TVB’s dating reality show A Date with Goddess <女神配對計劃> has entered its fourth week. The five “goddesses” each went on a four-person candlelight dinner with three “brave suitors.” From the program, it seems that some ‘goddess’ contestants have already developed a liking — for instance, Stephanie Lee (李芷晴) appears smitten with the shy Jacob Lam (林焌堯), while Carman Kwan (關嘉敏) seems to be choosing between John Chiang (姜卓文) – youngest son of veteran actor David Chiang (姜大卫) and model Matthew Wong (黃家俊). While it was expected that Sophie Yip (葉蒨文) would choose GM (曾展望), Him Lam (林澤謙) unexpectedly stood out.
Time-Wasting Gimmicks Criticized
Although dating shows are known to be unscripted reality programs, the plot twists have been dramatic and gossip-filled, leading to suspicions that it’s all pre-arranged. Unlike the positive reception by both Hong Kong and Mainland audiences when the show aired its first episode, public sentiment has started to shift lately.
On July 10th, TVB announced a new twist on its official Xiaohongshu account: it would now globally recruit new “brave suitors” to challenge the current ones, but this triggered a wave of backlash. Some Mainland netizens accused TVB of dragging the storyline unnecessarily. “If we wanted to sign up, we would’ve done so from the start.” Others commented, “You might as well call it ‘Goddess-Singer Matchmaking,’ this is ridiculous and disappointing.”
Many criticized the addition of a mid-show challenge mechanism as a time-wasting gimmick that might lead to a couple more episodes and two more weeks of delay. Widespread speculations also surfaced that TVB was doing this just to let their “friends and family” join the show with comments calling on them to stop exploiting the goddesses and the participants.
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