Zhejiang TV Cancels “Chase Me”
On December 5, Zhejiang Television announced that it will permanently take its reality television series Chase Me <追我吧> off air, effective immediately.
On November 27th, Taiwanese Canadian actor Godfrey Gao (高以翔) collapsed and later died from cardiac arrest while filming its 9th episode early Wednesday morning. His tragic passing had caused an uproar among fans and the entertainment community.
Since November 27, Zhejiang Television has released on two statements in regard to Godfrey’s death and the fate of Chase Me. The broadcaster’s general director Lin Yong (林湧) issued a final statement on December 5, which was an official apology to Godfrey’s family and fans. The director also confirmed that the station has permanently pulled Chase Me off air due to recent events.
On the delay of issuing the official apology, Lin stated, “When it happened, Godfrey’s family’s biggest wish was to have him return home. From when the incident occurred, to December 2, we stayed by the side of his family and team to actively assist them in any way we can.”
In the statement, Lin also recalled the events that had led up to Godfrey’s collapse that fateful night. After running 600 meters along an equipped raceway, he slowed down his movements to a walk and he sat on the ledge of a flower bed. He collapsed almost immediately afterwards, at approximately 1:50:52 a.m.
Upon seeing Godfrey on the ground, the director ran over and called for the on-site ambulance. Other artistes who were resting nearby also ran over to assist. One minute and 46 seconds after collapsing, the emergency medical technicians reached Godfrey and proceeded to give him CPR. After 20 minutes of attempts to revive his heart, Godfrey was transferred to an emergency vehicle and rushed to the nearby Ningbo Medical Center Lihuili Hospital. After over two hours of resuscitation attempts, Godfrey was pronounced dead.
As for criticism in regard to Chase Me’s safety conditions, Lin explained, “That night, there were two ambulance vehicles that were already on stand by. Three professional physicians and two EMTs were on set with us. The ambulances were well-equipped with emergency equipment, including an AED (automated external defibrillator). The EMTs were wearing light reflective jackets. As for netizens claiming that they didn’t see an ambulance come until 2 a.m., that was actually the third ambulance car that came after a staff member had dialed 120. That ambulance was never used.”
As for reasons why he would not release a third statement, he said, “We are considering the wishes of his family and his management team. They wish to handle this in a low profile manner. At the moment, our priority is to assist them in any way we can.”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
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Cancelling the show is the first thing to do but does it really end there? There should be a stricter guideline rules on how many hours anyone can actually work. The industry have abuse many already.
@foodie
That’s just how Asian job culture works. Everyone gets long hours particularly when you’re an actor/actress.
@anon Thus that needs addressing…
@foodie
I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
@anon Maybe when there are more deaths first….they might. Very worrying.
@foodie It will never be addressed. The reason why companies can always get away with ethical working hours is because there’s always a ready supply of people willing to do those hours. India and China are countries with high population. One man collapses and another 100 men are more than happy to take his place. That’s the reality of life and how capitalism thrives since the world is full of livestock (aka humans).
“One minute and 46 seconds after collapsing, the emergency medical technicians reached Godfrey and proceeded to give him CPR.”
“Lin explained, “That night, there were two ambulance vehicles that were already on stand by. Three professional physicians and two EMTs were on set with us. The ambulances were well-equipped with emergency equipment, including an AED (automated external defibrillator).”
Finally some facts have been revealed, hopefully, this will stop further rumours that you need to PAY before you will be saved in China, and that ambulance didn’t arrive until 45 minutes after the incident, also no one helped revive him at the time of his collapse. You can’t really believe most things you read on the internet these days.
@anon Yup! See, how can there be no medical team at a show like that? At least, now the station did not have to beard all the blame. They will be forever tainted w/such a crazy program but the blame is really much on his agency and himself. 🙁
@wm2017 But many C-netizens are still blaming the station, claiming that their statements are lies etc. Some of them are even demanding that the footage of Gao’s collapse be released, but do they know how much that would hurt his family? Sigh..
@prettysup1 Yes, his family is being quiet probably don’t want to think it over and over and bring more pain. There was a female friend of his that says let’s just celebrate his life of a great person that he was instead of his passing cuz obviously it’s painful and unfortunate for everyone involved. Like I said previously this should be a wake up call for tv stations and artists who decide to take part of such programs ever again.
@anon watch this YouTube and her other one to see that zhejiang most likely is lying
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ArJJ3f4ZAps
If you want to just blindly believe the tv station, sure. But let’s not ignore other alarming fact like the hospital was 10mins away, they took 20mins trying to resuscitate him in the cold before moving him to the hospital!
