Back in the ’80s, TVB had the Five Tigers, a group of young actors deemed the most promising among the broadcaster’s menagerie of stars.

The hotshots were Andy Lau, Tony Leung, Michael Miu, Felix Wong and Kent Tong, all of whom went on to become the most popular leading men of that era.

Heck, Andy even got anointed a Heavenly King in the ’90s and is still one of the biggest stars in the world while Tony is possibly the most lauded actor of his generation and is also part of another supergroup now: the MCU.

Almost 30 years later, reports say that TVB has plans to promote these five up-and-coming actors as their ‘Five Tigers of the Millennium’.

So who are they? And is having a hot bod a requirement? 

Dickson Yu, 31
​
He was already a face to watch on TVB some years back but in 2018, he fainted while playing football and fell into a coma. The former Hongkong swimmer, who reportedly suffers from arrythmia, regained consciousness three days later and had to take an extended break from work.

He has since made his comeback – and a triumphant one at that – getting cast as the lead in a new coming of age drama Shameless Youth.

Joey Law, 33

His popularity skyrocketed after starring in last year’s Hongkong Love Stories and he’s following that up by clinching the lead role in Return of the Cuckoo 2021, TVB’s remake of the 2000 hit drama, which starred Julian Cheung and Charmaine Sheh. The original made big stars out of Julian and Charmaine, so will the same happen for Joey?

Brian Chu, 28
​
He had a highly prolific 2020, starring in six dramas including Forensic Heroes IV,Al Cappuccino, and Airport Strikers. And to cap off the year, Brian, who is a quarter British (his mum is half-Chinese, half Brit), was named Most Improved Actor at the 2020 TVB Anniversary Awards beating out two (Joey Law and Karl Ting) of his fellow new Five Tigers.

Kalok Chow, 25
​
In 2019, Kalok, who is best known for playing Gam Sing On in sitcom Come Home Love: Lo and Behold, became the youngest man to be named Best Supporting Actor at the TVB Anniversary Awards, a sign that the broadcaster has big plans for him.

Karl Ting, 23
​
Though he lost the Most Improved Actor award to Brian Chu this year, he’s definitely a name to look out for. Only 23, the former Mr Hongkong finalist made heads turn in 2019 drama The Man Who Kills Troubles and has been tasked to co-host many of TVB’s tentpole events.

Just about everyone’s jumping onto the live broadcast bandwagon these days, and it’s easy to see why.

34-year-old TVB actress Samantha Ko, who became an actress in 2010 after participating in Miss Hongkong, has seen her popularity rise in China in recent years. 

As a treat for her Chinese fans, she started a DouYin account where she shares snippets of her daily life.

Since the start of the year, Samantha took to selling all sorts of items from skincare to Chinese New Year goodies on live stream. And it was turned to be a very lucrative source of income for her.

In the three short months  she’s been doing so, Samantha is estimated to have made at least 1mil yuan (S$200K), although Chinese media estimate the figure to be “much higher”.

​Samantha’s, um, extra pocket money has reportedly allowed her to buy a new home in Hongkong too.

She’s believed to have snapped up a unit at the ritzy Dragons Range residential development, where a three bedroom flat costs upwards of HK$18.8mil (S$3.24mil).

According to reports, Samantha also owns a HK$5.26mil (S$900K) two bedroom flat, which she bought and gave to her mum in 2015. 

Cecilia Cheung has been making headlines multiple times a week since she started competing on Sisters Who Make Waves 2.

Now that the finals are upon us, the 40-year-old has become a fan favourite, which is a complete change from how netizens criticised her for being “lazy” and “sloppy” at the start of the season.

This turnaround in the public's opinion of her apparently started after fellow contestant Na Ying talked about how great a mum Ceci is to her three sons on the show. 

Ceci’s popularity has since skyrocketed and she recently signed three endorsement deals, shot seven advertisements and received dozens of invitations to appear on other shows.

This newfound adoration from the public is estimated to have earned Ceci some 50mil yuan (S$10.2mil). 

And according to industry insiders, more brands would want to work with her so Ceci's fortune is looking to rise even more.

Ceci received even more love from netizens this week after it was revealed on Sisters that she has homes in Shanghai and Beijing.

When Rainie Yang suggested that Cecilia move to Beijing, the latter replied that she owns homes in the two Chinese cities since she travels there for work so often.

Netizens took this as a sign of "loyalty" from Ceci, and pledged to "support her even more" now that they know she sees China as her home as well.

