Popular variety show Here Comes Kang and Xi (康熙來了) host Kevin Tsai (蔡康永) on Friday announced that he will be leaving the show.
His announcement prompted an immediate reply from his co-host, Hsu Hsi-ti (徐熙娣), also known as “Little S,” that she would not continue hosting the show if Tsai leaves.
The show’s title is a pun on the Emperor Kangxi (康熙) of the Qing Dynasty and the names of Tsai and Hsu. The show has been running for 12 years.
Photo: Hsu Hui, Taipei Times
“I am saying goodbye to Here Comes Kang and Xi,” Tsai wrote in a post on Facebook.
Though CtiTV (中天電視), the media group that airs the show, said Tsai resigned in order to clear his business schedule, many sources remain unconvinced.
Some have speculated that Tsai’s decision was in response to supposed pressure from Beijing over an episode aired on Oct. 9, when rap artist Chun Sheng (俊升) in an improvised performance slammed the Chinese, saying: “I am not some mainlander who is faking it everyday / Funky stuff, maybe I am going to get blocked.”
Tsai is known to be interested in hosting television shows in China and some sources speculate that threats of canceling negotiations might have pressured him to distance himself from the show.
However, the Chinese-based celebrity gossip writer Bapi Wang (扒皮王) said on his blog that Tsai has been wanting to quit the show since 2006 and that the show’s recent low ratings and offers to host shows in China were the decisive factors.
Others have speculated that Tsai, who went to the University of California Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television, wants to pursue a career in directing.
Tsai in December 2013 said in a interview that he “had a hard time imagining 10 more years” hosting Here Comes Kang and Xi.
Tsai and Hsu in 2005 received Golden Bell’s Best Variety Show Host Award for their work on the show, and hosted the 2010 Golden Horse Awards and this year’s Golden Bell Awards.
CtiTV issued a statement saying that producer Wang Wei-chun (王偉忠) is trying to persuade Tsai to stay.
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