Malaysian Dreamgirl is finally back!

This time round we’ve made our audition process bigger, funnier and lengthier.

And you know it’s gonna be better because I won’t be functioning as an on-screen judge this time round. Apparently I topped last season’s complaint list. Heh heh.

Replacing me on the judging panel are two substantially more qualified professionals, Judge Julie, a cosmetics entrepreneur from local brand Beautilicious and Judge Andrew from the very well-known local modelling agency Andrew’s Models.

Expect lots of diamonds in the rough, lots of terrible Manglish, but more importantly –

Lots of delusional wannabes, which what makes the show so very entertaining.

Best quote from the auditions comes from this girl from Ipoh.

Elaine: What do you think is your main selling point?
Girl: Ummm, I just like to… shoot myself in front of the camera.

Watch Malaysian Dreamgirl at www.malaysiandreamgirl.tv

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The deal was, I would go bald if donations reach RM 50,000.

Well, we did not get RM 50,000.

 

The final amount was more like RM 65,325.01

Sixty five thousand three hundred twenty five ringgit and one sen. That’s at least RM 15K more than the target I had hoped to achieve!

As a result, this is how I look like right now.

 

 

 

 

Don’t laugh.

I said don’t laugh!

It’s not easy going through the process. As the lady from The Cutting Edge runs the trimmer through my head, all I could see were cameras flashing all around me.

Little did they know that I was fighting really hard to contain my emotions. Not because I was scared I might look weird., but parting with your hair is almost like losing a best friend.

You had it for so many years, and suddenly it’s all gone.

Well done to everyone who has donated towards the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society. You made me real proud.

I have been receiving tons of “congratulations”, “thank yous” and “well dones”. None of which I felt I deserve. Because all I did was reaching out. It was those 500 over donors who responded to my plea for help that deserves the applause and recognition.

It is so heart-warming to know that even when every other person on the streets is talking about the economic crisis, people are still very generous when it comes to giving out for charity. This fund-raising activity has proved that by wildly surpassing our expectations on so many fronts.

Donations came in from as far as Canada, USA, Europe, Australia and Singapore. Some had amounts so large, I needed convincing before recording it down on my list of donors.

The most generous is this reader of mine from Penang who had no idea how much to donate, so he donate an amount equivalent to his car plate number: RM 5,890.

I seriously thought he was joking until he sent me the receipt.

How many of us would part with RM 5,890 to help people we don’t even know?

Coming in closely was Dato’ Seri Tony Fernandes, a businessman I’m emulating after, who made a personal contribution of RM 5,000 directly to the SCCS. Tony’s donation was so outrageously large that I almost felt obliged to shave AirAsia’s logo on my head.

A quick thank you also to Peter Tan and JoyceTheFairy, two other bloggers who previously also shaved their heads for charity, which in turn gave me enough courage to go through with this one. Hopefully many other people reading this will be similarly motivated.

Then we’ll have one whole breed of botak bloggers!

(Ironically, Joyce and I are both the official online judges for an online model search show called Malaysian Dreamgirl. We will be two botak judges!)

But in amidst the euphoria of a highly successful online fundraiser, let us not lose focus on the real reason why we’re doing this. This fundraiser is not about me nor my botak head. It is to help those underprivileged children suffering from curable forms of cancer, and yet lack the funds to seek treatment.

And this is where we come in. Although kennysia.com’s target of raising RM50,000 is reached, the SCCS’ target of RM200,000 is still far off. This Sunday if you go to The Spring, you will see 100 other Sarawakians shaving their heads all in support for childhood cancer awareness.

Last time getting a haircut in Kuching costs RM8. Now it is RM65,325. Prices have sure gone up a lot these days. 😉

Well, we’ve done well.

On a completely unrelated note, I got one good news and one bad news.

Tomorrow is 14th February. Somehow, I managed to con a… errr, convince a friend use up my extra spare air ticket to Phuket. So yes, the good news is, I unexpectedly now have a (casual) date for Valentine’s, and we’ll be going to Phuket.

The bad news is, my hair will not be coming with me.

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Five days ago, I said that if I could raise RM50,000 for the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society, I will shave my head bald.

As of writing, the total amount donated stands at RM28,854 – slightly over 57% of the target we are hoping to reach. Response from the public was particularly overwhelming within the first two days of the announcement. But sad to say, less and less people have come forward with help and it seems like the donation has already slowed down to a trickle, and I’m unsure if we might even reach the target.

Thank you to all generous readers who have contributed. To date, the number of donors stands at 128. That is good.

The bad news is, this number represents only less than 1% of my daily readership. What happened to the other 99%? Either 99% of readers have no means of donating. Or 99% of my readers love my hair too much to see me go bald. 😉

Well, I figure if we wanna do good for society then we should go all out. For me, the first step is to make that huge sacrifice to let go of my hair. I’m also putting in half the advertising revenue generated from this site into the pool.

But alas, still not enough people are contributing.

So here I am again, pleading for more to come forward and donate towards this cause that I am adopting. Why am I doing this? Because clearly not enough is being done to help the faceless Malaysians quietly working behind the scenes to make the world a better place.

Let’s put it this way.

If everybody reading this can stop what they’re doing right now and spare just one ringgit for the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society, we would have got RM20,000 and we would have reached our target already.

Of course, if you can contribute more than one ringgit, please do. We can all drink that a glass of beer less, give up that one stick of cigarette, or put away that one piece of fried chicken wing. Don’t have to break your bank. Just give whatever you can within your means to help those less fortunate than you are.

The amount you contribute may not be much on its own alone, but when pooled together it will be big enough to change people’s lives.

And it could change my hairstyle too!

Can you spare a ringgit?

Please click here to contribute towards my Botak Fund. It’s for a good cause. 🙂

 

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I am constantly amazed by the creativity of kennysia.com readers.

