[Ta Kung Pao 22/09/04]

"War and Beauty" cast members including Gigi Lai, Sheren Tang and Bowie Lam together with producer Chik Kei Yi were guests on daytime magazine show "Pleasure and Leisure" and many viewers called into the show and became rather excited as they discussed the storyline. As the show is very popular, Gigi and her co-star Bowie have both received many offers of work such as advertisements and stage appearances, but as they are both currently filming for "Healing Hands III", they can only take on local jobs and are not able to work abroad.

Gigi was asked earlier if she hoped to get an award from TVB this year, but she said candidly that as she has not signed for TVB management, then she is not part of the crowd and the chances will not be high. When asked if she was worried that these words will upset TVB, she laughs: "Of course I would like to win an award, but I have heard too much praise lately and I feel like I have already won an award. Anyway, the favourite female award is not based on just one series, but on the overall performance, so in the future I will work hard to fight for this."

Also, Sheren's performance has also had some rave reviews, especially with her piercing eye expressions. Sheren says happily: "This is the performance in my whole career that has had the most praise ever." As for this outstanding performance, Sheren puts it down to her study of Wong Wan Sze's performance in the past and she is happy to learn from her friends that Wong herself has been watching the show and she hopes that this veteran will give her some feedback.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-22/UL-308665.htm



[The Sun 22/09/04]

With the show's strong appeal, the four female stars of TVB series "War and Beauty" - Sheren Tang, Charmaine Sheh, Gigi Lai and Maggie Cheung are not only fighting to the death in the show, there are also conflicts off the scren as well. The popularity struggle will most likely be maintained until the annoucement of this year's "My Favourite Female Lead" awrd in the November anniversary celebrations. Reports suggest that the favourite for the award is 'Yu Fei' Sheren, with her steadfast acting beating the competition, however Gigi and Charmaine seem to be using other methods to gain the advantage, by saying the right things or renewing her contract.

The four ladies of "War and Beauty" seem to be in a better stead than the highly rated Ada Choi for her part in "To Catch the Uncatchable", due to her lone stance in the competition. With two months to go until the anniversary, Sheren has taken her career to new heights after gaining her award last year for 'Extraordinary Female Artiste', she is now in the running for 'Favourite Female Lead'. Even after finishing the filming for the show, she is still often possessed by the role as she referred to herself as 'Yu Fei Tang' on the phone to her friends. Faced with the tactics of all the 'concubines', Sheren says with her targets locked: "I am a female lead, so of course I can go for the award, but I do not feel anything special because I don't really care much for awards. If I get them it is a bonus, the only thing that I remind myself is not to become conceited with all the good reviews."

Although she is currently filming in Beijing, Charmaine is still concerned about the award and so she obediently renewed her contract with TVB earlier to show her faithfulness and earn more promotion from the company in a threat against Sheren. Charmaine may be losing a little on popularity, but her fans are supporting her hard, as the TVB official internet poll puts her in top position with 59% (over 300,000 votes) over Sheren's 1%.

Seeing Charmaine's gesture to try and win the award, 'Yuk Ying' Gigi is not showing her weakness and although she is not managed by TVB, the words 'not filming for anyone else' show her dedication to TVB and taking part in every related show and promotion lately as well as dressing up for each occasion, she is making her position known as she stays in the running for the award. She indicates that she would very much like to win the award: "Although I am confident and would very much like to win, I know that there are many factors involved and as I am not a TVB person and don't film many shows, then I am not in a good position like Charmaine who is TVB managed and works hard to film many series. (Do you think she will win?) Well, you can't say that, but I feel like I have won already with all the praise and reviews."

The one with the least determination seems to be 'On Sin' Maggie, who appears to be a lot more relaxed after fulfilling her dreams and winning the award last year, preferring to watch from the outside as she only appeared at the earlier promotions.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040922/20040922010324_0003.html



[Ta Kung Pao 22/09/04]

Talking of the recent allegations of sexual assault by Mango Wong against Eric Wan, Yoyo Mung indicates that when filming kiss scenes with male actors, they are often more nervous than the females because they are afraid of being accused of overstepping the mark. Once when she was filming a kiss scene with Gallen Lo, he had an action that would brush against her chest and Yoyo herself did not mind, but Gallen was very embarrassed and asked the director if they could just use the camera angle instead. When they finally filmed it, Gallen asked Yoyo to add a pad to avoid touching her more sensitive regions.

