Don’t Forget Your Lyrics

SINGAPORE : Half a million dollars – that’s how much a forgotten lyric might cost you if you are a contestant on new Channel 5 game show, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”.

Hosted by local celebrity, Gurmit Singh, contestants are required to sing out – karaoke style – the words to fill in the blanks in the song. And if you can keep singing it right for 10 songs, you’ll walk away with S$500,000!

Easy peasy you say? Well, not quite.

“These people who come along thinking they know the song and when the music stops, the lyrics go away, they get stumped!” Gurmit said.

“My theory is this, when people see blanks, dashes, their minds go blank as well.”

Each game consists of three tiers which are divided into nine levels. The difficulty of the challenge increases with each tier and the tiers dictate how many blank lyrics contestants have to remember and sing within a stipulated time.

Contestants have to get every exact lyric correct to pass the stage, and like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, they can get help if they wish to.

Each contestant is entitled to three lifelines also known as “backups” that they can use when they are stuck at any point of the competition. But each backup can only be used once.

“Backup Singer” allows the contestant to bring a friend or family member on stage to help sing the missing lyrics.

If contestants opt for “Two Words”, they can choose any two words they have filled in to check if they are right.

The last, “3 Lines”, allows contestants to pick the correct answer from three multiple choice options.

“Every time you answer correctly, you keep going up (the different levels), higher and higher. But every time you lock in the words and they are wrong, any single word, any single punctuation is wrong, you go to either zero or S$10,000 threshold level,” Gurmit explained.

The game show also features celebrity contestants like MediaCorp actresses Fiona Xie and Jade Seah, characters from Channel 5 sitcoms such as Phua Chu Kang (Gurmit Singh), Sergeant Dollah (Suhaimi Yusof), Adrianna Wow and Barbarella Chanel (both played by Michelle Chong) and even “Singapore Idol” winners Taufik Batisah and Hady Mirza, as well as runner-up Jonathan Leong.

But the one to look out for is actress Andrea Fonseka who is “really good”. “She knows many songs, she’s like a walking encyclopedia,” said Gurmit.

“Don’t Forget the Lyrics” premiered last year in the United States, and Singapore is the 30th country in the world to showcase the popular game show. It premieres Thursday, 27 November, at 8pm on MediaCorp’s Channel 5.

– CNA/km

Channel News Asia

He’s The Dominator

SINGAPORE: Dominic Lau is smitten by a MediaCorp hottie. Only, it’s not Fann Wong, Fiona Xie or any other lithesome beauty.

In fact, his crush doesn’t even own a set of ovaries.

“I actually got to meet Gurmit Singh and I was so blown away!” said the Eurasian good-looker (his mum’s English). “He’s a big star in the region you know!”

While Gurmit is indeed a bright, shining star on our sunny isle, it was surprising to hear the Hong Kong-based Dominic go on and on about him (“He’s such a funny, warm, great person!”) – especially when the highlight of his career was hosting a programme on the red carpet at last year’s Academy Awards.

“It must have been the biggest thing I’ve done,” said MediaCorp TV Channel 5’s latest hunk and Channel V VJ. “It was my first live telecast ever and I was so nervous. But it was amazing to get to interview big Hollywood A-listers, like Helen Mirren, Eddie Murphy, Greg Kinnear, Clint Eastwood, Steve Carell and Al Gore.”

As he went on about his Oscar adventure, thanks to his additional role as the host of Star Movies’ VIP Access – he has a manner of prattling on as if you were his newfound best friend – one couldn’t help but wonder: Isn’t going from Tinseltown to Caldecott Hill a bit of an anti-climax?

“Of course not. I got to interview some big stars of America. Now, I get to mingle with the big names of this region,” the 26-year-old former model said.

Dominic was in town to promote his newly-minted job as host of The Showdown, the Channel 5 game show that pits local celebrities against each other. The commercial music graduate told TODAY that all it took was one phone call from MediaCorp to get him on a plane to Singapore.

That and our pretty women.

“The girls here … Woah! So pretty and always in shorts and flip-flops!” he said, grinning mischievously.

But isn’t there a special someone in his life to keep him in Hong Kong? For the first time during the interview, Dominic’s cocksure but likable demeanour turned almost wistful.

“When I first started out with Channel V back in 2005, I met a very beautiful girl called Sarah (Tan),” he said. “I was very smitten and I am not usually like that with girls or people.”

Former Channel V VJ Sarah Tan and ESPN Star Sports presenter Soo Kui Jien got married in Bali on Dec 21 last year and are expecting a baby due anytime soon.

“I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that she’s doing well. Kui Jien is a really lucky man,” he said.

And that was when the articulate host blessed with pretty-boy looks and who’s on the way to becoming a household name in Singapore fell uncharacteristically quiet.