​Although she didn’t mention any details about her homes, netizens dug out past reports of Ceci’s rumoured property investments, which are pretty darn impressive.

For one, a 2019 report claims that she bought a 70mil yuan (S$14.3mil) bungalow in the same neighbourhood as Liu Yifei. A more recent valuation of the neighbourhood suggests that because of rising property prices the same house is now valued at over RMB100mil (S$20.4mil).

Scandal-plagued Japanese actor Yusuke Yamamoto has made headlines once again, this time for dating a 19-year-old student and allegedly getting her pregnant.

The 33-year-old, known for manga-based dramas Hana Kimi and Oran High School Host Club, reportedly forced the college student, known only as Y, to get an abortion after learning about the pregnancy.

According to Y’s friend, when Yusuke was told about the pregnancy, he told her to "get rid of it". He also threatened to quit acting if she kept the baby, adding that he would “hate [her] forever”. 

He allegedly told her via text that “[he] didn’t want everyone to know [about the pregnancy]” and that “if the news gets out, it will affect [his] reputation”.

Despite this, Y decided to keep the baby and Yusuke begrudgingly relented. He reportedly put forward three conditions: that they do not interfere in each other’s relationships in future, that he be allowed to see the child, and that he will pay for child support, though the amount was not mentioned.

Although the two have broken up, Y’s friend says they still keep in contact.

Y is said to be six months pregnant now and is due in the summer.

​Yusuke is no stranger to controversy. In 2014, a woman with whom he had a one-night stand leaked photos of the two of them in bed. He was also accused of molesting a masseuse.

In 2017, after he was fired from his agency due to “improper conduct in his personal life”, he made a career switch and opened a pub.

He made his showbiz comeback in 2019 and was supposed to star in a stage play last year but he and several actors contracted COVID-19.

Myolie Wu, 41, gave birth to her third child over Easter weekend and boy, oh boy, is she happy. 

She shared a photo of her kids on her IG, writing: “Yes it’s a boy......AGAIN!! Liam has arrived, thank you for everyone’s blessings!”

Myolie’s husband, businessman Philip Lee, revealed more details on his IG.

“We had a busy Easter weekend with the arrival of Liam Lee coming in at a hefty [3.74kg], giving us all the opportunity to work out a little,” he gushed. “Liam is another Irish name, following in the footsteps of his brothers, meaning “resolute protector” and we hope that he lives up to his name for the people he loves (…) Mummy and baby are home now, resting and doing well. We thank everyone for your well wishes.”

​Back in 2018, Myolie shared that she wanted to try for a daughter after having Brendan so that she “could doll her up”.

So baby number four soon?

After months of speculation, Raymond Lam and Carina Zhang have confirmed that they are filming the fifth season of travel show Viva La Romance with other showbiz couples. The series sees the wives travel together, while their husbands stay put in a room to observe what the women get up to.

The other couples involved are Qin Hai Lu and Wang Xin Jun, Jiang Qin Qin and Chen Jian Bin, along with Zhou Jie and Zou Kai.

After announcing their involvement with the show, Carina posted a list of 'rules' that they adhere to to keep their marriage alive.

She wrote: “My dear hubby, we’ve been married for a year and a half. There’s still a lot of delicious things that we haven’t eaten together, movies we haven’t watched and places that we haven’t gone to together. Although you’ve never loved me less, even for a second, I still want to fall deeper in love with you. If you’d like to do the same, sign on the dotted line.”

Her list included the following: 1) going to the beach together, 2) feeding each other desserts, 3) being silly together, 4) saying ‘I love you’ once a day, 5) hugging and kissing each other daily, 6) not laughing at Carina’s singing, and 7) not making fun of Carina when she speaks Cantonese.

​15 minutes after that post, Raymond updated his Weibo with a signed copy of the agreement, writing: “Of course I’m willing to do so.”

This rare display of affection online was totally out of character for the couple, who are known to be fiercely protective of their married life.

It only took two years but Jacqueline Wong, who became known as Asia's most famous mistress after she was caught making out with Sammi Cheng's husband Andy Hui in the backseat of a car, has unfollowed both Sammi and Andy on Instagram.

This very useful piece of information was offered by netizens who have been watching the online activity of Jacqueline like a hawk over the past two years. 

Shockingly, Sammi is still following Jacqueline. And the video the pop diva posted of her and Jacqueline working out back in November 2018 is still on her feed.