Niki Chow has a rather tomboyish character, so she has never met with any untoward behaviour whilst filming and she laughs that maybe this is because she is quite fiery and people dare not come near her. She says: "Maybe because of this, they have started to arrange for me to be an action lady. However, I do know how to protect myself." As for the Mango incident occuring in a Eric's car, Niki says that when you get to know someone, then taking lifts is not unusual and she has had a ride in Alex Fong (Lik San)'s car before.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-22/UL-308664.htm



[Ta Kung Pao & The Sun 22/09/04]

The DKNY 2004 Autumn/Winter collection show was held two nights ago and Maggie Cheung arrived after the show had started and was immediately the focus of interviews from the press. Maggie's 'rumoured girlfriend' Alice Tang was also present and it turned out that the two friends had arranged to watch the show together. As they sat together without any hint of awkwardness, they chatted and laughed through the show and Maggie seemed very flirtatious throughout the evening as she leaned against the sofa for the press to take photos.

When the reporters commented that Maggie was dressed very sexily, she laughed that for her, watching a fashion show is still work. Did she arrange to meet Alice for the show? She syas that they both came after work. As for their relationship, Maggie says that she has always seen Alice as a big sister and a very close friend, because in this industry it is very difficult to find someone that you can share all your secrets with.

Earlier, there were reports that she shared seven rather ominous hours together at home with Alice and Maggie says: "Do you think it looks like that? We are around the same age, so we are good friends." She believes that this news is too pointless and points out that it is difficult for artistes to make friends, like when she went for dinner with Joe Ma earlier, it was twisted into another story and this left her feeling very frustrated. When asked if she knows Alice's background, Maggie laughs: "Is she a triad? Haha.. I don't care about backgrounds." Does she feel that there is a romantic intention? Maggie said to the reporters: "You really need to tweak your mind a little." The reporters then suggested that she should find her Prince Charming soon to avoid any more rumours, but she laughs she will not because any princes will be frightened off by the press.

Alice happily answered questions from the press, saying that she and Maggie have been good friends all along and maybe because they are so close, that they have been misunderstood. She feels hard done by because the rumours started just a few months into their friendship. As for romance, Alice says there is no chance of this because although she is yet to find her other half, she will introduce men to Maggie. Alice then went on to praise her good friend's performance in "War and Beauty", saying she is the best out of the cast.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-9-22/UL-308670.htm
http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040922/20040922010418_0003.html



[The Sun 22/09/04]

Five participants from this year's Miss Hong Kong pageant took part in a goodwill tour to Taiwan earlier and appeared in their swimwear at a famous local hot spring resort. Since the contest final, the girls had not appeared in their swimwear and their figures do not appear to have deteriorated, with Winnie Shum seeming to have improved her figure. Praised by the reporters, Winnie was asked whether her slimming had affected her breast size and she says: "I have not measured it, but it should be around the same. (Are you unhappy?) No, I do slim quite easily."

As for Miss Hong Kong winner Kate Tsui, she seemed very happy and as well as posing for photos, she even revealed that she had been bathing in the nude. Kate whispered to the reporter: "I have been naked in a hot spring in Japan and at first I was quite embarrassed, but all the ladies there were the same, so I got used to it." As for whether she has met anyone attractive on this trip, she says: "A Taiwanese man asked me if I knew Ma Ying Kau and I said I did. That's about it." As for second runner up Fu Sze Sze, she had a cold and did not smile much throughout the trip, poor girl.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040922/20040922011114_0003.html



[The Sun 22/09/04]

Cerina De Graca has always had a very healthy image and has recently been asked to shoot an advertisement for a breast enhancement product, wearing a bikini. She says that after her breast enhancement, her confidence has grown greatly and she can give out a new kind of feminine beauty, so she will be full of confidence for any future ads or performances where she has to apepar in swimwear.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040922/20040922011144_0003.html



[The Sun & Oriental Daily 22/09/04]

After their ceaseless chatting and flirting in public, Yoyo Chan and Charles Szeto have been romantically linked in rumours and filming yesterday with Charmaine Lee for "Prints on Red Sands", Yoyo protested her innocence, saying: "We are definitely not dating. Last time, it was just too noisy in the area, so we had to get close to talk to each other. We are not each other's cup of tea, so there is no chemistry between us." As for the producer Chin Kwok Wai, he is avoiding the fight that would arise for the theme song that he will be offering the job to an external choir. With guest appearances in the evening from Ekin Cheng and Jordan Chan, Chin comments that there are so many stars in the show, but unfortunately Sammi Cheng could not fit them into her schedule.

http://the-sun.com.hk/channels/ent/20040922/20040922011440_0003.html
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a14cnt.html