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Lai Ming-wei beat the competition to become a One Million Star winner. PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES

The second season of CTV's One Million Star (超級星光大道) "talent" show ended on a high note last Friday when club singer Lai Ming-wei (賴銘偉) beat favorite Liang Wen-yin (梁文音) to walk home with a diamond-studded trophy, an NT$1 million cash prize and a contract with Universal Music Taiwan.

Accused of being a ploy-driven rumor mill in the vernacular media, it is alleged One Million Star insiders unfairly aided Lai to boost ratings. Hostess Momoko Tao (陶子) put Chan Jen-hsiung (詹仁雄), the show's producer, on the spot by promising that he would jump into the ocean if such a nefarious scheme existed. The oath was first made popular by former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅), who has yet to honor his pre-election pledge to jump into the big blue if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won all eight of Taipei City's legislative districts.

In response to a slip in ratings, the "reality" show will hold preliminaries in Singapore, Japan and the US and raise the cash prize to NT$3 million.

According to Apple Daily, the previous two seasons generated an estimated NT$1 billion for CTV and record company HIM.

Malaysian singer Gary Tsao (曹格) is having quite the time with gossip hounds lately. Two weeks after Tsao publicly grumbled that Aska Yang (楊宗緯) received all the limelight for songs he had written, the blabbermouth let loose on Hit FM music show Love DJ (allegedly under the influence of alcohol) and enthralled the audience by revealing a slew of dirty little showbiz secrets.

Tsao insinuated that a well-known local director had conducted affairs with several cast members and several prominent male stars are, allegedly, in the habit of "taking advantage of their fans." Other dalliances Tsao blabbed about included a high-ranking record company manager falling for both a singer and her mom at the same time and another having homoerotic crushes on the company's contracted male stars.

As for his own dirty laundry, the celebrity rat admitted that he once stalked Taiwan's top model, Patina Lin (林嘉綺), at Hong Kong International Airport without arousing her suspicions. How did he do it? "I'm quite good at stalking," Tsao was quoted as saying in the Liberty Times, the Taipei Times' sister newspaper.

Celebrity circles seem to be undergoing a surge of sexual hormones ever since actress and high-society belle Terri Kwan (關穎) ditched male model Jerry Huang (黃志瑋). Bachelors who deem themselves suitable prospects (read: wealthy and upper-class) are vying for the diva's attention.

A China Airlines pilot, a legal consultant and Chen Chu-he V(陳楚河), starlet and son of the late Bamboo Union godfather Chen Chi-li (陳啟禮), are said to be among Kwan's pursuers. Lin Chi-you (林知佑), backed by the assets of family-run Hua Nan Financial Holdings Co, however, is rumored to be in the lead, for now.

The two were caught by paparazzi enjoying a romantic dinner at the Taipei Sheraton Tuesday night, feeding the rumor mill. Lin's number of dates with Kwan, it was surmised, has outstripped his rivals. He also seems to have accumulated the highest points with the man-magnet as he got to first base (hand-holding) last November.

- COMPILED BY HO YI
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