About the video, they just want the time stamp and not so much seeing watch actually happening. His family are so kind to not sue their butt off… and it let this tv station do whatever they like ~_~
@littlefish
I did watch part of that video. You need to lay off those conspiracy theories and take off that tin foil hat. There aren’t any facts reported in the segment that you mentioned.
@anon Uhm, no fact? Fact was the hospital was 10min down the road the most, but not being transferred until at least 20mins last.
The point of that video was the station’s official statement is rather not clear and basically deny any responsibility that they should have been held accountable for.
I just don’t blindly trust the station like you do, and because the station is again owned by the government, it sounds like you will defend them at all cost. Also in the video, it did mention possible sock accounts that go around the Internet to lessen the effect of his death.
@littlefish
The fact is there is a 95% chance of dying when you suffer from a sudden cardiac arrest. How convenient of u to blindly ignore that fact and focus on other aspects that contribute so little to his death.
The paramedics spent 20 minutes to revive him on site with cpr and aed. I am a certified first aid and cpr attendant. I know that’s all that you need in a case of a sudden cardiac arrest so there’s no use of whether he’s being revived on site or at the hospital. You seem to be the only person that accept some facts as truths while disregarding others to support your own bias and prejudice against China and Zhejiang TV. Believe what you want. This is my last response about this.
@littlefish
@anon
I understand about the 95%, but they didn’t do enough to give him every POSSIBLE chance to survive that. If they have nothing to hide why are they not releasing all the facts? People are angry about that – don’t you understand? If it happens to someone we care and love – we all will do the same thing right? You are saying that littlefish is bias – please ask yourself if you are also doing the same thing? Thank you!
Wow! Finally they are saying something. I don’t believe what they said. If that was the case – he would still be alive today (regarding medical personnel on standby).
@dramas4me
“I don’t believe what they said. If that was the case – he would still be alive today (regarding medical personnel on standby).”
Despite what you see in films and dramas, when your heart stops, the odds of you surviving is nearly zero.
“According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, between 250,000 and 450,000 Americans have SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest) each year. Almost 95% of these people die within minutes.”
I also find this interesting.
“Sudden cardiac arrest happens most often in adults in their mid 30s to mid 40s.”
Godfrey is in his mid-30’s.
https://www.texasheart.org/heart-health/heart-information-center/topics/sudden-cardiac-arrest/
@anon
Thank you for the information. I still think they are responsible for his untimely death. May be not all of it, but at least most of it.
@anon I had a friend’s hubby that sudden cardiac arrest when was 32/33. The only reason he survived was he was like a min or two next to the hospital. It took him literally 8 months to get well. I saw it somewhere that Godfrey Gao even thou people were giving him CPR what he really needed was automated external defibrillator (AED)? Not sure what all those are but sounded like his chance were really slim that night if AED is not even something normal people were aware of? I don’t even know such a thing until a clip on youtube. If not done w/i 4 mins or something, he will become a vegetative state anyway. Just a very unfortunate that night for him probably shouldn’t have joined the program in the first place but hey who knew this would happen considering he seemed fit and all. Not sure why some keeps on blaming the station as I am sure they are to blame for inventing/copying such a program but really it’s the fault of his agent and him as well. There was also a clip of this not sure if he’s China or Taiwan actor; he seemed pretty sensible and commenting that no one expected this to happen but it’s just unfortunate. Too good and died too young!!!
@wm2017
The point is for such a show/program they should have prepared for event like this. If i’m not wrong – they claimed they had 3 medical persomnel staff and two ambulances available @ the time. If they handled the situation in the timely, if they they did their best – Godfrey Gao would probably still alive today. It disappointed me that the other celebrities who were there are not speaking out about what happened that night. Are they worrying about that they will get in trouble with the production companies? Are they worry about their careers if they speak up?
@dramas4me In AvenueX’s video, one of the earlier one when his passing news first appeared, she did mention their contract has ridiculous terms, so most likely. Plus the tv station is owned by the government, and you know you shouldn’t try to fight the government. So yea, don’t count on any of them speak out anytime soon
@wm2017 to have 2 ambulances there and they don’t have AED? And if they do, yet the paramedics don’t know when to use them is another uhm??? Basically the station needs to give out more information than that, because atm, it feels like someone somewhere is not doing their jobs (again because we don’t have all the information). It is very possible that it’s just pure bad luck, however, since the station is not fully disclose all the information, it certainly makes them look bad and all the fans are angry. And why not disclose all the necessary information? Afraid it would make his family sad? Idk if I lose a son, I would want more answer than that
@littlefish Organisations will always release as little information publically as possible at first due to legal implications.
Even so, not sure I agree with some of the views here that more could be done or planned or that he could probably still be alive. At the end of the day, a heart attack is not something you can easily be saved from even in a fully equipped hospital.
@megamiaow
Please watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FC_Y4RlMqM