The MediaCorp actress was filming ‘Precious’ in Hengdian

MediaCorp actress Jeanette Aw has celebrated almost all her birthdays at work since she started acting. And this year is no different.

The actress had spent her birthday (June 28) filming her latest drama, Precious, in Hengdian, China. In the drama, Jeanette plays three different characters — including a mother-daughter pair — spanning across three different eras.

Precious is adapted from Ch8′s 2008 blockbuster drama Little Nyonya. While Qian Jin’s tough personality resembles that of Yue Niang, the former is more outgoing and not as sad.

In a phone interview with xinmsn, Jeanette said, “Almost all of my birthdays were spent on set, since I entered showbiz. I thought things would be quiet because I’m overseas, but it was quite lively.”

The production crew had specially prepared a surprise for Jeanette.

On her big day, the actress arrived on set at 4am for makeup. She later shot a kidnapping scene, which made her “feel hot and dirty”. The filming only ended at midnight.

Then, the crew suddenly brought out a cake to celebrate her birthday. They even went for steamboat together.

“I received the most number of flowers I had in my entire life. Fans sent some to the hotel, my company and the production crew gave me flowers too. I can be a florist now,” Jeanette quipped, when asked about the presents she received.

She might have spent 71 days filming in Hengdian but Jeanette enjoyed every single day there as she loved the drama and the cast and crew were very nice to her.

Filming for Precious wrapped last month and Jeanette returned to Singapore to begin work on Ch8′s upcoming drama 995.

After the completion of 995, the actress will be filming for Absolutely Charming from January to April next year.

In Absolute Charming, Jeanette plays a fox spirit, who becomes an ugly girl, after she was banished to Earth from Heaven.

The actress said that she had read the plot and is looking forward to the drama. Jeanette let on that while she had appeared on screen with makeup on previously, this would be the first time she played an ugly character.

The actress even requested the producer to make her as ugly as possible.

“I’m not worried. I’ll go all out for it, since I’ve already accepted the role,” Jeanette laughed.

Tay Ping Hui, Jeanette Aw, Yvonne Lim, Ben Yeo, and the rest of the Rescue 995 cast underwent a grueling one-day training session at the Civil Defence Academy

To prep for their roles and bring forth a realistic portrayal as paramedics in the upcoming 2012 Ch8 drama series, the Rescue 995 crew had hands-on training on basic first aid and road traffic accidents procedures to learn the proper steps involved when dealing with different kinds of casualties. When we arrived at the Civil Defence Academy in the afternoon, the entire production team and cast were already mid-way through their practical session.

A couple of dummies were lying on the floor and the artistes were split into three different teams as they carried out their practical session. While everyone watched on intensely when it was Tay Ping Hui’s try to insert a syringe into a dummy’s arm, laughter broke out across the other side of the room as Huang Wen Yong and Ben Yeo attempted to perform CPR on a dummy model.

The grueling training progressed at such a fast pace it was hard to even get a quote or two out of the cast. It was a non-stop learning session for these actors as they fielded their trainers with questions in-between cramming information during the theory lessons.

When we finally managed to speak with Jeanette and Ping Hui for a couple of minutes, they unanimously came to a consensus and declared their newfound respect for those in the paramedical line.

Rescue 995 aims to encapsulate the lives and experiences of three paramedic officers – Jeanette Aw (Shi Haoran), Yvonne Lim (Xu Wenqian), and Tay Ping Hui (Huang Yixun) and an emergency room doctor played by Pierre Png (Shi Zeming).

Some people say that the ambulance paramedic’s job is the toughest in having to deal with accident victims or critically ill patients. In Rescue 995, this is aptly shown as paramedics do not draw attention to themselves but carry out their work in quiet efficiency, always at the frontline of life-saving work to re-ignite the light of life for those on the brink of death.

Check out more photos on their training session below!

Watch a video footage we took of their training session here!

Rescue 995 is slated to debut in Feb 2012.

Jeanette Aw plays Shi Haoran, the daughter of a cardiac specialist and TCM practitioner. She went against her father’s wishes and chose to be a paramedic instead of studying medicine like her brother, Shi Zeming (Pierre Png).

Tay Ping Hui plays Huang Yixun, a paramedic who has seen the fragility of life. The thought of being sick and alone spurs him to save lives so as to gain good karma for his kind act.

