http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/life/story/0,1870,93784,00.html? CHANNEL U PRESENTS Money, sex, durians The unlikely combination is central to Channel U's upcoming Cash Is King. The 40-part drama is also the station's first collaboration with Hongkong's ATV By Tan Shzr Ee MONEY, sex and durians are the unlikely partners in Channel U's upcoming drama, Cash Is King. Photo/The King of Cash, actor Chin Han (second from right) is in a party mood with co-stars (from left) Michelle Yim, Adam Chen and Kit Chan at the press launch for the upcoming Channel U drama, Cash Is King. -- Desmond Wee Details of the 40-episode Mandarin serial, which airs from Jan 9 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm, were released at a press conference at Chijmes last weekend. Star of the show, Taiwanese veteran actor Chin Han, was around to talk about the ordeals he had to go through for his role. He plays the famous host of a Wheel Of Fortune-styled game show, whose favourite food is the thorny fruit. 'I don't like durians. I never liked durians. But for this show I had to eat so many of them,' said the 55-year-old. 'It was a huge sacrifice for me. But luckily, many of my co-stars helped me eat them.' Indeed they shared his agony. For apart from having to eat the smelly fruit, Chin's two leading ladies, Kit Chan and Michelle Yim, also had to snog him with his durian-marinated breath. Singapore songstress Chan, 28, who plays a scriptwriter and his key love interest, spills the beans on one scene: 'Basically Chin Han has just eaten a lot of durians, and then he opens his mouth to belch at me and scare me away with the stench.' Hongkong-based Yim, who is in her 40s, plays Chin's ex-wife in the film, an airy-fairy romantic 'who doesn't really love money but only knows how to spend it'. 'But I'm not like that at all in real life,' she said. Other names in the cast include Darren Lim, Wallis Pang, Bryan Wong, Adam Chen and Ix Shen, who heat up the screen with sex and money escapades in between comic bouts of durian-eating. Shen, for once, will ditch his traditionally dressed-down laddish roles to play the ambitious son of a wealthy financier who also sponsors Chin Han's game show. 'I get to be driven around in big cars, live in a posh bungalow and lounge in swimming pools,' the 29-year-old said. 'Unfortunately, that's just screen life. In real life, I only have a three-room HDB flat.' Money, of course, was the word on everyone's minds and lips, the theme of the show notwithstanding. All artistes were eager to sing their predictable lines about how the serial proves that 'money can't buy everything - there are more important things like love'. But there was time for tomfoolery. Attempts to get Chin to reveal his acting fee got a cheeky 'acting fees are always never enough, am I right, bosses?' A figure that the bosses did give away, however, was the production budget, which was revealed to be an estimated $5 million. The show, which was shot in Singapore and Hongkong, is also Channel U's first collaborative effort with Hongkong station, ATV. Cash Is King airs on Channel U from Jan 9 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm. --

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