A few months ago, I found myself eating potato chips, soaking in toilet waste-infused river water, filming for a TV commercial that was to be on broadcasted on television screens across Malaysia. It was the first time ever a company has engaged a Malaysian blogger to appear in their TV ad, and I am super honoured to be part of that.
Now, as cliche as it may sound, kennysia.com is nothing without the readers.
Which is why to celebrate my 3 seconds of fame on TV, I pitched an idea to Mister Potato for a very special online contest to reward you, my readers.

Three weeks ago, I put the call out to my kennysia.com readers to take part in the ‘Eat A Chip Like Kenny Sia’ contest. The grand prize was:
(1) A holiday for two to Bangkok
(2) Me as your personal tour guide
(3) A generous amount of shopping money
(4) An everlasting friendship with Kenny Sia
Yes, this is a contest like no other, because this one has my friendship on the booty as the big prize.
To take part in the contest, all that needs to be done is to take a photo of yourself imitating my part in the TV ad.

The contest has ended and the response was jaw-droppingly overwhelming.
I was expecting just a simple “jump and bite” picture.
Something like this.

Instead, what I got in my inbox was utter shock and horror. 😉 The extent that people go to abuse someone just to win themselves a free trip to Bangkok is just ridiculous.
First there was Rachel Liew’s sister abuse.

Save petrol, use Mister Potato

Then there was Tee Kean Lam‘s baby abuse.

Jesselyn Lam brought out her tortoise to her backyard to abuse.

Her tortoise bears an uncanny resemblance to Kenny

Loh Chan Wai carved out a potato, stick some eyes onto it and abuse.

And JC Veaghen took out her Spongebob plush toy to abuse.

Then there were many good ones who took the slightly more “unconventional” approach.
Susan Low‘s baby girl is too cute not to post up.

Fiona Lim thought Mister Potato was a Mexican singer and dressed up as one

Pirated version of Mister Potato

Douglas Lim got caught with his “Kenny Sia” expression when he violated the fundamental rule of cleanliness in his science laboratory.

Joshua Chng gave his boy Mister Potato chips as motivation to do sit-ups.

Rachel Beh made good use of her double-taping skills to create this Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Kung Fu chip moment.

Then there’s one who thought all I wanted was a hot chick as my travel companion.
Instead of sending me a photo of her eating Mister Potato, she sent me a photo of herself posing like this.

Trust me, I was very tempted to just put her through as the winner.
There were many very good entries, and I had a difficult time short-listing those few for the sponsor.

Tong Ching Yee’s “Spud Lovers”

I’m sure the head honchos at Mister Potato knew the stakes was high. They probably sat down in one of their top level board meetings (along with their Mexican-looking moustached mascot), examining every single photo, until they eventually chose one person as the winner.
Any the winner is…


Joshua Chng with his Mister Potato motivational sit up photo!
Congratulations! Joshua will now get to bring a friend to travel with me on an all-expense paid trip to Bangkok, Thailand!
For all the short-listed entries of the ‘Eat A Chip Like Kenny Sia’ contest, go to the Mister Potato website and click on Mister Potato Goodies

WY Leong’s Pac Chip

As much as I appreciate the contribution of all readers, unfortunately there is room for only one winner.
There were many who went through extreme lengths taking part in this contest but didn’t managed get anything.
Like Yee Bing, who decided to eat the chip from…


…somebody’s feet.
Sorry you didn’t win.

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It was something I could never have expected when the brand manager of Mister Potato called me up.

Mister Potato: “Would you like to make a cameo appearance in our latest TV commercial?”
Kenny Sia: “What! Me? You sure? It sounds fun, but… I dunno how to act leh!”
Mister Potato: “Don’t worry about it, it’s just a cameo. Besides, there will be there people telling you what to do.”
Kenny Sia: “Does that mean I have to fly to KL?”
Mister Potato: “No, the shooting will be done in Bangkok!”
And with that I found myself in Bangkok, Thailand for this once in a lifetime opportunity to appear in an ad for Mister Potato.

Okay. I know I am not an actor, I have never acted before and I have zero clue on how the whole thing works.
I was confused, but at the same time honoured that Mister Potato actually has enough faith to handpick me to make an appearance in their TV commercial. Not only that, they flew me all the way to Bangkok to do the shoot!
Not like there’s not enough qualified actors in Thailand. But when such a big corporation like Mister Potato is willing to bend over backwards for me, of course I feel compelled to do a good job for them.

Question is, why of all places, Bangkok?
Well, if there is one thing I know the Thais are good at making (apart from spicy Tom Yum soup), it’s their rib-tickling pants-droppingly hilarious TV commercials.
The best thing is, I didn’t even know until I arrived on set that I would be working with not just one of the best production houses in Thailand, but throughout the whole of Asia as well.

Phenomena is the TV commercial production house responsible for a lot of those funny Thai commercials that you see circulating around the Youtube.
They are really well-known in the advertising industry, and even produced the most awarded TV commercial director in the world. In fact, they have won so many awards, they were even given an award for winning too many awards!

Fake Kenny doesn’t look like actual Kenny

I’ve never done any of these before.
Because I couldn’t attend any of the casting and fitting sessions before the shoot, Phenomena went through quite a bit of trouble for me.
We communicated a lot through e-mail, and when I found out they basically used this random guy to model for the photos for my wardrobe, I LOLed.
Can see from his face that he looked quite tulan lah, as if saying, “Nabeh this Kenny Sia didn’t come early to Bangkok. Made me to the dirty job for you only.”
Sorry, dude!

Then there’s this other thing about the casting process that really tickled my funny bones as well.
Before I flew to Bangkok, I was requested to fill out this casting form.
The FIRST question they asked, immediately after I filled out my name and age, was this:

HAVE YOU EVER MODELLED NUDE?
What!? What kinda question is that?
To me, that was almost like the equivalent of going up to a girl, asking “Hi, what is your name?”
“Now can I see your boobs please?”

I was really excited about doing my first TV commercial. Having slept only just a few hours the night before, I arrived on location bright and early at an ungodly hour of 6 in the morning.
Filming was done in a quaint park located some distance away from central Bangkok. When I arrived, two huge semi-trailers were already parked by the roadside and a team of about 30 workers was busy carrying stuff, clearing rubbish and setting up props to prepare for the shoot.