Ben Yeo roughly gauging the size of Jeanette’s jaw.

The artistes are taught to bandage wounds and head injuries the proper way.

http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/celebrity/buzz/asia/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=5142435

The cast playing paramedics in “Rescue 995″, Jeanette Aw, Yvonne Lim, Tay Ping Hui, Ben Yeo and Huang Wenyong attended an intensive one-day theory and practical training at the Civil Defense Academy to equip themselves with basic knowledge in Basic First Aid, One-Man Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) & Automated External Defribrillator (AED), Road Traffic Accident (RTA) procedures, medical equipment knowledge and usage and Patient Assessment Model (PAM).

Not only do the artistes need to memorise their lines and deliver them, not to mention with the appropriate accompanying facial expressions, they also need to act like real paramedics. Looking like one is not good enough. Seeing them in class made us feel that our job is kinda cushy. For that one moment :p Hope the boss is not reading this, lol.

Being the noobs we are, of course we had no idea what was going on when we dropped by the training. Our minds went blank 10 minutes into the CPR training and could feel our brain cells slowly dying away while the cast was listening intently. We decided to make ourselves useful by going around taking pictures instead before we were caught dozing off.

Ping Hui never fails to crack us up with his corny jokes all the time off-screen but he was dead serious in class that day.

We salute all the cast for remembering the steps in just one session!

Jeanette in all smiles as the class was coming to an end.

Check out an interview clip of the training done by the good folks at xinmsn
Video: Artistes undergo paramedic training! 艺人学习如何当救护人员！

And click here to see more reports and photos!

AND NOW TO THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS POST: WHO ARE OUR CELEBRITY BLOGGERS?

Wait a minute, celebrity bloggers? There’s more than one blogger? Yes!

We’re honoured to have Jeanette Aw and Yvonne Lim onboard to blog for us Please give them a warm welcome!

Our celebrity bloggers will take over from here starting with Jeanette’s first entry here on Bagua8 blog next week. Look out for it!!

http://blogs.xin.sg/baguatv…

新加坡电视圈年度盛事－【红星大奖2004】，入围名单公布了！

让海内外影迷盼得颈项都长了的【红星大奖2004】入围名单，终于出炉！

•【喜临门I】、【孩有明天2】分天下
长篇剧【喜临门】一如众人预料的，入围最佳男女主角、男女配角、最佳戏剧、青苹果奖等8大奖项（女主角女配角共4人获提名）。跟去年的长寿剧【荷兰村】入围12奖项的记录相比，逊色了一点。将它一半江山瓜分掉的，正是感人落泪的【孩有明天2】，获得7项提名。

【喜临门I】－提名8项；【孩有明天2】7项；【无炎的爱】4项；【真心蜜语】、【遗情未了】、【30风雨贰扛?项；【跑吧男人】2项

•遗珠之憾
不过，在【喜临门】中演活“怕老婆的好爸爸”的黄奕良、演绎“抢钱女王”的陈丽贞，在【跑吧男人】表现抢眼的陈汉玮，齐齐落马，没有入围，难免成为遗珠之憾。另外，郑斌辉、郑秀珍、许美珍的角色不获青睐，相信也令影迷们大失所望。

•新鲜人
最佳男女主角名单，除了“例牌”的谢韶光、李南星、黄碧仁等以外，还有不少新鲜人。

其中就包括了最近人气旺旺的戚玉武、相当低调的潘淑钦、及回巢后及回巢后表现不俗的中生代张汶祥，张汶祥还同时入围最佳男配角和喜剧演员两项。
刚加盟新传媒不久的
庄米雪和陈建彬也是入围新鲜人。

另外，资深女艺人李茵珠今年好戏连连，形象多变，这回她凭【孩有明天2】的恶家婆出位。

噢，蝉联多届最佳女配角的向云，这回转战“最佳女主角”，胜算如何？而演技突飞猛进的欧萱凭【孩有明天2】的热心社工角逐影后，是5人当中资历最浅、也最令人期待的新生代！

【红星大奖2004】入围名单

Thirty-five artistes from MediaCorp and Channel U will join hands together in a historic moment to raise funds for Ren Ci Charity Show.

For the first time since MediaWorks was set up 4 years ago, Channel U and MediaCorp artistes will stand on the same stage and perform.