​While it's very possible that Jacqueline simply procrastinated and is now just spring cleaning her account, some netizens are inferring that Jacqueline unfollowing Sammi and Andy is her way of moving on from the scandal. 

And that has led netizens to say that she doesn't deserve to move on "so quickly" and so they continue to criticise her for her actions. 

Sammi, on the other hand, has been praised for being "gracious". Though we think she probably just can't be bothered to unfollow Jacqueline. 

"You can definitely tell who has a clear conscience here. Sammi is so well-mannered and deserves to only have good people in her life," wrote one netizen.

There has been much speculation that Hongkong actress Cecilia Cheung is pregnant with her fourth child after she was spotted with a 'baby bump' on several occasions.

Though the 40-year-old, who has three sons, Lucas, 13, Quintus, 10, and Marcus, 2, made it clear in the past that she is done having kids and even recently participated in a 5km run, in which she finished third, netizens are convinced that she has a bun in the oven.

Turns out, it's just cream puffs.

Cecilia addressed the rumours in an interview with fellow Sisters Who Make Waves 2 contestant, Chinese singer Jike Junyi, implying that her “bulging belly” was due to her big appetite.

In the clip posted on Jike Junyi's Weibo, the 32-year-old shared that Ceci only diets in the day.

“She will say she is on a diet and only has salad, but at night she starts binge-eating,” adding that Ceci has supper every night.

Jike Junyi went on to reveal that she once went into the kitchen and saw Ceci cooking two packets of luosifen, a pungent rice noodle soup. That’s not all. Ceci then went on to have two fried eggs and four cream puffs, each the size of a fist.

“I eat six puffs every day. [Taiwanese singer] Rainie Yang too,” laughs Ceci. “I have put on a lot of weight since I joined this show. I didn’t used to be like this.”

​Though the mystery behind her belly has been solved, netizens are still adamant that she is pregnant, speculating that her huge appetite is pregnancy-related.

Well, guess only time will tell.

Bruneian heartthrob Wu Chun’s son, Max, is only seven this year, but he’s already caught the eye of netizens, who can’t help but fawn over his good looks.

After all, 41-year-old Wu Chun and his dad has been the subject of multiple articles, all ‘cos of their impossibly good looks, so it stands to reason that netizens have similarly high expectations of Max.

If you ask us, that’s way too much pressure to put on a kid, but you’ve got to admit, Max is really starting to look like his dad. And yes, even Wu Chun himself sees the resemblance.

Recently, Wu Chun took to his Weibo to share a couple of pictures of him with Max, writing that his son is basically a mini version of him.

“Little Wu Chun reporting for duty… The more I look at Max, the more I feel that he really resembles my younger self. His personality and appearance is really just like his dad. No wonder he loves me so. He’s definitely my son. Dad will work hard to become the hero you worship so much,” wrote Wu Chun.

“Max is so cute and handsome,” wrote a netizen, while another commented that Max “looks especially similar to Wu Chun when he smiles”.

“The two of you are basically cut from the same cloth,” another netizen said.

A couple of netizens also took the opportunity to poke some fun at Wu Chun, commenting that Max is “definitely the better-looking one”.

It’s no secret that Hongkong actress Carman Lee is in great shape.

The 54-year-old, who was lauded as the “Most Beautiful Xiao Long Nu” after starring in TVB's 1995 adaption of The Return of the Condor Heroes, is more than happy to show off her 22-inch waist and even has abs to boot.

She attributes her toned bod to exercise, which she takes very seriously. She does weight and strength training exercises three times a week and is also a yoga enthusiast.

Carmen says that contrary to popular belief, she doesn't watch what she eats. 

To prove her point, she recently posted a mukbang clip of herself devouring a 12-inch four cheese pizza.

She wrote: “People always tell me ‘You are too thin, you have to eat more’ but in actual fact, I never advocate dieting and I do eat a lot. The way to keep in shape is to exercise all year round. To clear this misconception, I will show you how much I usually have for lunch.”

In the video, she said she doesn’t restrict herself when it comes to food and just eats whatever she fancies.

“I don’t eat this much every day but my portions are not small,” she shared. In fact, she would usually have dessert after a meal “cos there’s a separate stomach” for it.

​Another misconception, she says, is that a lot of female stars are slim because they don’t eat anything. “If we don't eat, where do we find the strength to work?" she asked.

“I am a good example. I eat whatever I want. I believe in controlling my weight with exercise, not what I eat. This way, I don’t have to worry about my weight rebounding,” she said.