Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder — but so, it appears, is ugliness. A Chinese television company seemed to be striking a blow for the unsightly when it announced it would screen its own version of Ugly Betty.
But now Ugly Wudi faces a backlash, with newspapers and Internet users complaining that the star of the show is too good-looking for the role.
The story of a smart, kind but defiantly unattractive girl struggling through an appearance-obsessed world has proven international appeal. The Colombian telenovela quickly spawned remakes in Russia, Germany, India and the US.
Hunan Television’s version goes on air next week. The Oriental Morning Post reported that one of the cast had said that Ugly Wudi was so “extremely ugly” he did not have the words to describe it.
But when the show’s star appeared for her first press conference on Wednesday, “many thought she was in fact a beauty” behind her braces and frumpy clothes.
The Information Times added indignantly: “Lin Wudi is much less ugly than Betty.”
The actor — who is not revealing her name — claimed the show would speak for every unattractive woman, adding: “It is telling us you don’t need to worry for [even] a girl that is ugly can do it.”
But she undermined her own argument somewhat when she assured reporters that she looked worse on screen.
“I worried that in the show I was too ugly for you to accept, so I made up a little,” she said.
Her agent said she prepared for the role by putting on 10kg and sunbathing to get a tan. Pale skin is highly prized in China and skin whitening products are a huge industry.
Her efforts did not impress potential viewers. By early afternoon almost 3,300 comments on the show had been posted on the popular Baidu Web site — many suggesting that the actress was too attractive and even arguing the program should be renamed “Pretty Wudi.”
“The actress should be fatter,” one disgruntled comment said.
Another argued: “Isn’t that hypocritical to use pretty women to play ugly girls?”
But a third comment said the choice merely reflected society, adding: “If they really use an ugly girl to play her, who will give her a chance?”
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
RSS