[Ta Kung Pao & Oriental Daily 21/11/04]

Reactions to the TVB Anniversary Show and Award Results

TVB's anniversary celebration is well and truly over, but even after the show was over, there were still a huge number of fans lingering around the main entrance with champagne and flowers to congratulate their idols, including fans of Ron Ng, Bowie Lam and Shirley Yeung.

A group of "War and Beauty" cast members, including Bowie Lam, Gigi Lai, Charmaine Sheh and Sheren Tang all headed off to a karaoke and disco afterwards to celebrate their huge success at the awards and Bowie stayed out until 5am, but he was still looking very lively and happy as he took part in a testing session for potential bone marrow donors later on yesterday. When asked if he was tired, he laughs that usually when he is filming, then he does not finish work until the early hours of the morning and he had three engagements to attend in a row, apart from this event, he will go to an RTHK event in Lau Fau Shan and then back to TVB City for a press interview for foreign reporters.

The popularity of "War and Beauty" has not only brought Bowie more work and more income, it has also brought him the TVB anniversary award, so with a rewarding year, he will be buying himself a new car. When he had his photo taken with Lok Yik Ling and Catherine Tsang backstage after the show, he was quite calm to start with, but the tears started flowing again when he saw Catherine. He explained that she is his saviour and in the last ten or more years, she has always been there to support and encourage him so he was very emotional when he saw her. As for the suggestion that Bowie had exchanged a contract for the award, he insists that he may not take this contract.

There have been many articles appearing on the internet, expressing their disappointment for Sheren Tang, who had been hot favourite all along and that Gigi Lai should not have won the female lead award. In response to this, Sheren says graciously: "You cannot draw any conclusions from these essays on the internet and at this point, I feel that I am in a win-win situation already, so whether or not I win the award is not a problem." As Gigi said in her acceptance speech that she had waited 18 years for this award and that it was her mark of respect for her family heritage, Sheren feels that the award meant more to Gigi and if it would be more of an encouragement to her then she feels to have the support of the general public is already enough for her. When asked what she felt about being mocked in the comedy sketch where her part was played by Eric Tsang, she laughed in a Yu Fei tone: "It was better than I had expected, you did not think he would make me pretty did you?"

As for Gigi, when she was told that some internet fans felt she was not worthy of the award, she was a little shocked and said: "I think each artiste has different fans supporting them and I cannot control this. (Are you afraid that the internet communities will criticise you further and further?) I can only be myself and do the best of my ability to make people like me." It has also been revealed that Gigi secretly signed a management contract with TVB last week, so there is little wonder that there are plenty of rumours that she exchanged the contract for the award. Some of the comments left by the fans have been rather harsh, branding Bowie and Gigi as 'The Most Hated Male and Female Lead Roles'. Gigi believes that the level of competition for this award this year has led to such strong reactions from the fans, but to thank those fans who have been supportive towards her, then she will film plenty more great shows for them next year.

Charmaine does not feel disappointed at losing out on the award, but when asked for a soundbite from the radio station, she refused because she says she felt under pressure. As for the reporters, she asked them all to make an appointment with her, showing that she was not in a particularly good mood. It is reported that when the results were announced, she seemed rather upset, but she says: "No matter what I do, people will say I was upset. (Do you accept the result?) I don't want to talk about this. (Will you feel bad for Sheren?) I believe that everyone who wins an award is happy and as there were not many awards, then to win one makes me happy enough."

Taking the award for the "Most Improved Female Artiste", Shirley Yeung was accompanied by her mother to the show, despite being injured and when asked if this was because she knew she had won the award, she said: "No, I did not know beforehand, but this award has given me a lot of encouragement." As for her being with Ms Lok all evening, is she worried that there will be rumours about the award being a fix? When she heard this she did not answer, just mentioning that Ms Lok and Catherine look after her well.

Maggie Cheung says that whilst filming "War and Beauty", she felt that Gigi was really putting her heart into it, so she is happy for Gigi, but she would be happy for any one of the "War" cast to win an award.

http://www.takungpao.com/news/2004-11-21/UL-332350.htm
http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a01cnt.html



"War and Beauty" was a big winner at the TVB anniversary awards and although the competition between the show's female leads was rife for the female lead award, Gigi Lai succeeded and the group of friends all joined together to celebrate in a Wanchai bar later. Sheren Tang and Charmaine Sheh were also present and everyone was thankful to the producer for making such a great show and all showing their sportsmanship. Top winners Bowie Lam and Gigi were especially exciteable and as well as providing the champagne to celebrate with, Bowie also rushed out to help Gigi when she became surrounded by reporters, showing what a great friend he is.

As for "Favourite Extraordinary Female Artiste" for the second year Sheren Tang, although she lost out on the female lead award, she still attended four celebratory parties, first going for a Japanese meal with good friends Jacqueline Law and Lau Sin Yee, then going to a karaoke party with some friends from outside the industry. At 3am, she headed out to Wanchai to meet the "War" cast before going to Central to do some pubbing. A little tipsy, she headed home at 6am, saying to the reporters: "Sorry for dragging you all around with me all night, I hope that you won't follow me any more in the future and let me live my life more comfortably. Good night everyone!"

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a05cnt.html



[Oriental Daily 21/11/04]

Having successfully broken into business, Mariane Chan was with her spokespersons Helena Law and Louisa Wong promoting her health product yesterday attracting over two hundred people to the event. Mariane says that she entered the health food business because last year's SARS outbreak left people unhappy and like it was the end of the world, so she hopes that she can do her part to help people feel better. Asking Helena to be her spokesperson has brought Mariane some additional benefits, because Helena has taught her to go to the church to promote her products and widen her market.

Recently Mariane has faded out of work in front of the camera, but in response to the outcry that has been created after Sheren Tang lost out on the female lead award, she voiced her support for Sheren, saying: "I really like Sheren because she is always so absorbed into her character. (Will you feel sorry for her?) I am still pleased with the results because two of my spokespersons (Shirley Yeung and Joe Ma) were nominated, so they made a good choice!" As for Shirley taking the 'most improved' award, Mariane would not say whether this means a raise for Shirley.

http://orientaldaily.com.hk/ent/ent_a13cnt.html