I was simply astounded by the level of preparation for this shoot and attention to detail for everything. It was pretty impressive. They got props for every little thing I could think of, and virtually every other thing no one could’ve thought of.
They were so attentive that they even prepared English-language signboards to cover up the original Thai ones in the background just in case, and even mini-trampolines so we could jump higher than what we’re capable of.

Actors are treated very well by the production team.
This is the food area, where the crew has very considerately prepared meals and drinks for us.
There’s also a makeshift laundry and clothing line to hang our wet clothes.

We all need to become fitting potatoes in our lives sometimes

I was promptly introduced to the wardrobe department, who already had my outfit ready.
In my opinion, the wardrobe department was the coolest department of the production team. The casting manager was this nice auntie who knew exactly what look she wanted out of me.
All I was asked to do was change into the T-shirt and pants they provided, and then just stand still on the spot while three people simultaneously worked on my hair, my accessories and my clothing.
In no time, I was transformed from Kenny Sia to “Guy In Boat” in the Mister Potato Commercial.

Practicing my facial expressions

If you guys had watched the video, you’d know that the ad was actually pretty short. In fact, it was only half a minute long.
How long does it take to shoot a 30 second long video clip? Certainly not one whole day, I presume!
30 seconds isn’t very long and by right, the filming process should finish pretty quickly. At least, that was what I hoped so I could bugger off and enjoy a 3-hour-long Thai spa session.

Despite it being only a 30-second-long TV commercial, in reality we had to shoot multiple scenes because the director wanted to have a wide selection of different footage at his disposal for editing later.
Some scenes even had to be repeated over and over again to achieve the best take. Even if one person accidentally made an error, the ENTIRE scene had to be resetted and then we had to do it all over again.
The whole shooting process was long, gruelling and tiring. For those of us as extras, there’s a lot of idling and waiting in between scenes, which was something I’m not used to since I’ve always been a workaholic doing many things at once.
On the good side, I had some free time to get to know my other cast members better.

Girl on park bench

The Thais are really fantastic people. Almost all of them took the effort to chat up to me eventhough we know we’re gonna have trouble communicating fluently. They asked me about Kuching, and some even wondered if I were some kinda movie star back home because I was specially flown in from Malaysia.
To that, I laughed and laughed and laughed until my left tit fall off.

For once, it was actually pretty refreshing to speak to the local Thais without them trying to sell me souvenirs/give me massage/ride their tuk-tuk.

Girl in boat

This is Yue Hwa. She is my “girlfriend” who I shared a bed boat with in the commercial.
In real life, Yue Hwa is a 19-year-old student whose exotic looks comes from her Italian and Thai parentage. She was the only person I spoke to in fluent Mandarin, which she claimed to have picked up herself after subjecting herself to Mando-pop songs by Fish Leong.

The first scene that Yue Hwa and I had to do was also our most difficult.
What we’re supposed to do is, on the director’s cue, shout out loudly, jump as high as we can from our boat into the river, and then swim as fast as we can towards the bridge.
“Swim like you are a crazy person!” said the director.
Sounds simple? Not quite.
I already made a mistake on my first try.
I was so excited that instead of LEAPING from the boat, I lost my balance and TRIPPED myself into river like a fat elephant.

It was the most awkward-looking jump I had ever done, and the wobbly little boat didn’t make things better.
Obviously I ruined their footage. And obviously I couldn’t do another take right away because I was already drenched in filthy river water.
So how?

The crew helped me out from the murky river and proceeded to blow me dry all over using a HAIRDRYER.
I barely even had time to catch my breath because 10 minutes later, I was put back on the boat and to do a second take.
Then another accident happened.

The director told me to act like a mad man.
But I got into “the zone” so much that as soon as the director yelled “Action!”, I threw away my paddle so hard that the damn thing flew and hit the head of the crew member behind me.

It must be the most excruciating pain ever and he complained to me about it.
Luckily for me, the guy was ok about the incident. Accidents do happen, especially when you’re dealing a noob actor with no prior acting experience.
Some other actor however, wasn’t as fortunate.

Among our cast, there’s this damn impressive stuntwoman whose role it was to run past the main character, jump off from the bridge onto this floating barge that’s supposed to cushion her fall.

Unlike me, Miss Stuntwoman is by no means a noob in acting. She has worked as a theatre actress before on the set of Wild Wild West in A’Famosa Resort, where she had to jump down from buildings and perform other death-defying stunts.
But somehow when Miss Stuntwoman leaped from the bridge onto the barge, she landed awkwardly and sprained her ankle bad.

The girl was in so much pain she had to be sent to the hospital immediately. At that point, I thought we might have to call off the shooting since we’re down by one cast member and there wasn’t anyone to replace her.
By right, the last thing anyone in her situation would think about is to finish the ad.

But instead of heeding doctor’s advice to stay at home and take a break, Miss Stuntwoman limped back to our filming location, bandaged ankles and all.
That, my friend, didn’t just take guts.
It takes BALLS.

The final portion of the ad was when we had to soak ourselves in river water. Ironically, it was the most unpleasant and yet my favourite part of the shoot.
There was this scene where we all had to poke our heads out from the murky river water, and then open our mouths wide and show our greedy faces.
Try as we may, this was how pathetic we all looked when we did what we did.

We were asked to hold our facial expressions for as long as we could.
But then our jaws got tired from opening so wide for so long, and we ended up looking a bit stupid like this.

Now, being immersed for three whole hours inside stench-filled disgusting river water wasn’t exactly my idea of fun.
We joked around and tried to take our minds off the odour. The production crew was also nice enough to pass us bottles of ice cold water during every break.

Somehow I couldn’t help but to laugh at myself at the irony of my situation.
While everyone else goes to Thailand to soak themselves for 3 hours in traditional Thai spas, I actually went to Thailand to soak myself for 3 hours inside filthy the river of Bangkok.