“Sarah Tan is the one that got away.”

The happily-married couple politely declined to comment.

The Showdown airs every Thursday at 8pm on MediaCorp TV Channel 5. –

Channel News Asia

Time For “The Showdown”

SINGAPORE : It’s the battle of the stars!

Singapore TV personalities put aside their friendships and ditch their glamourous images for a day, to get down and dirty to outdo each other in “The Showdown.”

Forget your usual telematch games like tug-of-war, host Dominic Lau and Game Master Suhaimi Yusof will take you on a wild ride as the teams battle it out in a series of wacky, off-the-wall challenges like Treadmill Feast and Human Fooseball.

Celebrity teams of four will be put to the test to see how well they do in a physically challenging environment outside of their element. Some games really test your agility and strength while some are just plain silly with contestants all dressed as birds (Lil’ Birdie).

Gurmit Singh, Irene Ang, Utt, Jade Seah, and Daren Tan are just some of the celebrities that viewers will be able to catch on the show.

Though this is the first time Lau is hosting a game show, the Pan Asian model and VJ from Hong Kong had so much fun that hopes to return to work in Singapore, or maybe even come back as a contestant on “The Showdown.”

“If I was in the competition, I would have kicked a**!” said a confident Lau. “Maybe not so much this egg between the legs game [Lil’ Birdie] but I’m a physical kind of guy and I enjoy a good challenge.”

On top of bragging rights, members of the winning team will also walk away with a cash prize of S$4,000! Pretty good deal for a day of fun and games.

Catch The Showdown every Thursday at 8pm, on MediaCorp Channel 5. You can also get your weekly dose of The Showdown online at

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Nine Faces Of Channel 5

SINGAPORE : Here’s a quick pop quiz: What do Gurmit Singh, Adrian Pang, Fiona Xie, Michelles Chia and Chong, Andrea Fonseka, Utt, Aaron Aziz and Jas Arora have in common?

If you don’t know, you’re obviously not watching enough TV. Suffice it to say, these are the nine faces of Channel 5 who are tasked with spearheading the channel’s latest re-branding exercise, which aims to put more home-grown talent on air.

Their faces certainly are familiar enough: Gurmit is a 13-year Channel 5 stalwart; you could say that Adrian has been in almost every drama, variety, comedy and game show; Andrea became TV’s “it” girl just after one season on Deal Or No Deal; Fiona and Michelle Chia have successfully crossed over from Channel 8; Michelle Chong is known for her comic turns on TV; Utt’s perennial hosting duties have given him a wider demographic; while Aaron and Jas had impressive outings on Heartlanders and Achar!, respectively.

So why then?

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This Is For My Ex-Wife

SINGAPORE: Huang Yiliang did it again – made another controversial speech involving former wife Lin Meijiao.

At Sunday night’s Star Awards, which were held at the St James Power Station for the first time, Yiliang won the Best Supporting Actor Award for his role in the drama Women of Times.

When he went on stage to accept the award, he said he wanted to give the award to Meijiao. In the same speech, he also thanked his current wife. It was a speech that raised eyebrows, not least due to the little-known fact that he has remarried.

In 2003, when he won the same award, Yiliang mentioned Meijiao in his thank-you speech, comparing her to a giraffe and saying her neck had grown from yearning for an award.

Meijiao was not present at Sunday night’s show.

Backstage, Yiliang lost his cool when quizzed him about the speech.

“Meijiao is more talented than me but she doesn’t have my luck,” he said. “I’ve always wanted her to win something so I’d like to give this award to her.”

He claimed he was simply voicing the wish of his daughter with Meijiao. He has been married for three years to Lily Liu.

“When I made that speech in 2003, I only had good intentions. I regret that it’s a joke that fell flat, I shouldn’t have made it.”

Visibly annoyed, he added: “Do you know how influential the media is? If you write bad stuff about me, that’s the end of me. Please spare me. I don’t have any bad intentions.”

Meanwhile, the Best Actor and Actress Awards were won by Li Nanxing and Ivy Lee, respectively, while Hong Huifang nabbed the Best Supporting Actress Award. Bryan Wong won Best Variety Show Host, while Kelvin Tan won Most Popular Newcomer.

The top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes were: Christopher Lee, Gurmit Singh, Tay Ping Hui, Vincent Ng, Edmund Chen, Qi Yuwu, Mark Lee, Kelvin Tan, Elvin Ng and Bryan Wong.

As for the women, the top 10 were Kym Ng, Huang Biren, Xiang Yun, Rui En, Michelle Chia, Jeanette Aw, Felicia Chin, Fiona Xie, Quan Yifeng and Jesseca Liu. – TODAY

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