[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun]

TVB's new series "Twin of Brothers" will begin airing in Hong Kong on the 19th and cast members from the show including Ron Ng, Tavia Yeung, Nancy Wu, Lee Chi Hung, Tang Ho Kwong, Chan San Chung, Choi Kit Man and Yuen Tak Cheung were present yesterday at a promotion at a hotel swimming pool entitled: "Water Martial Arts Challenge". Tavia Yeung came prepared for the event, bringing floats and armbands, but as she played games in the water, she was still frightened into screaming. TVB knew that she couldn't swim, so they had specially arranged for Tang Ho Kwong and Chan San Chung to protect her, but when she was pushed into the water by Ron Ng, she lost all notion of who her friends were as she frantically pushed Chan's head into the water and then threw herself into Tang's arms.

Afterwards, Tavia was asked if she was very scared and she smiled: "It couldn't be helped, all for promotion!" Talking of her repaying Chan for his help with revenge, she admitted that she didn't know what she was doing and only when she saw his rather distressed look that she realised. She had wanted to apologise, but he rushed away to get changed before she had a chance. Tavia also said: "I am very thankful to Chan San Chung and Tang Ho Kwong. (Why can't you swim?) I went to Ocean Park Water park when I was young and my swimming costume got caught in one of the slides, so since then I am very scared of water and daren't go swimming again. That's why I don't have one swimsuit at home and I am the only person in the family who cannot swim."

Also, there was an 'ice-breaking' ceremony in yesterday's event and when Ron pulled the sword from the ice, one of the lights from the block of ice fell out and exploded as it dropped on Tavia's foot, luckily she was unharmed. When asked if she has expectations for the ratings of "Twin", she says that of course she hopes for good results, because this is a forty episode series that was filmed entirely on location and there are some unusual pairings among the cast so this should be very refreshing.

At the event, Ron was seen to push both Tavia and Nancy into the water, but then he did not offer them any help in getting up. Was he afraid of causing rumours? He explains that he did not know that Tavia could not swim, but later when she grabbed hold of his hand, he realised she was in trouble and helped to pull her up. As for his rumours with Nancy, is he afraid these will start up again? "No, I have read the magazines. (The magazines say that Nancy once dated and lived with Deep Ng.)" When askef whether he believes what the magazines suggest, Ron says he does not know because he is just a reader. As he has worked with Nancy on a number of series, does he think that she lives up to her nickname of "Champion Cutie"? He says: "She has not tried to be cute with me, so I don't know. (She has not flirted with you, but you can feel it can't you?) I don't think she has been playing up, she is just like any ordinary girl. (Are you avoiding her?) How can I avoid her? Earlier we worked together on 'Destinies of the Western Chamber' and she played my sister so we saw each other all the time, but before filming, I usually sit to one side on my own."

Also, in the early part of "Twin of Brothers", Ron and Raymond Lam have an almost naked scene where they show their bottoms to frighten Christine Ng, but are mocked by her instead. Ron says: "I thought this scene would not make it to airing, because it might be frightening to children! (Are you worried people might compare your bum with Raymond's?) I have seen it, we are both very similar, very round and smooth - top quality bottoms!" Talking of expectations for ratings, Ron hopes that they will reach an average of 35 points, when they will go out for a big meal together with Raymond.

Since the news broke of Deep Ng's arrest on drugs offences, there have been a number of news stories surrounding him and the latest report suggests that Nancy Wu is his former girlfriend and that they had lived together at one point. Nancy was asked about this yesterday and she admits that she had already met him in 1999 when they took part in the New Talent Singing contest and often go out together with a group of friends, but he has never dated her.

She adds: "We have been good friends all along, but we have never lived together. I have only been to visit other friends when I found out where he lives. When his news broke, I did send him a text message. (How is he feeling now?) I don't know because we don't often see each other, just go for a meal once in a while. (Do you know if he has a dancer girlfriend?) I don't know because we usually just discuss music related matters."

Since her apperance on the showbiz scene, Nancy has attracted a number of rumours, first linking her to Joe Ma and then to Ron Ng, she laughs: "I don't know why it is that when girls say a few more words to men they are immediately linked romantically to them. (Why don't you find a boyfriend, then you can dispel the rumours?) This is not a good method because they will still write about you if you have a boyfriend. (Someone has dubbed you as 'Champion Cutie', do you dislike this title?) Of course, usually I speak bluntly and directly and I am not 'cutesy' at all, so my friends are rather confused at this nickname." She also adds that she just wants to do her work well and allow her results to cover the negative press.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-11/UL-281343.htm
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-11/UL-281342.htm
http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-7-11/UL-281340.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040711/20040711003305_0003.html



[The Sun]

Claire Yiu was met with a barrage of tricks from Alex Fong whilst filming in Thailand for "Split Second" earlier. As well as being dubbed the 'Hong Kong Ha Ri-su' (Korean sexy star), she also had her swimsuit stolen in public. Yesterday, Alex and Claire, together with other cast members such as Yoyo Mung, Kevin Cheng and Patrick Tam were shooting some promotional posters in TVB City and Yoyo and Claire decided to seek their revenge on Alex as they landed him with punches and kicks that brought him to the ground. Yoyo branded him as 'lowly' and added: "Alex Fong went into my room one night and pulled out my underwear from my drawer to inspect it. He even wore my T-back and walked around in it, stretching it to the next size up!"