As we splashed around, I must have lost count on the number of times I inadvertently swallowed those dirty river water. And let me tell ya, it sure didn’t taste good.
All I could think about at that point in time was a glass of ice cold beer, and two cans of my favourite Tomato-Flavoured Mister Potato chips.

Still, we made the most out of the situation and even went on to shoot multiple endings for the TV commercial. Some of those alternate endings we shot were really quirky and funny, and if we’re lucky, Mister Potato could release those versions online.
After doing many different takes of me jumping from the boat, blowdrying myself, dipping in the dirty river and splashing around like a mad man, at long last the director shouted “Cut!” for the final time and called it a wrap.

There was jubilance in the air as we high-fived each other and congratulated everyone over the hard work we all put in.
Shooting this 30 second TV commercial took close to 12 hours. We arrived at sunrise and finished just before sunset. Honestly, I never felt more relieved to get a job done.

This was only my first acting experience and already I gotta say, I’m developing a whole new level of appreciation for professional actors and actresses.
It’s a 30 second long TV commercial. And of that entire 30 seconds, I only appeared on screen for less than 3 seconds.
And yet, it took some 12 hours and a whole production team just to get that 30 seconds perfect.

No doubt, swimming and drinking brown-coloured river water wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Still, I had fun. LOTS of fun. 🙂
I am always up for trying something new and this is exactly the kind of thrill I seek for. And I love it.
Thanks to Mister Potato, not only did I get a rare opportunity to work with the best production house, I actually learnt something new. If I’m not mistaken, I might be the first Malaysian blogger to score a part in a TV commercial.

It’s simply surreal watching myself on screen in a TV commercial that I am so proud to be part of. I can’t wait for the ad to officially go to air across all the TV channels in Malaysia next week.
Mister Potato is indeed one of my favourite snacks since primary school, and never in a million years would I imagine that I would see myself their TV commercial years later.
If given another chance, I’m sure as heck that I’m gonna do it all over again. 😉
One thing though.

After we all exited from the dirty river, we were directed to have a well-deserved hot shower in the public toilets nearby.
But then something hit my mind.
A public toilet in a park, located next to a murky river? Why do I get such a weird feeling that something might be wrong with this arrangement.
True enough, I walked to the back of the toilets and then I spotted this water pipe.
It’s a pipe that flows directly from toilets…

… right into the murky brown river.
Yes. For the whole 3 hours, I was actually soaking myself inside filthy used toilet water.
But yeah, it was all worth it. 😛

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Remember a while, I had to go to Thailand to act in a TV commercial?

That was nearly two months ago. And now, the final product is ready to be shown.
kennysia.com proudly presents, me, in the WORLD PREMIERE of Mister Potato‘s latest TV commercial – ‘Fish’.

Anyone manage to spot me?

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So, season one of Malaysian Dreamgirl is finally over.

The eventual winner of the Nissan Latio and RM10,000 Ambank Mastercard is none other than Cindy Tey.
There was a bit of a discontent among the viewers after the winner was announced. Eventhough Cindy won by the most votes, it was pretty clear she wasn’t the most popular among the viewing public. But in the end, votes are votes, rules are rules and it would be terribly unfair if we were to change the rules halfway through the competition.
Nonetheless, we learnt a great deal in making this series.

Malaysian Dreamgirl has been an extraordinary journey.
It has been an incredible experience not just for the 12 girls who participated in the contest, not just for the thousands watching it worldwide, but also for all of us in the cast and crew who were involved in the production of this show.

There is a lot I wanted to say about the show.
The truth is, I’ve been waiting a long time to write this because there are a lot of things I wanted to get off my chest regarding MDG, but somehow I just feel like it isn’t appropriate to voice it out when the show was still going on.
But now, I want to say my piece.

I first heard about Malaysian Dreamgirl back in December 2007.
Back then, no one knew what the show is about or what it is going to be like, except for the fact that MDG is gonna be the country’s first online reality model search.

Nuffnang was the one who brokered the deal between myself and Capxion Media. Over coffee, Capxion CEO Jerad and Program Director Edmund gave me a rundown about what their plan for this online reality show is.
To be honest, the first time I hear it, I couldn’t help but to feel a bit skeptical.

A show that is broadcasted completely online? Not even on TV?
Isn’t that a bit risky? What are these people thinking?
Who is gonna spend 30 minutes sitting in front of their bloody computer watching a reality show about some model search, when the TV screen is larger and infinitely more comfortable?
Why broadcast the show over the Internet? How are they gonna handle the bandwidth costs?
There is just too much unknown.

I could see it on his face. Jerad must have heard the same skepticism from the people he spoke to a hundred times over.
The fact of the matter is: nothing like this has ever been done in Malaysia before.
Malaysian Dreamgirl back in December 2007 was like one big blur of unknown. Capxion Media was a brand new company and the people behind it had close to zero experience in producing any form of television show before. Let alone one that is gonna be broadcasted exclusively over the Internet.
There were big challenges in front of them, and the chances of them failing is very, very high.

I wasn’t confident in their project at first. But a part of me couldn’t help but be impressed with their idea.
These people are creative. Creative people innovate. Creative people take risks when everybody else looked at it and said “No, I am too chicken to do it.”

Despite my initial skepticism, by the end of our conversation, Capxion Media had me convinced to work with them.
Jerad and his team had put together a plan that is downright impressive and virtually infallible. When I listened to him answer my questions without a shred of uncertainty, I couldn’t help but be amazed at how they managed to have a solution for every single problem that I raised. Even more surprising is how they managed to attract so many sponsors for something that has never been done before.

I told Edmund, for my own sake, that I would not take part a project that is doomed to fail. But now that they had convinced me how worthwhile this project, the only thing I want to see is Malaysian Dreamgirl suceeding.
I said that with all honesty and sincerity because I share their dreams. I want to see good quality Malaysian content on the Internet. And I would do my best to ensure good quality Malaysian content is recognised the whole world over.
Thus, “Kenny Sia the MDG Judge” is born.