Following the announcement on Wed Dec 8 of the crossover of MediaWorks artistes to MediaCorp with effect from Jan 1, 2005, a press conference was held yesterday (Thurs Dec 9) for the Ren Ci Charity Show.

The show, benefiting Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre, will be held at the University Cultural Centre and telecast ‘live’ on Jan 9, 2005 at 7.30pm on Channel U. The donation target for this annual charity event is $5 million and the extravaganza will be hosted by Quan Yifeng, Guo Liang and Chew Chor Meng.

At the press conference yesterday, Channel U artistes Guo Liang, Michelle Chia, Quan Yifeng, Ix Shen, Adam Chen, Constance Song, Wang Ailing, Darren Lim, Ann Kok, Lynn Poh, Apple Hong and Ezann Lee were reunited with their former (and future) colleagues MediaCorp artistes Xie Shaoguang, Jeanette Aw, Chen Hanwei, Jeff Wang, Allan Wu, Cynthia Koh, Phyllis Quek, Pierre Png and Vincent Ng.

Together, these 35 local artistes (15 from Channel U, 20 from MediaCorp) will perform 9 items which test their perseverance, determination, skill, and team work. Other local and overseas artistes A Do, JJ Lin Junjie, Fish Leong, Z Chen, Ritchie Ren and Nancy Sit will also lend a hand. A mysterious star is said to attend the charity show as well, but the organising committee is keeping it under wraps.

REN CI CHARITY SHOW 2005
Programme Items

The Greatest Body Concert
o This opening performance features 9 artistes and over 100 primary school students who will exhibit their musical talents through an eclectic mix of body beats and tap dance that will mark the grand opening of Ren Ci Charity Show 2005.
o Artistes featured: Chen Han Wei, Felicia Chin, Joey Swee, Priscelia Chan, Jaime Teo, Lynn Poh, Eelyn Kok and Ezann Lee.

The Groovy Boys
o Watch them do the moves as 2 male artistes come out of the ‘acting closet’ and groove to the infamous beats of Grease, Bad and Forever Fever.
o Artistes featured: Adrian Pang and Pierre Png.

The Salsa Babes
o As the name suggests, 4 female artistes and their professional Latin dance partners will sizzle up the screens with their hot salsa spins and colourful flips!
o Artistes featured: Michelle Chia, Yvonne Lim, Jeanette Aw

The Skipping Stunners
o Together with 20 primary school students, 6 artistes will be performing physical stunts and tricks with skipping ropes that bind their coordination, rhythm and fitness skills.
o Artistes featured: Apple Hong, Ann Kok, Wang Ai Ling, Terence Cao, Phyllis Quek and Vincent Ng.

The Rockclimbing Ballet
o 5 artistes will scale a wall and at a height of 20 feet above the ground, their sense of team spirit, balance and physical dexterity will be put to the ultimate test as they come together to form a spectacular body formation.
o Artistes featured: Ix Shen, Celest Chong, Constance Song, Allan Wu and Cynthia Koh.

The Catwalk In The Sky
o A stunt that requires undivided attention on its own, 3 artistes will be taking it even further by dancing on stilts in this segment! A rigid test of concentration, balance and determination, the artistes will spruce up the performance with a repertoire of beautiful costumes and dance moves that will impress no less.
o Artistes featured: Adam Chen, Jeff Wang and Le Yao.

Precise Parking
o 2 self-proclaimed competent drivers will relive the agonising experience of obtaining a driving license when this item challenges their parking skills and agility ‘live’ from the Suntec Convention Centre. Each driving a Subaru car, the 2 artistes will try to park their cars in designated lots that become increasingly narrow with each successful progression.
o Artistes featured: Bryan Wong and Xie Shao Guang.

The 180° Twist
o A spar of wit, tact and acting skills, this comedy skit segment pits 2 local artistes against each other in a ‘dramatic’ challenge. To make things tougher, a mystery artiste will be hung 180° upside down from the ceiling, 20 feet away from the ground throughout the 7 minute performance where he or she is expected to act, drink, walk or talk vertically inverted. Who will this mystery artiste be?
o Artistes featured: Kym Ng and Mark Lee.

Venerable Shi Ming Yi’s Item
o Details to be announced at later date
o Artistes featured: Venerable Shi Ming Yi, Darren Lim and MediaCorp male artiste

DONATION HOTLINES OPEN FROM NOW TILL JAN 2005

Viewers can make donations via telephone as well as SMS.
Phone lines are open from now till January 2005.

