Dee Hsu, Kevin Tsai to shift careers to mainland China?

Since the shocking announcement that they were quitting their winning TV talk show, Here Comes Kangxi, after being on air for 12 years, Taiwanese hosts Kevin Tsai and Dee Hsu are now reportedly in talks to take up high-profile hosting gigs in mainland China — but at a far higher price.

U CAN U BIBI, a panel-discussion talk show where Kevin is a co-host, has been recently renewed for a third season. Its network, China’s Hunan TV, has plans to make Kevin a top host at the company, Taiwan media reports.

According to insiders, Dee is in talks to co-host U CAN U BIBI with Kevin, but the latter’s manager declined to comment on the rumours and would only say everything is in the planning stages.

It was revealed that Kevin’s pay for co-hosting U CAN U BIBI was NT$20 million (approximately S$860,000) each week, for two episodes a week. One season at U CAN U BIBI netted Kevin more than all he earned for 12 years’ work at Here Comes Kangxi. And his rising popularity has sparked a bidding war among mainland China’s TV broadcasters and networks.

Besides hosting gigs, Kevin is also working on a new film project, with Dee playing the female lead. The comedy will portray Dee as a downtrodden movie star scraping by working in a restaurant, who eventually works up the determination to earn a sommelier license. Filming will commence next year.

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