In my first entry about MDG, I mentioned that I was put on as a judge to represent the views of the average joes. But of course we all know that that’s not true.
It is no secret to anyone that when Capxion Media hired me to become the judge for MDG that it was more for marketing reasons than anything else.

Let’s face it, I don’t know how to sing, don’t know how to act, never been in front of the camera except for a pathetic stint Deal Or No Deal. So who am I kidding?
The only reason why I am on the judging panel for MDG is because I have a blog that is read by many, and Capxion Media wanted to leverage on that.

Now, depending on how you look at it, Kenny Sia being on Malaysian Dreamgirl can be a good thing or a bad thing.
It is a good thing, because this is the first time ever a blogger in Malaysia has been asked to go on a reality show, purely because he is recognizable as a blogger. I don’t know any other company who is willing take the risk putting somebody who has no acting/hosting/modelling skills whatsoever in front of the camera. Especially in one of their first projects.
It is also a bad thing, because as many critics noticed, without any acting or hosting experience under my belt, people may not warm up to watching me on screen.
But I guess, everybody has to start somewhere right?

My actions and words irked a lot of people during the auditions in Episode 1.
I was called all sorts of names by the viewers. The general consensus was that Kenny Sia as the MDG Judge comes across as a horny guy who was overly excited everytime he sees a girl wearing short skirts coming to audition, as well as one that is utterly ruthless towards unattractive girls who don’t make an effort.

And their judgment would be right. 🙂
That’s exactly what my character should be isn’t it?
If you put an average joe on a modelling contest where all the girls are dressed to kill, of course he’s gonna get damn excited when hot chicks wearing skimpy clothings come through lah. No average joe is gonna sit still and behave themselves.
Unless they’re monks lah.

MDG Self-Portrait: This is what each girl drew of themselves. Blindfolded.

You wouldn’t imagine how many hate mails I received after that episode.
Kenny Sia as an MDG judge was rude and not a very popular person. But there are reasons why I did what I did.

My self-portrait the MDG girls asked me to draw, blindfolded

Firstly, I was playing a character, and I wanted it to be a memorable character. Because it was our first episode, I needed to make an impact. Controversy creates cash. No publicity is bad publicity. If there are people out there talking about what a horrible person I was, then that is a good thing for the show.
Secondly, it was to sensationalize the show. How boring would the auditions be if every judge were diplomatic in their words for fear of hurting girl’s feelings? Elaine and Jimmy cannot afford to be too harsh on these girls because they have a reputation in their profession that they need to protect. One is a former Miss Malaysia, and the other is well-known in the fashion industry.
The only person left to do the job is me. And I don’t mind because I always wanted to play the role of a bad guy. 🙂

But of course, now that the show is over, there are some apologies I think I owe certain people.
To the girl who auditioned in the green floral jacket, to the girl who wore the black sexy two-piece clubbing gear, to the girl whose face I said was too oily, I am sorry.

To Giselle the kindergarten teacher, I am sorry.
And I am even more sorry that I talked about you on my website. It happened because you were such a great potential and yet you didn’t get through. Although I did tell you the reasons why you didn’t make it, that was not broadcasted in Episode 2. And the people were confused and upset and questioning our decisions.
I should have explained politely, instead of getting in character as “Kenny Sia the mean judge” and wrote what I wrote. And for that I am sorry.

The crew behind Malaysian Dreamgirl took it upon themselves to listen to all the feedback online and they strived to improve in the production of every episode. If you watched Episode 1 versus Episode 16, you’ll notice a world of difference in the production quality.

Being part of the show, I sometimes felt that there was more dramas behind the scenes than in front of it. Sometimes it’s difficult for the cameras to capture everything.
Even during the audition stages, the amount of unflattering nicknames thrown around was incredible.
I swear if we were to show what actually happened behind the scenes, we are so gonna get in to trouble. People are gonna riot all the way to Capxion Media’s office. Among some of the nicknames given was “Senget Face”, “Klingon”, “A Box With Four Things Sticking Out”, “Pau Face”, “Drug Addict”.
Of course I ain’t gonna reveal who these nicknames refer to. Otherwise I might get another “Giselle backlash” online.

Reality shows are weird, and the people behind reality shows are even weirder.
I remember in the photoshoot for Women’Secret, Cindy broke down and cried profusely because she wasn’t happy with her performance. I was there at the scene and I was the first to notice her outburst of emotions.
By right, the normal thing to do is for me to go over, show my concerns and ask her what’s wrong.
But because we’re shooting a reality show, my immediate first reaction was “QUICK! QUICK! WHERE IS THE CAMERA!”
Looking back, that was kinda cruel.

Jay’s latest photoshoot is titled “Woman With Face Cramps”

But I must say, I have a lot of fun doing the show.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to say a big thank you to Capxion Media, especially to Jerad and Edmund for giving me an opportunity to become part of the show. Thank you for having the confidence in me, flying me all the way from Kuching to KL and putting me in front of the camera knowing full well that I have no experience whatsover doing something like this at all.

Thank you to the Top 12 finalists, who have been so fantastic and so cooperative. I still have butterflies in my stomach thinking back to that evening when Ash Nair, Jonathan Putra, Hansen Lee and myself were invited over to your place for a candlelight dinner. It was like in heaven, surrounded by such beauties who cooked and fed and entertained us.
If Malaysian Dreamgirl were about the search for the perfect partner, you’ll all be winners already.
Now that each of you have turned into mini-celebrities of your own, I have no doubt that you will all find success in your dream job in the near future.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who watched Malaysian Dreamgirl and accepted me for playing my role in front of the camera.
I know I had riled a lot of viewers up with my character. But don’t worry, the producers have not approached me to do Season Two yet, so my involvement in future episodes is up in the air. 😉

Together, we have managed to create something so truly sensational.
Never in my life have I seen a locally-produced ONLINE series that has created so much hype, that is so widely followed around the world, evoked so much emotions among the viewers and produced so many addicts who faithfully logged on to the website every Thursday and Saturday to catch the latest episodes.