Phone Donations
For $5 donations, please dial 1900 112 8888 (Now till 16 Jan 2005)
For $15 donations, please dial 1900 112 8889 (Now till 16 Jan 2005)
*Each call is subject to $0.20 administration charge and 5% GST.
*Those below 18 must seek parental consent.

$30 and above donations
Please dial 6746 1110 (6 Jan 2005 to 12 Jan 2005 from 8am to 11pm)

SMS Donations
For $5 SMS donations, please type ‘RENCI’ and send to 77666 (Now till 16 Jan 2005)
* Each SMS costs $5.00, inclusive of $0.30 administration charge and subject to 5% GST.
SMS is powered by Mtouche Pte Ltd.
*Those below 18 must seek parental consent.

红星大奖竞争激烈，不管是有份下场参与“战事”的还是无缘入围的都在场内外引颈观望，人人都有心水马，来看看谁看好谁、哪一位艺人又是大家一致看好的“人气王”？

随着【任我遨游】上演，让年轻艺人声势日渐看涨。715（戚玉武）、欧萱、谢宛谕、陈凤玲等新生代演员的声势大有逐渐上升之势。可是！影坛老将的实力也不容小觑，阿哥阿姐当中不缺演技佳的红马！到底谁才是红星眼里的大热门红马呢？看看众红星的心水马吧！

红星看十大红人

•候选影后黄碧仁看好小飞鱼谢宛谕 、欧萱和罗太金银姬

•许振荣认为近来人气红不让的715、白薇秀、徐绮和谢宛谕都有出位的机会。

•朱厚任则认为李名顺、李国煌和陈志财都属于大热门，主要是因为他们的曝光率相当高。

•三料候选人陈建彬认为，不是猛龙不过江，入围的谢韶光、陈志财、郑斌辉、715、李名顺、陈汉玮和曹国辉都是脚力佳的红马，绝对能够跑出佳绩！

红星投选心头爱

今年入围名单出现新气象，我们特别请诸位红星选出他们心目中的人选。也让各位在参加“现场SMS预测游戏”时，心里有个谱！

红星贴士（TIPS）显示：
·最佳男主角－－热门人选：谢韶光
除了保留去年的入围者－李南星、谢韶光和李名顺，入围人选也加入了近来炙手可热的戚玉武（715），715是首次入围最佳男主角。

投票的4位红星莫小玲、曾诗梅、翁清海、郑斌辉一致推崇谢韶光。

作为超级长篇剧【喜临门】第一男主角，谢韶光饰演流里流气的“阿龙”，非常抢镜。
且看谢韶光是否能成功连庄，创下5届影帝记录！

·最佳女主角－－热门人选：向云、黄碧仁
最佳女主角奖则是竞争激烈，其中以向云、黄碧仁形成对立之势，两人分别有支持者。

向云支持者：郑秀珍、翁清海
黄碧仁支持者：曹国辉
同时支持向云与黄碧仁：莫小玲

另外，冷门马也有支持者…
同时支持范文芳和李锦梅：李名顺

·最佳女配角－－热门人选：李茵珠
从黑白时代就开始演戏的李茵珠堪称老戏骨，尽管每一部戏都演妈妈、婆婆，但她出神入化的演技，让我们看到，无论是高贵优雅的气质妈妈，或尖酸刻薄的势力妈妈，或恶毒凶辣的婆婆，她绝对胜任有余。

投票的4位红星赖怡伶、莫小玲、翁清海一致推崇李茵珠。

·最佳男配角－－热门人选：张汶祥
两位入围者萧乙铭、张汶祥分别以傻气的“短舌仔”，和“见钱眼开的贪心佬”角逐，实力势均力敌，但是以声势来看，张汶祥略胜一筹。

张汶祥支持者：谢韶光、陈汉玮、莫小玲
萧乙铭支持者：曹国辉

·最佳新人奖－－热门人选：白薇秀
【家财万贯】的AH BOY－白薇秀显然是大家心目中胜算最高的候选人。相继接了LUX和富士两大广告，又在【家财万贯】中形象性格突出的角色，“来势汹汹”，堪称声势最凌厉的新人。

