My latest Chinese TV project - shopping!

I'm so thrilled to let you guys in on a little secret: my latest TV project is actually for a Chinese project (for China) - I am not allowed to divulge any details until it is actually broadcast in China, but I am allowed to reveal a little (just not specific details). It is a reality TV game show to be filmed in London whereby two Chinese celebrities are given a 'shopping challenge' and each celebrity gets a 'local partner' who is a shopping expert. Of course, both 'local partners' of the celebrities speak both Mandarin and English, so we are doubling up as translators/interpreters as well just in case the celebrities have any trouble communicating in English. I have received the briefing notes today and it is actually quite a complex and interesting shopping challenge, plenty of bargaining and negotiating involved - it's going to be a LOT more complicated than just going to Harrods with a shopping list!  There are many Chinese tourists coming to the UK these days and shopping is one of their favourite activities here. It is going to be a fun programme.

A recent photo taken this month - not too ugly for Chinese TV then?

There are two celebrities from China flying to London for this show: one male, one female. And each of them are getting a 'local partner' of the opposite gender, the female 'local partner' is a gorgeous, London based, HK-Chinese actress/model friend of mine who looks absolutely stunning. I got paired up with the female Chinese celebrity. Over the years, I've worked on numerous international TV projects - I particularly enjoyed working on projects for the China market, for the Belgian market, and for the German market (I've also worked on Czech, Slovakian, Turkish, UAE and French projects). It is going to be interesting working with people from China again - I've already received an email today in English that was clearly processed through google translate. I'm prepared for the culture shock! I think it is going to be a lot of fun and I've been looking up my Chinese celebrity partner on Baidu.

Let's put it this way, prior to this project, I've never heard of her before but she is a big star on Chinese TV and there's plenty of stuff on her on the internet. Clearly, she's hugely popular in China and I'm quite amazed that I got paired up with her! You see, I've auditioned for projects for China before but have been rejected on the basis that I'm too old and not good looking enough - it's quite cruel, really. In China, they like their actors and presenters to be young and very good looking (like K-pop stars who all look so perfect), I have been told point blank that I am not good looking enough for the Chinese market. So to be considered good looking enough to partner a hugely popular Chinese celebrity (she's incredibly beautiful), well, maybe it's this new hair cut, this new look that's presenting me in a whole new light? Oh and it did help that they have seen my recent Mr Bean advertisement (please look out for my back flip in the clip below).

 You see, in the Far East, you do get fat and older people on TV, but they are regulated to the fat but funny, obese but hilarious roles. Think Moses Lim, Lydia Sum and Psy who have played up to various stereotypes of fat people over the years on TV. Well, I'm not morbidly obese, I'm just not a cute, fresh-faced pretty boy - I'm a middle aged man who is 39. But I aced the audition which involved a bilingual improvisation exercise and what I can only describe as a long Chinese oral exam when I had to do a cold reading of a script in Mandarin. I didn't think it was perfect, but clearly I must have done well enough for them to believe that I can function in a Chinese TV project. I was ever so concerned that my southern accent would be a problem, but I had clearly demonstrated to them that my Singaporean accent wasn't that strong and I could modify it to sound more northern. What can I say, in the land of the blind, the one-eye man is king. I can't imagine my Mandarin being good enough to get me a job like that in China or even in Singapore!

So yes, to have landed this role for this TV programme, it proved two things: that I'm actually good looking enough for Chinese TV (which unashamedly casts beautiful people for important roles) and I have actually proven that I can ace a difficult Chinese exam despite not having revised my Chinese in years. I know I do protest that my Chinese sucks, but I think I say it more to spite my father (who insists that it is very important for me to know my 'mother tongue') - I guess my Mandarin is actually pretty darn good, good enough to impress the Chinese producers I met. And as an actor, I welcome all kinds of new experiences and yes this is a mix of a game-show, reality TV, travel programme format but the key thing is that it is in Mandarin and we're going shopping. It does sound like the project is going to be a lot of fun; I am both nervous and excited in equal measure - I'm brushing up my Mandarin by watching Chinese Youtube videos!

So I am about to enter a busy period of filming in the next few days and may not be blogging much - like I said, I will reveal a lot more details once it has been broadcast in China (and that will not be till 2016) but I'm sure there'll be plenty of fascinating stories to tell from the experience. It is going to be quite an adventure. Many thanks for reading!