I know of even Americans, Singaporeans, Australians who sent in SMSes to vote for their favourite contestants. Imagine that!
The cult following that resulted from the show went absolutely above and beyond our imaginations. And yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg for our uniquely Malaysian made content.
Season Two of MDG will definitely be bigger, better and a lot more exciting than what we just saw.

It was such a proud moment for me watching the Top 12 strutting their stuff on the catwalk at the MDG Grand Finale.
I felt as if I was their DAD watching his 12 daughters all grown up. Wtf like attending their graduation ceremony liddat.
But nothing beat the BEST moment for me during the Grand Finale. I actually met my SUPER DUPER BIGGEST IDOL EVER in my entire life.

Cindy’s Dad!
THE LEGEND HIMSELF. OMG.
But you know what? Meeting the man himself was not the coolest thing that happened that night.
Guess what the COOLEST thing was?

I got his autograph!

Oh yeah baby, who wants a piece of this? RM500 please.

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With the shocking elimination of two of Malaysian Dreamgirl‘s favourites, Valerie and Eyna, it’s pretty safe to say the show now is starting to get pretty interesting. 😉

I’m glad as well that a lot people’s initial complaints about the show is being addressed.
We still have a long way to go, but if you’ve been following the episodes of Malaysian Dreamgirl (like you should!), then you’d have noticed that the editing and post-production value of the show have improved tremendously.

Granted, comparison with similar shows in America is inevitable. Then again, those shows have thousands of sponsors and 100 over people working on the production team, whereas I can count the number of people working on Malaysian Dreamgirl with two hands and maybe one foot.
You can’t compare it that way.

Besides, where else can you find a bunch of Malay, Chinese and Indian girls on a model search reality show, speaking in a mix of Malay, English and Manglish?
Malaysian Dreamgirl is a show about ordinary Malaysian girls going through the difficult process to become extraordinary models. It is a show made by Malaysians, for Malaysians, because we want you to be able to relate to these contestants and what they’re are going through.
You can’t say the same for American-based shows now, can you? Those contestants in those shows are like aliens ok.

One question I get asked a lot even until today is why Giselle, the long-legged kindergarten teacher from the auditions, didn’t get through to the Top 12.
I admit, I was a fan of hers during the first-stage auditions. Lim Jimmy was the first to notice her pimples covered under her unusually thick make up, but we didn’t make a big fuss out of it.

Problem is, by the time the second-stage auditions come around, the kindy teacher’s face isn’t just dotted with pimples anymore. It has turned into a full-blown GRAND CANYON. It’s almost like she was infected with some sorta disease.
I know a lot of people love her, but there’s simply no chance in hell we could let her through in that condition. Not when there are other girls more deserving to be in the Top 12.

Anyway, next weekend I’ll be travelling to KL (again) to issue the girls a brand new challenge.
I can’t wait for it. It’s been almost a month since I last met up with Adeline, Cindy, Fiqa, Hanis, Nadia, Jay and Ringo. I’m just anxious to see how far they have progressed now that the end is near.
In less than 4 weeks time, we shall crown our first ever Malaysian Dreamgirl. And here’s what I think each contestant’s chances are.
Cindy

To vote Cindy, SMS DREAM 03 and send it to 33001

Cindy Tey is exactly the type of girl that a lot of guys will like, but many girls hate.
And many girls also hate the guys who like Cindy.
It’s very sad lah. You really gotta pity her for not being able to get along with the other girls in the house. Even the comments on her blog were laced with vicious attackers calling her names normally reserved for Samy Vellu.

Cindy in Women’Secret – not a lot of secrets there

I’m impartial towards Cindy. One thing I must say is that she’s not as bad as many make her out to be. You gotta admire her also for the lengths she’s willing to go through to succeed in this competition.
Her passion shows, more so than the other girls. The fact that her family drove 5 hours down from Johor to KL for the auditions is just one example of how bad she wants it. And for that I give her credit.

Cindy in Precinct 2 – still not good, but getting better

The problem with Cindy is that she tries too hard.
During the Women’Secret photoshoot, Cindy tries to be sexy, but often times her sex appeal borderlines on being trashy. Instead of taking small steps one at a time, Cindy tends to do things her on way and ends up falling all over the place. Her catwalk at 1Utama was the very definition of the word ‘atrocious’.

Cindy in White Summer – shows how youthful and happy she looks. It’s her best shoot so far

She has a lot to learn lah, but I wish that she goes far in this competition because I can see that she wants it very much.

Jay

To vote Jay, SMS DREAM 07 and send it to 33001

Jaishana Loganathan is the most experienced model of the top 12, having done many runway shows and appearing on magazine covers as recently as February.

Jay in Women’Secret – whatever she’s selling here I’m buying

In Malaysian Dreamgirl, Jay sets the standards for all the other girls, and many of them are still struggling to catch up.
But being experienced does not automatically mean that you will win this competition. This show goes for 10 weeks. And viewers will get bored easily if she does not produce something that will blow people pants off with each photoshoot.

Jay in Precinct 2 – one word: WOW.

When I last blogged about Malaysian Dreamgirl, many kennysia.com readers criticised Jay for having a “man face”. Seriously, I don’t see that as being a problem. Jay was great in the Women’Secret photoshoot. But when it comes to Precinct 2 where they all have to dress up like men, Jay’s shoot completely blew all her competition away.
I just could not understand why she came up in the Bottom 3 last week.

Jay in White Summer – not her best, but it shows her versatility in her photoshoots

Vote for her dammit. Jay is Top 3 material.

Adeline

To vote Adeline, SMS DREAM 01 and send it to 33001

Her name is Adeline Lee and her favourite food is SOO-SEE! 😀
Enough about her lack of fluency in English. 😉 Honestly, she has improved a lot after staying with the girls.

Adeline in Women’Secret – aka “Har? What am I doing here?”

Adeline consistently takes amazing photos, except maybe for the ones where tries to look cool because those ones made her look like a clueless duck instead.