投票的3位红星：莫小玲、李名顺、芮恩，一致看好白薇秀。（就连有份角逐最佳新人奖的芮恩也这么说）

红星眼里的遗珠
另外，经过一番的访问和统计，发现红星们心目中都有“红星遗珠”名单（即表现出色却无缘入围的艺人）

遗珠一号：姚玟隆－前影帝谢韶光以及陈汉玮点名人物，日渐成熟的演技有目共睹。
遗珠二号：陈汉玮－备受看好却意外落选，候选影后黄碧仁直呼：怎么可能？！
遗珠三号：林晓佩－虽然委居配角，但仍让角色诠释得惟妙惟肖入木三分，这次掉落榜外着实让人惊讶！

The list that all of us have been waiting for is finally released! Star Awards 2004 celebrates the hard work and sheer determination of the finest in the local entertainment industry in the past year.

See the nomination list here!

Chalking up the most nominations

Long-running drama Double Happiness I without surprise chalked up the most nominations this year, including Best Drama, Best Actor (Xie Shaoguang), Best Actress (Ivy Lee and Xiang Yun), Best Supporting Actor (Jeff Wang), Best Supporting Actress (Hong Huifang and Vivian Lai) and Young Talent Award (Li Xianmin).

Weepie drama A Child’s Hope 2 follows closely with nominations in almost every category, including Best Drama. Ah Ge Li Nanxing is in the running for the Best Actor award, with Jeanette Aw for Best Actress, Chen Liping and Li Yinzhu for Best Supporting Actress, Chen Jiele and Xiao Liyuan for Young Talent Award.

Who’s newly in, who’s out

Current hottie Qi Yuwu finally gets his name on the list after 5 years, with his role as Zhu Jiankang in Room in My Heart. Acclaimed actor Zhang Wenxiang receives 2 nominations (Best Supporting Actor in Timeless Gift, and Best Comedy Performer in Family Combo) in his first year in MediaCorp. Michelle Chong could also be thanking her lucky stars for her first nomination: Best Variety Show Host for All in NETS.

Missing from the list is the pregnant Queen of Caldecott Hill Zoe Tay, for her ugly duckling role in Man at Forty; and Chen Hanwei who gave an extraordinary performance as a mousy man turned greedy businessman in Man At Forty and as a strict brother in My Love, My Home.

Tay Ping Hui, who had lead roles in 2 prominent dramas this year – Spice Siblings and Always on My Mind, is also sadly left out of Star Awards.

The nominees say…

Patricia Mok

Patricia Mok and Zhang Wenxiang, the ‘husband and wife’ team of Timeless Gift and new drama You Are The One, are both nominated for Best Comedy Performer.

Pat, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Holland V last year, tells us, “I hope he doesn’t win!”

Ah, lest you think Pat is hoping to usurp the trophy for herself, she continues. “I hope Wenxiang wins Best Supporting Actor instead. He was spectacular in Timeless Gift! From the first episode till the last, nobody knew his character was the biggest baddie.

“Best Comedy Performer? Hmm… erm…” The usually talkative Pat is stuck for words! “I didn’t see Wenxiang’s performance in Family Combo, so I think it’s better that the 4 of us (Marcus Chin, Mark Lee, Moses Lim and Pat, all nominated in the category for Comedy Night) fight for the award,” she chuckles.

“I think my winning chances are small; my friends even laughed when I told them the news! Moses or Mark should be the winner,” Pat predicted.

Patricia’s bets are on:

Best Actor: Xie Shaoguang

Best Actress: Huang Biren or Xiang Yun

Best Supporting Actor: Zhang Wenxiang

Best Supporting Actress: Li Yinzhu

Young Talent Award: Chen Xingyu or Li Xianmin

Best Drama: Double Happiness I, An Ode to Life or A Child’s Hope 2

Seow Ee Meng

This is Ee Meng’s second time being nominated in Star Awards, his first being last year, for his role in Love Is Beautiful. This year, he is again nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his lisping character in Man At Forty.

“I honestly feel that being nominated is an acknowledgement of my efforts. There are so many supporting actors in so many dramas for the whole year, and I’m one of the 5! The trophy is the cherry on the ice-cream; if my colleague has done really well, then he should win the cherry; the rest of us already have the ice-cream.”

Who will be the big winners of 2004? Hold tight for Star Awards 2004 coming to your TV screens ‘live’ on Sunday, Dec 12, 7pm on Channel 8!

