Flame Awards
BABE OF THE YEAR
CHRISTY YOW
THE RESULTS
You cast your votes for the good, the bad, and the just plain unlucky. Here are the winners of this year’s Flame Awards
By Kwok Kar Peng
December 27, 2009
HERE’S a shocker.
–PICTURE: 60 40 COMMUNICATIONS
The winner of this year’s The New Paper Flame Awards Babe Of The Year has never been called beautiful by her boyfriend.
Malaysian model-actress Christy Yow came to that sudden realisation only when we asked her if her Taiwanese beau thinks she’s pretty.
She even joked over the phone: ‘Why did I choose him leh?’
She then turned away from the phone to ask her man if she’s beautiful. He of course knew what’s good for his hide and said yes.
You, our readers, thought so too.
We received more than 2,800 votes supporting Christy.
Wannabe singer Tabitha Nauser came in a distant second with 504 votes – okay, at least it’s one notch better than her third-place result on Singapore Idol 3.
As for TV character Aunty Lucy (played by actor-DJ Dennis Chew), she got a meagre 67 votes.
Christy, 23, told us she was pleasantly surprised because she had strong competition.
She said: ‘Aunty Lucy has fans from ages 3 to 70, and Tabitha is really hot, sexy and intelligent, with a fanbase from Singapore Idol behind her.
‘I think I am very blessed with so many people willing to vote for me and give me this opportunity. I must thank my lucky stars!’
She’s also grateful because it’s the first time that she has won any contest on her own.
She has won two competitions in the past, but as part of a team – the first was netball tournament when she was 14, and the second was a basketball match when she was 19.
Red hot
Christy is so proud of her Flame Awards trophy – a red gas lighter for showbiz ‘firestarters’ like her, get it? – that she is thinking of framing it.
She is also certain the title will help her in her career.
‘I am super new in the industry and many directors or advertisers may think twice about casting me. But now… they can know for sure I have a fan base too,’ she said.
Christy is in Taipei to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays with her boyfriend, a 28-year-old, 1.83m-tall web designer and aspiring actor.
She was reluctant to reveal his name but said he was born in Taiwan but grew up in the US. They met when they attended an acting course in Taipei in August.
What do you like about Christy, we asked her mysterious man.
In a super-deep voice, he said shyly: ‘She’s a very cute girl. We have good chemistry. She may look fierce in front of others but her character is just like that of a little girl.’
We heard Christy giggling in the background.
What do you like most about her then?
Her character, he said.
Is he for real?
Here’s Christy: tall (1.68m), pretty and well-endowed (34C bustline), and he’s talking about her personality.
Respect, man.
Even though she admits that she doesn’t like Taiwan, she is thinking of relocating there to further propel her rising star.
‘It’s better to live in Taipei than in Singapore or Malaysia if I want to release a music album. I can improve my Mandarin and the weather isn’t too hot or humid,’ she said.
However, after an earthquake hit Taipei just a day before she arrived late last week, she’s having second thoughts.
Local projects
She will have at least a year to decide anyway, as she has work in Singapore for most of the year.
She will take on two local movies from Clover Films from January to March next year.
The local film distribution and production company, started by Mr Lim Teck, also gave Christy the opportunity to sing the theme song for the Fann Wong-Christopher Lee movie The Wedding Game and for the upcoming Kelvin Tong thriller Kidnapper.
After that, she’ll concentrate on gaining weight for her much-hyped role as the famous cabaret stripper and performer Rose Chan for Eric Khoo’s Chinese Rose, in which she’ll appear nude.
Christy is so hot right now that a restaurant, The King Louis Grill & Bar, has signed her as its ambassador for next year.
It even invited her to eat all she wants there at no cost.
Though Chinese Rose isn’t her first movie – she has a role in the made-for-DVD movie Aunties United – it could propel her to international fame.
So is she worried she’ll be typecast as a sex siren after that?
She replied: ‘I hope not because I will have more projects. But I can’t stop what people think, so I’ll have to show them that I’m not like that.’
The NewPaper