Adeline in Precinct 2 – even the chair looked better than her

Adeline’s favourite Malaysian model is Amber Chia.
In more ways than one, Adeline reminds me of Amber. That’s very good because Amber is a very successful model. But that’s also very bad because like Amber pretty much only appeals to the Chinese market and not the mainstream.
But Adeline is actually one of the better contestants left on the show. Not as good as Jay or Nadia, but good nonetheless.

Adeline in Precinct 2 – nice and sweet, but how come all her smiles look the SAME!?

I thought her photos are the best among all the girls in the White Summer photoshoot.

Fiqa

To vote Fiqa, SMS DREAM 05 and send it to 33001

She’s my favourite at the start of the competition.
Me likey this photo of her.

Fiqa in Women’Secret – seductive. I like.

Very vogue. Very mysterious. Tasteful.
I like her looks, I like her personality. Nur Afiqa Liyana Chong is a tomboy trapped in a woman’s body, and I’ve got a thing for that too.
During the auditions, she playfully played with her tongue piercing and that was enough to win me over. Hehe.

Fiqa in Precinct 2 – looks like an ad for an expensive scotch whiskey

But somehow, while the photos of the other girls keeps getting better and better, Fiqa’s photos seem to get worse and worse.
Since the Women’Secret photoshoot, none of Fiqa’s other photos seem to make an impression. Even on the show, Fiqa was quite forgettable. She seems to have lost the X-factor as the show progresses. Her bitch-hunt against Cindy may have worked, but it earned her a few detractors as well.
Me no likey these photos of her.

Fiqa in White Summer – I really only like the third pic. The others are crap.

Fiqa was on the bottom 3 last week. At this stage of the competition, I gotta say I am not surprised.

Ringo

To vote Ringo, SMS DREAM 11 and send it to 33001

Now here’s a tough one for me to judge.
It’s no secret that I know Cheesie and that I’m close friends with her. As her friend, obviously I wanted her to go far.

Ringo in Women’Secret – all the curves in all the right places

At the same time, I don’t wanna be accused of biasness and let the show lose credibility. This show cannot afford to lose credibility. Which is why during the auditions, I sat back and let the other two judges decide whether to put her through to the Top 12 or not. They decided against it, so I got nothing to say.
(By chance, one of the original Top 12 pulled out and Ringo was called back in.)
But still, you gotta be impressed with Ringo’s photoshoot after her makeover.

Ringo in Precinct 2 – too cute to be masculine

Ringo is the smallest in size among all the girls, but yet she’s able to deliver results in her photoshoots. With the exception of Precinct 2, all her photos turned out amazing.
No doubt Ringo is gonna stay in the competition for a long time in part due to the huge following of her blog. This competition is based on popular votes, yes, and her fans are gonna vote to keep her in. None of the other contestants have that advantage. Question is, can they win over Ringo’s fan base?

Ringo in White Summer – I think she’s the best among all the girls in this photoshoot

Well, if even an accomplished singer like Dayang can lose out to Suki in One In A Million, surely that’s saying something about the fickle-mindedness of Malaysian fans.

Hanis

To vote Hanis, SMS DREAM 06 and send it to 33001

“Datin” Hanis, the public’s favourite contestant from Malaysian Dreamgirl.

Hanis in Women’Secret – looking older than she actually is

Almost every single one of my friend who watches the show enjoy watching Hanis.
Whether it’s that little dance she did when Jimmy praised her, or her manja voice everytime she does an on-screen interview, or how cute she looks when she cries everytime a girl leaves the house – Malaysia just could not get enough of Hanis the Manis.

Hanis in Precinct 2 – something looks a bit strange here

I can see why. Hanis is a little girl who comes across like she is everybody’s high school best friend. All my female friends watching the show told me that they can relate to Hanis as a young innocent girl put into a stressful situation.
There is no denying of Hanis’ popularity, but the problem here is – Hanis cannot take good pictures!

Hanis in White Summer – looks like a toothpaste ad for people wearing braces

We have done three photoshoots so far, and all of them came up subpar.
How lah to model with photos like that?

Nadia

To vote Nadia, SMS DREAM 09 and send it to 33001

Not only does she have the best body (in my opinion) among the top 12, Nadiah Johary is easily the most confident of the lot.
That is a compliment to her because in modelling, confidence equals sexy.

Nadia in Women’Secret – ooh la la.

And Nadia is incredibly sexy.
The only thing working against Nadia is that she comes across being very competitive. Even more so than Cindy.
As much as I think she’s one of the best in the Top 12, Malaysian Dreamgirl is based on popular vote. People might not like her and people might eliminate her although she is good, just like how the people eliminated Eyna.

Nadia in Precinct 2 – oozing confidence like only Nadia can.

When she first came for the auditions, the judges all agree that Nadia comes across a little “fierce”. It’s in her eyes and the way she portrays herself. But in her defence, being “fierce” may not necessarily be a bad thing. Angelina Jolie is “fierce” too, but look at where she is now.
(Personally I’d like to see Nadia in a tight-fitting leather suit carrying a whip, but that’s a different story for another day.)

Nadia in Precinct 2 – smiles are too wide making her look awkward, but oh so feminine

That being said, she gotta tone down the attitude a bit when it comes to photoshoots and it seems like she is listening to the judges’ advice. Because of that, Nadia has produced better and better photos, and that is a testament to how seriously this girl takes this competition. I like that.
At this point of the competition, if Nadia wins I’ll be very, very proud.


This must be longest blog entry I’ve written since the interviews I did for the Elections, so I sure hope people WATCH THE SHOW!
MDG fever is sweeping the country. There’s a Facebook group created here. Read what other bloggers are saying over here. There’s also a multitude of contests to keep people occupied over here.
And with only 4 weeks left till the end, it goes without saying that voting is extremely crucial at this point.

Who will win Malaysian Dreamgirl?

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Last weekend was an interesting one for me.

As previously mentioned, I was one of the judges for Malaysian Dreamgirl, an new model search reality show that’s soon to be aired exclusively over the Internet.
It was an interesting experience for me for a couple of reasons.