两位是待字闺中的美女庄米雪和欧萱，一位是即将升任奶爸的猛男吴振宇，再来就是压轴的黄金单身汉萧乙铭。【情来运转】双生双旦和你谈“谈婚论嫁”！

四个“身份”不同的艺人，对婚姻的看法如何呢？

吴振宇－已婚
庄米雪－未婚，但名花有主了
欧萱－单身
萧乙铭－单身

不管是单身或已婚，他们都因拍戏或当模特儿穿过无数次的婚纱了。婚纱披过了，只是对于结婚的看法又如何呢？我们特别访问了【情来运转】的双生双旦和大家分享他们的婚姻观！

待字闺中：欧萱

长相甜美的欧萱说她还未找到生命中的另一半！怎么可能？一定是欧大小姐的要求太高啦！想知道看起来非常孩子气的欧萱对另一半的要求吗？

根据她大小姐的说法是：“要成熟稳重、幽默还有要体量我…我属于比较情绪化的女生，所以希望另一半会多体量我。”至于大家所要求的3高：身高、高收入、高学历对重内在多于外在的欧萱并来说不是重点！

虽然仍然待字闺中，欧萱已经穿过好几次的婚纱了！来听听她披婚纱的经验吧…

欧萱说她喜欢样式简单的婚纱，以免婚纱抢了美丽新嫁娘的风头！听听她所喜欢的婚纱款式吧！

不爱受约束的欧萱，梦想在海边举行轻松浪漫的婚礼。哎哟…别忘了蜜月旅行也是结婚计划之一，好动的欧萱梦想在哪里渡蜜月呢？

幕后花絮

休息篇
拍戏真的很累人！更累的是“等”！艺人都得耗在片场大半天，甚至是一整天。
看看早已练成“金刚”身的欧萱、Allan、米雪和萧乙铭如何打发时间…

·第一招：睡功
欧萱和Allan高人一等的睡功，让人叹为观止！看他们各自霸占了一个小小的“地盘”，一躺下来就呼噜呼噜睡着了…厉害！

·第二招：十指大动
手机是现代人不可或缺的“日常用品”，更是艺人拍戏时必备的“精神粮食”。

·第三招：动口不动手
基本上片场里的艺人或者临时演员如果不动手时，就会开始“动口”了！看看大家围成一团的在八卦些什么？

影迷排排站
小朋友们难得和心爱的偶像近距离接触，当然是赶快拿出纸笔，让偶像签名啦！

小道具
给你3秒钟的时间想想婚礼有什么必备道具？3－2－1…想不起来吧！
神父一名，美不胜收的场地，花架两个，装饰用的白玫瑰，手花一把

Michelle Chong walks down the aisle of a chapel but jilts bridegroom Seow Ee Meng at the altar!

Sunrays shine through stained glass windows in a cosy chapel. Beautiful bride Michelle Chong walks down the aisle in a gorgeous wedding dress, her groom Seow Ee Meng waiting for her at the altar, brimming with happiness and gasp, she throws up!

Fear and reluctance overwhelms the commitment-phobic bride and she runs out of the chapel, and the director yells ‘Cut!’

All in a day’s work for new drama The Tai-Chi Lass (Qing Lai Yun Zhuan), where Michelle plays Mei Ya, the runaway bride and Ee Meng as Paul, the jilted fiancé.

Joining them at the chapel are Jeanette Aw, who plays Mei Ya’s good friend Li Xiang, and Allan Wu, who plays Paul’s friend, the celebrity chef JK Ma.

Every little girl’s dream is to one day put on a beautiful wedding gown. What about models and actresses? We speak to Michelle and Jeanette about THE white dress and getting hitched.

Michelle Chong

Mei Ya is the head chef in a high-class restaurant. Animosity brews between Mei Ya and JK Ma when the latter is invited to the restaurant to work as a guest head chef. From enemies, JK Ma slowly falls in love with her. But will Mei Ya agree to walk down the aisle the second time?

Why does Mei Ya have the wedding jitters? Let’s have Michelle tell you that and more!

Expect more than acting from the versatile Michelle though. When the soundman needs more whispering from the extras for particular scenes, the playful Michelle gamely steps in with different accents!

