Chinese reality talent show Sisters Who Make Waves has been, well, making waves — for better or worse — ever since it started airing in June. Besides the performances from the 30 over 30 female contestants, the interaction between the “sisters” has created a lot of buzz as well.

The latest hot topic was Chinese actress Kitty Zhang and Taiwanese singer Annie Yi devising a ‘Boyfriend Strategy’ for Chinese singer Jin Sha, who is currently single. This somehow inspired netizens to start digging through the romantic histories of several of the Sisters contenders, and boy, some of the details are so interesting, they should be made into another show on its own.

At 52 years old, Annie is the oldest participant in Sisters Who Make Waves… and probably the most controversial as well, no thanks to her insensitive remarks about late Cantopop diva Anita Mui (remember that?). Of course, that’s far from the first time she has ever been in a scandal. In 2008, Annie was snapped holding hands with Taiwanese actor Victor Huang while she was still married to Taiwanese singer Harlem Yu, with whom she has 18-year-old son Harrison. Annie and Harlem divorced the next year.

Fast forward to 2015, and Annie found herself a new husband, Chinese actor Qin Hao, whom she married after just a year of dating. They have a four-year-old daughter Milly together. Their relationship wasn’t well-received initially due to their age gap — she is 10 years his senior — and Annie’s infamous past, but it looks like all that is behind them. And besides, poor Annie has been keeping the internet riled up for a whole bunch of other reasons, but that’s a story for another day.

Chinese actress Eva Huang, 37, shot to fame after appearing in Hongkong director Stephen Chow’s comedy classic Kung Fu Hustle as a mute ice cream seller. In 2015, she admitted that she and Chinese businessman Yang Zi tied the knot in 2007 — imagine keeping your marriage a secret for eight years! — and that they have a son together (they have since welcomed another little boy).

Before she came clean about their relationship, Eva endured years of being labelled a homewrecker as many accused her of coming between Yang Zi and his first wife Tao Hong, with whom he has a daughter. It’s not known when exactly Yang Zi’s previous marriage ended, but he finally decided to open up about it ‘cos the rumours about him having two wives at the same time were getting out of hand.

The 33-year-old, whom you might recognise from Stephen Chow flicks CJ7 and The Mermaid, has had a very dramatic love life. In 2011, Kitty married Chinese director Wang Quan’an, but they broke up in 2015, less than a year after he was arrested for soliciting prostitutes.

Then, in 2016, she said “I do” again, this time to businessman Yuan Bayuan after dating for just 70 days, and they had a pair of boy-girl twins together. However, their familial bliss was short-lived as they headed for Splitsville in 2018 following a messy dispute in which Kitty was accused of injuring Bayuan with a fruit knife. While they reconciled for a while after that, things were clearly over for good when they aired each other’s dirty laundry on social media early last year.

Oh, and did you know that Kitty also used to date Wang Xiaofei before he became Barbie Hsu’s husband? Wonder what he makes of all that drama.

Here we find ourselves a local connection. In May last year, 31-year-old Meng Jia — better known as former Miss A member Jia to K-pop fans — confirmed she was dating Elroy Cheo, the younger brother of Singaporean heiress Arissa Cheo (who used to be married to Taiwanese-American star Vanness Wu) and the ex-boyfriend of Taiwanese singer Elva Hsiao. Yup, it’s a small world after all, especially for the rich and famous.

Alas, the couple is no longer together. While Elroy's the only boyfriend Meng Jia has gone public with in her career, she has admitted to secretly dating guys who were also in showbiz during her Miss A days. Now that would be an exposé worth grabbing the popcorn for.

37-year-old Jin Sha, whose relationship status is sort of what sparked this whole ‘history lesson’, has been romantically linked to various eligible bachelors in the past, most notably JJ Lin. The duo has collaborated several times, and JJ even got down on one knee to ‘propose’ to Jin Sha on stage at his concert in 2010, only to quickly clarify that it was just a joke.

The rumours intensified at a music programme in 2016 when, asked if he and Jin Sha fell in love that summer, JJ quipped, “You are so clever!” Again, he had to explain that it was only a joke and that his words were taken out of context.

As for K-pop hunk Rain, well, it was — like all of Jin Sha's gossip involving JJ — just another big misunderstanding. According to Jin Sha, all she did was proclaim that she’s a big fan of Rain and had met him at an awards ceremony, only for tongues to start wagging about them after that.

Photos: Sisters Who Make Waves/Weibo, Weibo, Annie Yi/Weibo, Meng Jia/Weibo, PBE Media, Rain/Instagram