Having always been a fan of such talent contests as Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, I was curious to see how I might fare as a contestant.
Knowing myself though, I doubt I’d go far. Even I gotta admit that my singing and dancing abilities are so crap, I make William Hung look like a dance instructor.

Which is why to find myself on this partciular show, sitting on this side of the judging panel, is quite surreal.
I don’t know anything about modelling. Yet, never in my life would I imagine a small time Kuching boy like me could become a judge of a modelling contest. Let alone working alongside someone like Elaine Daly, who herself is an accomplished local celebrity I previously only read about in magazines.

With so much honour given to me, you’d think I’d handle my job damn seriously, right?
Sadly, no.
I screwed up. Of all days, I had to pick our first day of shooting to screw up. Talk about giving a bad first impression.
Long story short, my flight from Auckland-Sydney-Singapore-KL had a bit of boo-boo. I arrived KL late, my luggage turned up late, and by the time I made my glorious entrance to the set, I was already 2 hours late.
That’s 2 hours that all the cast and crew and contestants had to wait for Kenny Sia to get his diva ass ready.

Ok, so we didn’t get off on a good start, and it’s entirely my fault. Lucky for us though, things only went uphill from there.
My fellow judges Elaine and Jimmy knew each other and had worked together before in the modelling industry before, but it was the first time I sat together with them, so I wasn’t sure how well we would connect.
Surprisingly, we were fantastic together.

The first girl who got through to the second round auditions, Adeline

The first few girls came into audition room and we unanimously turned them away. But when they left, they all said the judges were being too nice.
That was like an ultimate insult to me. As an onscreen talent, I don’t wanna be remembered as a “Mr Nice Guy” who only agrees with what the other two judges was saying.
Fortunately, as more and more girls auditions, the differences between the judges began to naturally emerge.

Veteran stylist Lim Jimmy was hands down the nicest of us all.
He was the “Paula Abdul” of the judges. Jimmy may be relatively unknown before Malaysian Dreamgirl. After this show, I say he’s definitely gonna be remembered as the Mother Theresa of the Dreamgirl judges.
Jimmy sees good in every single girl who auditioned. Even if their model qualities are not immediately obvious, Jimmy would scrutinize them from head-to-toe and give them suggestions on how to improve.

Next is our unofficial Dreamgirl “chief judge” Elaine Daly.
I feel that Elaine has extremely strict qualities when it comes determining which girl has what it takes to become a model. That’s understandable, I guess. Elaine has been modelling since she was 14 and throughout her career, she has met and worked with many beautiful people, including well-known international supermodels.
Obviously, with that as a benchmark, it is difficult for a lot of girls out there to live up to her expectations.

And then there was me, the “common man” of the Dreamgirl judges.
As I’ve mentioned, I was never part of the modelling industry. My yardstick does not extend beyond what I see in men’s magazines and because of that, my standards are very differently from Jimmy and Elaine.
I may not be able to tell from the girls who’ve auditioned, who will “make it” in the industry and who will not. But as soon as the girl walked through the door, I can tell which one is gonna be popular with the audience and which one will face intense criticism from the unforgiving public.

This one seriously cannot make it

Out of the three judges, I think I come across as the harshest and most straightforward of them all.
It wasn’t intentional and I didn’t mean to be harsh. My job is to the voice out what the typical internet commentors think about these girls who auditioned, and I tell ya, these internet commentors aren’t gonna be nice. If the girls are gonna participate in a popularity contest like this one, they are gonna have to deal with a lot of the negative comments posted online.

“I demand TWO REASONS why I did not make it past the auditions!”

So I sent a couple of girls crying out of the audition rooms.
On last count, my score was 4.
Elaine – nil.
Jimmy – nil.

Elaine and I are often locking horns with each other, mainly because we have very different standards when it comes to judging the girls.
One of things we could not agree on is the contestants’ height.
You will win points from Elaine Daly if you are tall and slender.
For me, I think height is not the most important quality a model should have. I reckon as long as you have a sweet and presentable face, you’re good to be a model already.

Danii, 155cm and full of spunk

A lot of girls who auditioned are very pretty eventhough they are small and petite. I had to campaign very hard to put these girls through, much to the dismay of Elaine Daly.
The former Miss Malaysia said, “This is not choose-a-girl-for-Kenny. This is Malaysian Dreamgirl. You can have a show called Kenny’s Dreamgirl where all girls are cute and short and girl-next-door. But this is Malaysian Dreamgirl.”

Elaine and I, right before she tore my head off

Even by my reduced standards, 7 out of 10 girls who came to audition are completely clueless about what it takes to be a model. At the very least, I would expect them to come dressed in their best and blow us away. But no.
A lot of girls auditioned came wearing what they would wear when they go out shopping with their friends on a Saturday afternoon. And to me, that just ain’t good enough.

“They said my dress looks like it’s made from a roadside mamak stall’s table cloth.”

Anyway, it was a very interesting first few days of auditions.
The Malaysian Dreamgirl auditions was also my first taste of how things work in the entertainment circles, and I must say I enjoyed it immensely.
The chemistry between the three of us judges was fantastic considering it was the first time we worked together. We complement each other very well, and in the end we picked an extremely well-varied group of finalists across all different races, age groups and experience levels.

Natasha, Priscilla, Adeline, Jean and Jay

12 finalists will enter the Dreamgirl House this weekend and be placed into lockdown for 2 months.
I cannot tell you who those 12 finalists are, so you have to check that out yourself. Sure, some contentious decisions were made and some of the more popular girls (like Cheesie) were eliminated, but when the time comes I’ll explain why they did not make the cut.

The first episode of Malaysian Dreamgirl will go to air Thursday next week on the 6th March on malaysiandreamgirl.tv, so be sure to bookmark your browsers.
I’m proud of the 12 girls we picked. Looking at them, this show is guaranteed be a rollercoaster ride of drama, emotions, jealousy and joy.

As for me, I’m just glad to take a break from the intense travelling between KL and Kuching for a while and put my focus back into kennysia.com.
I miss updating regularly.

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