Changes are ahead for this year’s Miss Hong Kong Pageant to keep the long-running beauty contest fresh. According to TVB Director of Production Sandy Yu (余詠珊), the Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2014 will not be holding any activities to recruit overseas candidates. Those who wish to participate in the pageant must personally register herself in Hong Kong. There will also be some suspenseful elements added to the pageant, in which the contestants will only be revealed at the semi-finals. In previous pageants, the participants are usually revealed in the first interview process. In hopes to give viewers more suspense, TVB has decided to keep the identity of the contestants a secret until a few days before the semi-finals. Sandy Yu said she is not worried that the pageant’s quiet promotions would affect the show’s ratings and that it is time to give the pageant a fresher appeal. “We will try our best for this program,” said Sandy Yu. “I am confident with Miss Hong Kong. We will continue to use the popular voting system to select the winner like our last few pageants. We are still looking into our location shoots.” At the press conference for Miss Hong Kong 2014, last year’s winner Grace Chan (陳凱琳) and 2012’s winner Carat Cheung (張名雅) expressed that they have some people in mind whom they want to recommend for this year’s pageant. Grace said, “I still want to make sure that they are up for the challenge. I wasn’t playing around when I participated. They should be serious about competing and have respect for the competition.” As for her thoughts on keeping the identity of the contestants under tight wraps prior to the semifinals, Grace said, “I don’t know if this will harm the promotions, but there are some benefits to it. Viewers would be able to see their best side. There would be videos that document the process.” Carat said she wants to recommend her two younger cousins from the United States to compete. “I hope this year’s ratings for the competition will reach new heights.”