Through this, Alex kept a straight face and replied cheekily: "They were the only girls in our crew group, so of course we had to give them special treatment. Claire looks like Ha Ri-su with long hair, so we put a sign up outside her room in the hotel saying $280 for 40 minutes to get her some business."

Claire seemed a little upset about her embarrasing event being revealed, but Alex got more and more excited as he continued: "One day she was sunbathing at the pool and she laughed at me for having mosquito bites on my back so I undid the straps to her swimsuit." Claire says immediately: "Everyone was looking on and not helping me, so I told them to look up at a UFO and quickly tied my swimsuit back up." To this, Patrick said: "Claire is my private mistress (screen girlfriend) so of course she is good fun! But Alex is a senile delinquent, so he is very immature."

Reporters later called Claire's boyfriend Thomas Lam to tell him what had happened and he said: "I know about this, Claire told me about it like a joke and I don't think there is a problem, they only do this because they know each other well. (Alex undid her swimsuit strap?) They know their limits, there are rules and anyway I have known Alex for many years and I trust his character."

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040711/20040711003820_0003.html



[Oriental Daily & The Sun]

Michael Tse, Joyce Chen, Johnny Tang and Rain Lau were among the guests at a promotion yesterday and Joyce was wearing a rather sexy dress. She says: "I have spent a lot of money on clothes recently and some of them are quite sexy! (How much have you spent?) Around five figures, so I need to cut down for the next couple of months."

It will be Michael's birthday on the 15th and another year older, he revealed some good news to the press yesterday that he will be marrying his girlfriend of over ten years Tina, before the Chinese New Year. Although everything will be kept simple, they will still be registering their marriage and having a banquet in Hong Kong and after picking up the experience of Frankie Lam and Kenix Kwok earlier, he hopes that it will be more well organised.

Michael reveals that he has applied for leave from TVB to get married and he hopes that the storyline in "Virtues of Harmony" will be able to accommodate this. He denies that the decision to get married is because they have a child and although many of his friends are getting married because of a pregnancy, the reason for his decision is due to them having dated for over ten years and entering a new phase in their relationship. As for when they will have babies, they will go with the flow.

Michael also reveals that he had arranged for his proposal at the beginning of the year, taking Tina to a snowy mountain for a holiday because the cold climate would not give her much time to think about it. When he went down on one knee to ask her to marry him, his girlfriend was moved to tears and immediately agreed, fulfilling his wish.

As for his birthday, Michael believes he will be working, but if he has time, he will call out all his friends for dinner to celebrate.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a61cnt.html
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040711/20040711002928_0003.html



[Oriental Daily]

After Jessica's successful contract renewal with TVB on a 'One series per year' contract, there have been suggestions that she has been overly demanding in her terms, but TVB Production Resources Deputy Director Lok Yik Ling indicated that there is no such incident and that she is a disciplined and worthy artiste. Both parties have co-operated well all along and an agreement was met quickly. Ms Lok emphasises that TVB will do its best to discuss renewal terms with each of its artistes when their contracts are up and she does not agree that this is due to losing many of its leading stars. This is merely another form of contract they can offer. There have been indications from Ekin Cheng and Gallen Lo that they wish to return to film for TVB, but this is still under negotiation.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a66cnt.html



[The Sun]

Bondy Chiu was earlier bitten by a mosquito whilst filming in Yuen Long and yesterday, she was suffering from nausea and a fever. As the area where she was working is a blackspot for Japanese Encephalitis and she was displaying similar symptoms, she immediately went to the hospital for a check-up. She said: "I am afraid I will be struck." Bondy arrived at around nine o'clock at the hospital and the reporters found her rather sullen and pale as she sat in the reception area. When she was asked why she was in the hospital, she replied: "I was bitten by a mosquito yesterday, then I didn't feel well and with Japanese Encephalitis so rife at the moment, I am afraid I have that."

It turns out that Bondy was filming for "Virtues of Harmony" yesterday at a scrap heap in rural Yuen Long, where there were a lot of mosquitoes and the smell of pig excrement. At the time she had sprayed a lot of mosquito repellant, but she was still bitten twice. Afterwards, the bite became very itchy and swollen and she was very worried, but she had to continue filming and carry on working.

Originally she didn't think anything of it and even when she later developed a fever and diarrheoa, she still carried on heading out to another location in Hung Hom so as not to delay filming. However, during the shoot, Bondy became very senstive to the light, her fever got worse as she became very pale and her stomach hurt so much she could barely stand up.

When Nancy Sit and the crew saw her like this, they immediately thought that this may have been caused by something at the previous location and with the recent cases of Japanese Encephalitis and the similar symptoms, they were all very worried about Bondy. For her safety, the director decided to skip her scenes and Nancy instructed her own driver to take Bondy for a check up. At the time of writing, the report and test results were not yet available.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040711/20040711002848_0003.html