2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant Adds Reality TV Excitement
The pre-production stage of the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant was currently under way. With the pageant criticized as being boring and yielding low-quality winners in recent years, TVB will be revamping the pageant rules this year. Reality TV show elements, reflective of America’s Next Top Model, will be added to the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant. Unsatisfactory contestants will die “an immediate death” and removed from the competition!
A fierce round of eliminations–in which candidates will be repeatedly tested–will take place. TVB will select 30 qualified women from Hong Kong and overseas to meet with the press. Ten women who perform poorly before the press will be ousted, leaving behind 20 applicants. On June 12th, the applicants will fly to London to film on location footage for the pageant. The women will be tested at the airport, in which 4 applicants will be ousted for poor responses. While in London, the women will be continually tested, whereby 2 applicants will be kicked out and sent back to Hong Kong with their suitcases! This will leave approximately 14 applicants to compete in the pageant in Hong Kong.
Through the fierce elimination rounds, TVB hoped to increase the entertainment value of the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant. This method was extremely popular among reality TV shows such as America’s Next Top Model, which increased the competitive spirit among the contestants and suspense in selecting the winner.
Past Miss Hong Kong Winners Support New Pageant Rules
Asked if the new elimination rounds of the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant were considered to be too cruel, past Miss Hong Kong winners did not think this was the case.
Rebecca Zhu (朱晨麗): “Reality TV shows are quite interesting. You can see how they transform from regular women to Miss Hong Kong.”
Sire Ma (馬賽): “The pageant format will increase the involvement of the audience. Hopefully, the contestants will not feel stressed out, while enjoying and learning from the process.”
Samantha Ko (高海寧): “I think it’s quite fun! We can see the progression and growth of the contestants. If the footage behind the scenes can be filmed, then it will be more interesting!”
Tracy Ip (葉翠翠): “This adds a refreshing feeling to the show. They have many similar reality TV shows overseas; the contestants did not regret joining. I do not find it to be cruel!”
Lisa Chong (莊思明): “When I competed in 2010, the contestants were slowly phased out. This year, the elimination rounds will be made public. It is most important to be yourself!”
TVB Director of Production, Sandy Yu (余詠珊) decided to incorporate exciting reality TV elements into the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant to salvage ratings. She denied that the new rules were cruel, stating, “The Miss Hong Kong Pageant will retain its elegant air. We will not portray the contestants in an unflattering light. The quality of this year’s pageant is quite good. Hopefully, this will not scare the women away!”
Meanwhile, the contestants have undergone image makeovers, in which their hairstyles have been upgraded to combat the upcoming elimination rounds.
Source: Oriental Daily via ihktv.com
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Jayne: In America’s Next Top Model, t is the cattiness of the contestants, criticizing the other women behind the scenes, which add more flavor to the competitive environment. In reality TV shows such as America’s Next Top Model, other personality elements may supercede the winner’s actual beauty.
How interesting the 2012 Miss Hong Kong Pageant turns out to be is largely dependent on how “real” the contestants wish to appear in this year’s reality TV format. Adopting the elimination rounds do not really add entertainment value, unless the women wish to appear as real as possible. Then it becomes a competition of personality and not looks alone. This reality TV format might be more suitable for a talent search contest, to find a vibrant hosting or music personality, where interaction with other people are very important.
Hey, free makeover! I wanna join! LOL
why dont they just bring back semi-finals competition?
Larry,
There is likely low ratings for the first round of competitions, which is why TVB axed the idea. They also reduced the number of contestants to make the program more condensed. I remember the pageant when there were 30+ contestants.
TVB is making these changes to drive up pubkic attention and notice. I think selecting true beauties and giving them more prominent promotional roles will automatically drive up credibility.
Btw TVB may skip the Miss Chinese International pageant this year. MCI may have produced memorable beauties but the international pool usually means limited Cantonese which makes them difficult to promote.
To up the attraction for more beauties to participate in Miss Hong Kong, TVB should promise that the winner be featured in a custom tailored leading role. Much like the winner of the Voice is promised a record contract, the winner of MHK should be guaranteed a filming offer. This will increase quality of candidates much more and encourage women with real talent to apply.
The career success if past MHKs in recent years have been mixed. If immediate promotion and fast track opportunities can be guaranteed, better quality candidates will apply.
The potential benefits of joining MHK has been considered to be lower than modelling in some cases: lower starting salaries. Plus joining the pageant requires you to either quit your job or take leave for 3 months, whuch is why models and students often apply.
Jayne, u have really good ideas but i doubt TVB would think of something like that lol
gonna be interesting n i will watch it this year because i stop watching it the last 5-6years coz it’s boring.
I reckon TVB should stop degrading the “Miss Hong Kong” title. Winners and contestants from other “Miss (country)” pageants are smart, intelligent, highly-educated, well-mannered and cultured, on top of being beautiful. I have not heard or seen one whose aim is to “be a successful actress”!!
Scrap Miss Hong Kong and Mr Hong Kong and replace it as The Next Dramatic Performer (HK) and have both female and male contestants.
Allow 10 to 12 rounds whereby they encounter different situations and watch them perform within those environments.
Then they can do the elimination a la The Voice with voting by both judges and public.
The Miss HK quality is going down and down….
I remember watching Miss HK in 2006 and they already had the part of direct elimination of the contestants. The girls were in a camp and was asked to do different games as competition and then at the end a number of contestants were eliminated. I was rooting for Aimee Chan and was very nervous for her when they were going to eliminate her or the other girl beside her.