Jeanette Aw

Jeanette Aw is Li Xiang, a young tai-chi master with the unfortunate problem of body odour. The man of her dreams is JK Ma (Allan Wu) whom she saves from some unruly rascals with her tai-chi.

Youthful Jeanette has played swinging singles in Beautiful Connection, A Child’s Hope II, Spice Siblings and The Champion, with the exception of Holland V where her character Jingjing was married to Ah Ming.

The Tai-Chi Lass will continue filming till Mid November. Watch for it next year!

The popular 80s’ swimming drama The Flying Fish catapulted the boyish Wang Yuqing to idol-hood. Will it do the same for the cast of new swimming drama The Champion?

Making its debut on Channel 8 on October 20 at 9pm, The Champion is an all new drama series with a drool-worthy cast of hunks and babes, with taut bodies and great tans to boot!

Starring MediaCorp’s rising stars Fiona Xie, Jeanette Aw, Felicia Chin and Qi Yuwu, the 20-parter revolves around the lives of a team of swimmers and the tough training they have to undergo when a new coach takes over the team.

Local babes and hunk aside, viewers can also feast on the likes of Taiwanese stars Toro and Yan Xingshu. The former plays a star water polo player while the latter is the strict coach brought in to whip the team of underperforming female swimmers into shape.

At Goodwood Park Hotel’s poolside where the press launch was held on Wednesday, cameras went a-clicking at the arrival of the stars including Toro and Johnny Yan Xingshu who specially flew in from Taiwan.

Hosted by actress/DJ Michelle Liow, Yuwu initially got everyone on their feet when he walked in with his crutches. Michelle clarified that it was not a gimmick and the actor had in fact sprained his ankle while jogging a week ago.

Everyone burst into laughter when Toro made a mischievous entrance when he sat on a make-believe chair next to Malaysian actress Jessica Lao, who plays Yuwu’s love interest in the drama.

Amongst the 4 actresses present, Felicia was the only one who dressed to fit her role as a swimmer. The slim and tall actress looked ready to run a marathon with her sporty look – track pants, singlet and a screaming pink jacket! Jessica looked chic with her nude coloured spaghetti top and jeans while Jeanette was a picture of casual elegance with her black denim tube pant suit. Looking sexy and hip was Fiona in a fuchsia top with beige pants. A pair of cool mocha-coloured sunglasses sat on her pretty nose as she fielded questions from the floor.

And with their gloriously tanned bodies which seemed to glisten in the outdoor press conference, we regretted not bringing along a pair of shades.

The cast spoke candidly about their experiences during filming.

Recalling the scene where Fiona, Jeanette and Felicia had to run about in the busy streets of Orchard Road, Fiona, looking radiant with her sun-bronzed skin, said: “Bikinis and sun tanning are not my cup of tea. So it was really embarrassing for me and the rest of us!”

Felicia chimed in: “What made it worse was this lecherous old man who just kept waving at us wherever we turned!” Xingshu added cheekily, “Actually we (referring to him and Toro) were there too! But we walked off the moment they put on their robes!”

Like true troopers, the three girls decided to ignore the stares of curious onlookers and just ran ahead.

With rumors about Toro and Fiona being an item flying around, it was not surprising that local journos went straight for the kill by quizzing the two on their chemistry in the one-on-one interviews.

The Taiwanese press had earlier reported that Toro carries a picture of a bikini-clad Fiona in his wallet. The picture was said to be taken when Toro and co-star were present at the filming of the bikini scene.

More beans were spilled when the executive producer Yeo Saik Pin said in candid innocence that two particular stars annoyingly kept taking kissing pictures themselves during filming. To top it off, he continued, “Try asking the filming crew, if you don’t believe!” An air of awkwardness overcame the originally light-hearted atmosphere and a sense of quiet fell on the initially good-humoured cast.

Though no names were mentioned, it was enough to set eyes roving and some reporters were mentally taking notes. At the point, a scowl seemed to have mysteriously planted itself on Toro’s handsome face.

And perhaps it was an over imagination on our part but did we sense that both stars tried to keep a distance from each other? And were they trying to avoid being photographed together? Like when we tried to get a picture of Toro and Fiona together, his manager asked plainly, “Can we not take the picture?”

These answers may never come but if you’re wondering who has got the best bod and curves, all will be revealed when The Champion makes a splash on Channel 8 come October 20, weekdays at 9pm!