel for "Square Pegs", Roger says that he is not against this, but if there is additional pressure on the ratings, this will overshadow the message of fun that Ah Wong brings.

Belinda will soon be filming another set of slimming commercials after her previous shell shaped bikini caused a stir. She laughs that this time it may be a cockle shell covering her up. In fact, her target audience this time will be the OL's (Office Ladies) and because the business community will not need her to be too sexy, so the ad will concentrate on the side of beauty.

Earlier, Roger travelled on a TVBI promotion together with Anne Heung, Yoyo Mung and Winnie Yeung to Malaysia, but he was not overshadowed by the girls as he created the most atmosphere of them all at the event.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030818/12/tnhw.html

[Oriental Daily]

Bobby Au Yeung, Kenix Kwok, Chow Wing Hang and Cerina De Graca were filming at a school in Ho Man Tin yesterday for TVB's new series "Ching Chu Yu Nam" (From Blue Grows Green) and having left school life a long time ago, Kenix told that although she was the prettiest girl in the school, her family were quite strict and she only tasted first love at the age of 18, she reveals: "At the time, my family were very strict and if a boy called me, my dad would ask a lot of questions. However, I felt that I ought to concentrate on my studies, so I left dating until I completed high school and just secretly admired someone. I knew that there were boys then who admired me as well, but we were all guessing really and it was quite exciting." As for the currently rather chubby Bobby, he says that he used to be the sports champion at school and he used to represent the school in athletics, soccer and basketball and was loved by the teachers.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030817/10/tmwb.html

[Sing Tao Daily News]

The twelve Miss Hong Kong finalists continued their tour of Xinhui yesterday and again attracted the attentions of the locals. However the support seems to have taken a turn as the popular Number 7 Stephanie Wang was booed by the crowds.

The girls were taken to a famous wishing tree to throw their charms into the tree, where they were watched by a crowd of locals. The support that Stephanie Wang had received the previous day was turned around as she was booed by the crowd, but she took it well as she pretended not to hear them. This was because after writing her wish on her lucky charm, she was unsuccessful at throwing it into the tree after trying over ten times, symbolising an unlucky omen. As a result of the booing crowds, Stephanie could only hang her charm from the tree manually and call it a day. When asked if she was affected by the booing audience, she acted dumb and said: "I didn't hear them, maybe they were just supporting me."

The wishes made by the girls mostly centred around their families' health and fortune, but only Number 15 Alice Chan was honest as she wrote down "Display my beauty and shine in all directions!". When asked whether she wanted to win, she said: "I only hope that my performance on the night will go well, because in the semi-final I stood on my skirt and nearly embarrassed myself."

As for the favourites Number 2 Mandy Cho and Number 18 Selena Lee, they both said that whether they get an award will depend on their performance on the night and is nothing to do with the gods.

When the girls left to throw coins onto the destiny stone, Number 11 Rabee'a Yeung was the most successful at this, getting 7 out of 9 coins onto the stone. She said happily: "I am not dating yet so I hope I will have 7 boyfriends in the future!" On one hand, the contestants were throwing coins at the stone, but then the locals were picking up the stones from the rock, hopefully this will not serve to affect the destinies of the girls!

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030817/60/tmxc.html

[Sing Tao News]

Since her breast enhancement and slimming success, Maggie Cheung has caused a stir in the audience and as well as bringing in the profits for her boss Mariane Chan, she has also attracted a group of followers of her own, so no wonder her return to single life has led to a shopping spree of new clothes and cosmetics!

Maggie was sighted in Admiralty's Pacific Place taking advantage of some spare time between filming to go shopping. Spending time browsing the designer cosmetics counters and clothes shops, Maggie went away with a number of purchases. During her shopping trip, her phone went off a few times and she was seen to be very confident and happy as she spoke to her callers. After some time, she seemed quite pleased with her wares and met with a man in his thirties for coffee before continuing shopping and leaving together later on.

Maggie has not had much in the way of rumours all along. She dated Tung Bo when she first entered the industry, then when the two split up, and in 1997 she was moulded into a screen couple with Gallen Lo for the show "Old Time Couple" . In 1999, she was spotted on numerous occasions with Sam Chan before they admitted their relationship. They had news of separation in 2000, but their relationship continued until June this year where they were reported to have split up and Maggie to have moved out of their love nest. At the moment, it would appear that Maggie has become a rather eligible singleton.

(report summarised)

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030817/60/tmx8.html

Explosions outside the Legislative Council - thanks to "Nameless Angels" and TVB

[Oriental Daily]

TVB's "Nameless Angels 3D" was filming yesterday morning for a grand multiple car explosion scene in Central's Queen's Monument Square that cost HK$300,000 - quite a vast amount from TVB's budget.

Around 7am yesterday, the crew filmed the explosion scene opposite the Legislative Council buildings with over 30 extras. Four cars suddenly exploded and two were thrown up in the air as the roaring fireballs moved outwards and the extras dressed as policemen and pedestrians all dived to the ground with the impact. Because the scene was so realistic, there were some citizens who called the emergency services and some police officers arrived to check what was happening.

