The comedian reckons it will be a tough fight between the two princesses who both have strong and big fanbases

Last year, Jeanette Aw walked home with the trophy for Most Favourite Female Character as Yao Jianhong in Together. Even Felicia Chin who raked in triple nominations for Love Blossoms (Tao Haitong), The Ultimatum (Sun Min), and Baby Bonus (Apple Hong) proved to be no match for her.

With a whittled-down list of nominees and the well-loved Felicia Chin out of the picture this year, we see a mix of actresses from drama and variety programmes standing as the final five competing for the top spot of Favourite Female Character.

This year, Zhou Ying (Tang Ying in Breakout), Michelle Chong (Xie Yu Yu in Black Rose), and Quan Yi Fong (Yao Yao in Black Rose) will be going up against two “idols” Rui En (Yang Xiao Dong in Happy Family) and Jeanette Aw (Yang Nianqing in Breakout), of which both command astronomical fanbases in Singapore.

Think of this as a high school popularity contest with the outcome purely determined by online votes.

Unlike the professionally judged categories, fans and viewers will have a say in the overall outcome for these Online Award categories. Once a day, the public can vote online for their favourite male and female characters, favourite on-screen couple, and their favourite on-screen partners in variety programmes.

It’s no surprise to see versatile comedian and actress Michelle Chong grab her first nomination in the favourite female character category as her popularity has been on the upswing following a bountiful 2010 and the return of Ch5’s The Noose in March.

Michelle landed her first big break in a Ch8 drama series, Mrs P.I last year and bagged two nominations for Best Comedy performance in 2010’s Asian Television Awards.

“Honoured and very happy” to be voted amongst the “idols” (Rui En and Jeanette), Michelle was pleasantly surprised when informed of her nomination in the online category. Despite that, the actress firmly believes that she stands a slim or no chance at taking home the award.

“It’s very different because that’s drama and I’m nominated for my work in variety. I don’t think the variety people stand a chance.

“I think Rui En stands a big chance ‘cos she has a very strong fanbase. Jeanette stands a chance too because this role in Breakout was much talked about. She put a lot of work into the character,” she adds.

In any case, with the voting power entirely in the public’s hands, one can never be too sure.

Source: Xinmsn

Categorised in EN, Happy Family 过好年, Star Awards 2011, xinmsn.