Star Awards 2015: The rise and falls of our TV stars

Let’s get what everyone is talking about out of the way first: That fall. Who would have thought that the graceful dancer Jeanette Aw would do a Jennifer Lawrence as she stepped forward to receive the All Time Favourite Artiste award?

There was an audible gasp in Caldecott Hill’s TV Theatre and poor Aw even sustained a bruise on her right knee to show for her “glamorous entry” as she later joked backstage. She wasn’t the only one: Rebecca Lim also took a bit of a tumble while on the red carpet, as did her fellow star, Felicia Chin. “I’ll just try not to fall next year,” Rebecca was heard to remark later. (For the record, Li Nanxing revealed that he was glad he didn’t fall like many did backstage while presenting the Best Actress Award with Zoe Tay and Huang Biren.)

Never mind the falls, the short and slippery red carpet walk or the awkward opening performance with presenters holding tacky-looking cardboard cutouts and the fact that the stars of MediaCorp sat around on the sides of the stage like they were in a talkshow. The moment the original king and queen of Caldecott appeared at the start, it all made sense. As the ever suave Li reminisced about standing on that very stage and receiving his first Star Awards trophy in 1994 with his most memorable on-screen partner — that’s Zoe Tay — we remembered why we still care after all these years.

Say what you like about Star Awards, it’s still the stage where newbies are crowned and veterans’ efforts are finally affirmed. The big winners were, of course, Rebecca Lim, who took home a brace of awards. She received the Best Actress award for her portrayal in Yes We Can as well as secured a place in the Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste category.

“I didn’t come with any expectations at all about winning,” she said. “It’s a shock. I don’t really remember what I said onstage as well. It feels very surreal winning (an award) for a Channel 8 production because I really struggled with the language.”

Shaun Chen, who won the Rocket Award last week at Show 1, bagged two trophies — for a Best Actor he so thoroughly deserved after 13 years as well as cracking the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes for the first time.

“I want to especially thank my family, for being there for me at my lowest and (I want to) celebrate with them. I didn’t expect to (get into the Top 10) and I want to thank my friends and viewers too,” he continued, before quipping: “I called to vote for myself twice! I want to be to see (my awards) all the time. I will put one in the toilet, one next to my TV and one on my living room table.”

Other double winners were Quan Yi Fong (for Best Info-Ed Programme Host and Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste) and Pornsak (for Best Variety Show Host and Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste).

Meanwhile, Aloysius Pang said he had convinced himself that he wasn’t going to get the Best Newcomer Award as he was afraid to get his hopes up. Surprise entry into the Top 10, Dasmond Koh, strangely declared on stage that he was more worried about Xu Bin not getting into the Top 10 instead of him. Luckily for both, Xu joined Romeo Tan and first timers Ian Fang and Shane Pow while poor Desmond Tan, well, fell from favour.

“Of course I’m disappointed — all the more as I won my first award last year,” Tan said. “Maybe my luck isn’t good this year. I feel sad I can’t go on stage to thank my fans and managers but I just want to say I’m all right.”

The Top 10 Most Popular Female Artiste category was less of a shocker. It welcomed Julie Tan and Carrie Wong into the circle while veteran host Kym Ng squeezed back in after a year’s absence.

At the end of the day, while the Star Awards may be one fierce competition, it remains a platform to celebrate as a community of TV family, friends and fans. We see it in that little duet between Chen Hanwei and Shaun Chen when the former received the Best Supporting Award; and when Pornsak got fellow variety show host nominees up on stage to celebrate his win for Best Variety Show Host.

So as MediaCorp bids farewell to Caldecott Hill and the original home of the Star Awards to move into a new campus next year, we only have one request: Can we also say bye to cutting off the winner’s speeches? That would be a good start.