The storyline tells of a terrorist group who in protest against the government, places a bomb in front of the LegCo buildings and later the three police detectives Charmaine Sheh, Sonija Kwok and Shirley Yeung arrive on the scene to investigate. According to the producer Lo Wing Yin, the discussions with the authorities about this scene have gone on for a few months and have been well arranged on all parts, for example the police had blocked off the roads and there were police on standby, but in the interests of safety, the explosions had to be completed by 8am and everything went according to plan.

Lo Wing Yin is thankful for the total co-operation and assistance of the government because it is rare that they will allow an important building such as the LegCo to film explosion scenes as this has never been allowed before so TVB has decided to invest heavily, bringing in techniques from abroad, using $300,000. Because the effect went well and to plan, he felt this was well worth it.

With a part in the show, Charmaine said that at the time of the explosion, she had just worked through the night in the studio and when she heard that everything had gone well, she was very happy, but because she was still at the studio she wasn't able to go and watch it being filmed and felt it was a shame. Charmaine also said: "The producer should have arranged for us to go to the scene, so we could experience it for ourselves."

However Charmaine felt that it was pleasantly surprising that they were allowed to film at the LegCo because this helps to create a better setting for the show and even if the show is aired abroad, the overseas viewers can also feel that the government is totally backing and supporting the industry.

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030817/10/tmw6.html

TVB's sitcom "Gai Dai Foon Hei" (Virtues of Harmony) can be described as the most profitable serial as since the relaxation of the regulations on broadcasting advertisements, product placement has been allowed within drama productions and in "Virtues" there have been all sorts of products advertised, such as cola, tissues, mobile phones and menthol ointments. For only one appearance on screen, TVB receives its royalties so no wonder this show has been reckoned as a golden-egg-laying goose and has been extended by a further 100 episodes.

However this incident has led to the arguments within the cast and crew of the show to increase and some headaches for TVB. Reports are that Nancy Sit's sponsorship company for mooncakes has entered into the endorsement ranks and originally Kingdom Yuen, Bondy Chiu and Michael Tse were required to eat these cakes in a scene, however the three refused to do this.

This was soon brought to the attention to TVB's production chief Catherine Tsang Lai Chun and she immediately called a meeting where she reprimanded the three in question and instructed them to go and refilm the scene with the required elements. And with rumours that Nancy Sit has not been getting on with the three, there were sightings of an argument between Kingdom and Nancy in the studio earlier and this was what may have caused the problem. When producer Tsui Yu On was called to ascertain the truth in this, he said on the phone: "You seem to be clear about it already, you don't need me to say anything. Why did it happen? I will investigate this."

As one of those who refused, Kingdom Yuen explained: "At the time, I was in negotiations with another mooncake supplier for advertisements and was afraid of conflict so I wanted to be careful. The company was understanding and didn't force me, but later the ad fell through so we refilmed it. What do you mean disharmony? We are all getting on fine."

As for Nancy Sit, she says that she did not have any part in this scene so she is not clear about it. As for whether this was down to their arguments, Nancy says: "I don't think so. There is no problem now, everyone loves mooncakes, so I don't think that is the case."

http://hk.news.yahoo.com/030817/10/tmvz.html

Charmaine Sheh, Sonija Kwok and Shirley Yeung were filming in the busy streets of Mongkok yesterday for TVB's "Nameless Angels 3D" and with the three girls all hailing from the Miss Hong Kong pageant, it was no surprised that their beauty was praised by the crowds, but there were some jeers at Sonija, saying that she looked like an evil concubine.

The three lead females appeared in the image of bold police officers in the streets to film a criminal chasing scene, but as soon as they stepped foot in Mongkok, they were surrounded by a crowd and there was some chaos in the streets as the passers-by shouted "Charmaine, you are very pretty!" and "Shirley and Sonija are filming!". Within a few minutes there were over a hundred people watching the filming, showing the popularity of the three artistes.

During this time, the three were filming a chase scene but because of the audience, there was some difficulty for them to weave through the people in the streets, moreover it was very noisy and this affected the filming schedule. Also, because her character in the show was injured, Shirley Yeung was wearing a plaster on her forehead and showed a wound on her neck and this misled the audience into thinking she was really injured and as they pointed and commented, this led to even more confusion and awkwardness.

As well as watching the filming, the crowd passed out their criticisms and maybe because her performances in "Where the Legend Begins" and "Perish in the Name of Love" were too convincing, but Sonija was met with some shaking of heads from some housewifes who said: "That one who looks like an evil concubine is Sonija Kwok, she is so skinny in real life!" However, maybe it was too noisy and she was concentrating on her work, but Sonija didn't seem to hear.

Later, Shirley sighed as she said: "I have filmed in Mongkok before, but it wasn't as bad as this! (The locals said you were pretty.) Really? Thank you thank you! (But they said that Sonija looked evil.) Surely not, I didn't hear anything." Shirley says she is used to filming in the crowded city streets so she doesn't feel particularly bothered.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20030817/20030817002948_0003.html