Amy Chen Wins 2012 Miss Asia Title
From left to right: Annie Qi, Amy Chen, and Svetlana Gulakova were placed in ATV’s 2012 Miss Asia pageant.
A 26-year-old master’s student representing the Hong Kong and Macau administration regions has won the title of Miss Asia!
After nearly six months of auditions and preparations, Hong Kong’s 2012 Miss Asia pageant, hosted by ATV, was finally held on Monday night, January 21. Amy Chen (陳彥蓉), a contestant from the Hong Kong and Macau administration regions, has been announced as the 2012 Miss Asia winner. Amy defeated hot favorites Annie Qi (齊真晨), who was named first runner-up, and 21-year-old Svetlana Gulakova (絲域蘭娜．古拉高華) from India, who finished as second runner-up.
Aside from the crown, Amy also won the Asian Charisma award. Expressing an interest in singing and travel, Amy indicated that she plans to join the entertainment industry after she completes her title reign.
Amy’s win came unexpected. Regarded as the pageant’s dark horse winner, Amy defeated the night’s most popular contestant, 19-year-old Vika Kong (孔芊芊) from Jiangxi, China. Vika finished the pageant race as a top four finalist, also winning the Miss Photogenic and Great Intelligence awards. Amy said, “I also really like number 18, Vika Kong. She is very young, but I did not lose confidence on my part, because I have tried my best.”
Vika also reportedly accumulated the most votes from judges and audiences. “I didn’t check the screen, so I do not know the numbers,” said Amy. “I respect the organizer’s decisions.”
Amy, a Hong Kong immigrant from Taiwan, expressed that her current top priority is to practice her Cantonese.
Other title winners include Mindy Hsu (許斯閔) from Taiwan, who won the Perfect Figure award. Bianca Wong Stamegna (黃璧安) from Macau won the Perfect Skin award, and Titika Uchupaiboonvong (倪淑君) from Thailand won the Miss Friendship award. A total of 18 contestants competed for the crown that night.
William Chak Invited as Judge
Former ATV artist and 2010’s Mr. Hong Kong winner, William Chak (翟威廉), was invited to be one of the judges for the pageant. At 20 years old, William came in second at the Mr. Asia contest in 2005. He left ATV in 2009 to pursue a college degree, later signing a contract with TVB after winning the Mr. Hong Kong contest in 2010.
As a current artist from ATV’s rival station, William attracted much media attention that night. As soon as William stepped onto the judges’ platform, the MCs began teasing William for his sensitive background.
“My company will arrange that for me,” answered William when the MCs asked if he would earn a remuneration fee for his appearance that night. What is the difference in compensation between the two rival companies? “A five and six figure sum difference,” William said embarrassingly.
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
niceeeeeeeee
I watched the start of this yesterday, Jean Claude Van Damme (yes, he’s living in HK now or something) was a judge on the panel.
I’d expect he was very very confused for the duration of this pageant, but very handsomely paid.
DD,
How does the Miss Asia pageant compare to the Miss Hong Kong pageant? Miss Asia seems to be very international, sourcing candidates from various regions and may be more comparable to the Miss Chinese International pageant.
I don’t think there was a Japan entrant this year, and there was on average one representative from each SE/E Asian country (Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, India, Thailand, Russian minority countries near China), but there was one Chinese entrant for each province which I thought was…I don’t know, a bit unfair considering China’s entrants took up half the roster.
What else did I wanna say? Oh yeah, the hosts played around with William Chak at the start. I believe they were put up to it by ATV execs because I would have thought they would interview JCVD in English right after the introductions since he’s an international movie star but they chose to only talk to William.
They asked about the differences between ATV and TVB, the salary and then the last question, they set it up like: “Willie, you seem to have been avoiding our questions which is understandable, but you gotta answer this one for us OK, no avoiding it: ….which TV station has the better catering?” and you could see him just shrink in his chair and think like “oh you clowns are just playing around with me at this point”.
DD,
Sounds like the highlight was William Chak instead of the contestants. It is odd that they ignored Jean Claude Van Damme; maybe the MC’s found him to be more intimidating to approach rather than William?
That’s not the case Jayne, the hosts were loud and obnoxious from what I could tell. When they were introducing the guests in the crowd (their families came over to support them) they were just rude and disrespectful.
Hi Jayne,
Just wondering why aren’t your pictures expandable anymore? Would like to get a closer look at their dresses etc
M1Racle,
I had inserted the thumbnails without proper links to the photos themselves. I adjusted them now and you should be able to see the pics.
Did Amy Chen change her name in the midst of the competition. At the start of the pageant, she was named Monica Chen, and now she’s Amy Chen?
I am very suspicious of Amy’s win because Vika was the highest scorer up until the announcement of the winners. I think she was hand-picked to win from the very start because she has the look that Miss Asia like. She was clearly favoured from the very start of this whole process. On a side note the finals were really boring, the Greater China Region Final had better content.
i’m suspicious too, especially since Vika didn’t even finish in the top 3. everything in china can be bought with money – i guess pageant results are no exception!