Sunday June 8, 2008 Hong Kong The first auditions for Mr Hong Kong Contest 2008 were held yesterday at TVB City, where a mixture of characters attended to strut their stuff and show off their many talents. Due to the unrestricted upper age bracket for contestants, the usual spattering of "uncles" also made an appearance, along with some more likely candidates for the title. The contestants showed a lot of different qualities and talents for the interviews, including showing off their well built upper muscles and biceps, doing the splits and photography skills. One contestant even dressed in a red top in an attempt to stand out from the others and tried to grab more attention by befriending a female reporter to take his picture. In previous years, former E-kids band member Nick Lam (林中定) was turned down at the audition stage, this year he has applied again and spoke to the reporters, expressing his hopes to enter the finals. As part of Nick's demonstration of his skills, he did some break-dancing. TVB executive Ho Lai Chuen (何麗全) was a member of the judging panel and said that the quality of this year’s contestants was very high. He added that half of the contestants had degrees and quite a few are working as personal trainers. Asked about the age range of the contestants, Mr Ho answered that the youngest is 17 and the oldest is 50. Mr Ho also explained that around 20 contestants will be chosen at the first auditions. The second round will be held on 11 June where the finalists will be selected. The contestants who go through to the finals will then be put into two groups according to their age. Each group will consist of 6 men. As there will be 2 or 3 overseas recruitment contestants in the final, then out of the 67 local applicants seen, only 9 or 10 men will make it through tot he grand final on 02 August. credits: batgwa.
