TVB to Combine the Miss Hong Kong and Mr. Hong Kong Pageants This Year
2016 is going to be a big pageant year for TVB. On Wednesday morning, the broadcaster announced that it will be combining the Miss Hong Kong and Mr. Hong Kong pageants this year, giving it a large, spectacular upgrade. TVB also emphasized that it will be using the pageant as a tool to scout new idol talents, and will cultivate them to become TVB’s next generation stars.
TVB’s popular Miss Hong Kong Pageant has been on-air since 1973, and has been producing some of Hong Kong’s most popular stars and actresses for the past 43 years. The Mr. Hong Kong Pageant, which was founded in 2005, was met with lesser success due to its poorer ratings and controversial reviews. It was eventually canceled after its 2011 season.
As for why TVB decided to combine the two pageants together, producer Sandy Yu (余詠珊) said, “When we promoted myTV SUPER a few months back, we already announced then that we will be bringing back Mr. Hong Kong. As for the long-running Miss Hong Kong, I think it’s time for a change in format. We’ve always had this idea about combining the two shows, so I’m very happy that this can finally come to fruition this year.”
It has been said that TVB’s decision for a joint Miss and Mr. Hong Kong contest is stemmed from competitive pressure with rival station ViuTV, which recently announced its own beauty pageant Beauty D.n.A <美選D.n.A>. Sandy Yu said, “[Beauty D.n.A] has no age eligibility and I remember doing a similar show with ATV before. Nothing new there!”
Three TVB executives, including Sandy Yu, will soon travel to Canada’s Vancouver and Toronto to observe the Mr. Chinese International Pageant. They will be selecting top winners to compete against this year’s joint pageant in Hong Kong.
2013 Miss Hong Kong winner Grace Chan (陳凱琳) praised the new format, saying, “It’s refreshing and a brand new attempt. I’m happy to see more competition in the industry. It can increase the quality of beauty pageants.”
2010 Miss Hong Kong Toby Chan (陳庭欣) is ecstatic about the new beauty pageant and believes that it’s going to be a success. “When I was competing, I promoted with the Mr. HK contestants. I do believe that this will make the show more interesting. It’s going to be a big show and I would not be surprised if TVB would hold the show in the Hong Kong Coliseum. That would be huge!”
2007 Mr. Hong Kong winner Benjamin Yuen (袁偉豪) said, “There’s entertainment and gimmick. I would love to be a guest judge.” 2010 Mr. Hong Kong winner William Chak (翟威廉) said, “This is a very creative idea and I’m sure it would get people talking.” 2009 Mr. Hong Kong winner Jack Hui (許家傑) suggested, “Maybe the competition can add in an outdoor training activity. That can definitely challenge their beauty and brains.”
Source: IHKTV
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Why can’t HKTVB host a talent show instead? Like one where candidates reenact a classic acting scene, where each gets mentored by a siushen/fadan and the prize can be a leading role in an anniversary series or something? Still will be a popularity contest but at least more judged on an individual’s talent and potential than looks. Beauty pageants are no longer part of a popular trend in comtemporary society.
@anthony I agree. And TVB actually did do that back in the 1980s. There was a great show they did back then (don’t remember the English name of the show at the moment) where they had 16 contestants whom they divided up into groups (i.e. dramatic acting, comedic acting, villain, etc) and paired each one up with a celebrity ‘mentor’ who would give them tips and also act in skits with them to test their skills. The final few contestants (1 from each group) would all go at it in one big skit at the end and the final winner got a contract with TVB (which was a highly coveted ‘prize’ back then). Loved that show and still remember parts from it to this day, though too bad TVB only did the show 1 year and abandoned the idea after that. But they also had other talent contests back then (i.e. Super New Talent Contest, Miss Television Contest, etc.), so there were plenty of places to recruit new talent outside of MHK.
I personally think the idea of having a ‘co-ed’ beauty pageant is dumb – it’s obviously more a gimmick than anything else. I seriously hope Sandy Yu doesn’t ‘ruin’ the 30+ year reputation of MHK by turning the pageant into some raunchy sex show or something! Between Sandy Yu and her husband Herman Ho, they’ve already ‘successfully’ put TVB in its grave – this stupid beauty pageant thing might just well be the last nail in the coffin….not a good idea considering it was just announced on Tuesday that i-Cable finally got their free-to-air TV license in hand and will be launching their free TV channel within the year…
By the way, whoever wrote this article didn’t research properly…ViuTV’s beauty pageant isn’t a traditional pageant similar to MHK except without age limits – it’s actually a reality show that will chronicle its contestants’ experiences participating in a beauty pageant and what goes on behind-the-scenes…the pageant itself is actually secondary (so yes Sandy Yu, it IS “new” and different, at least in the world of HK television….)
@anthony Why not go one step further? Scrap the reality-entertainment layer of this whole sham and return to the old fashion way: it is call an open audition.
@aiya There was a time Miss HK is like an open audition for rich men to find pretty wives.
They should just do star search.
I have a feeling some candidate will be making out with each other lol … might as well turn into a BigBrother HK edition =P
Will be a bit of a mess having both mixing together.
@vodka I was actually thinking the same thing.. that the “oversea” filming will be very interesting.. bet there will be a lot of rumors, hookups and scandal! It’ll be like a reality show!
Oh, this would be interesting!