Early 2000s charity shows in Singapore
Even if you strongly believe cable television is an invention of yesteryear, you’d surely know about the existence of charity shows in Singapore like the President’s Challenge Night.
You’d absent-mindedly scroll past them as you were channel-surfing, and when you were actively tuning in, most likely during visits to your grandparents, expecting nothing more than a medley of wholesome performances and the occasional celebrity feature. As expected, charity shows on the Little Red Dot are as unassuming as they can get – in today’s day and age, that is.
Those that aired at the turn of the century swept aside sterile programming in favour of shock and awe to controversially rack up impressive donation numbers. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the insanity of it all, to find out how and why charity shows of the early 2000s were built around spectacle and suspense.
What were some early-2000s charity shows in Singapore?
There were, in fact, many more charity shows in Singapore back in the good ol’ days compared to today. Do a quick Google Search, and you’ll learn of fundraisers like the NKF Charity Show, Ren Ci Charity Show, NKF Cancer Show, President’s Star Challenge, and Community Chest Charity Show to name a few.
A Phua Chu Kang musical segment during the President’s Star Challenge in 2000.
Image credit: Aloy TC via Facebook
The market was so saturated with such programmes that in 2005, the Parliament brought the overwhelming myriad of charity shows to the government’s attention, as it could cause “donation fatigue” amongst the public. But before a bottleneck was put in place, it was a free-for-all when it came to charity shows, and 2 in particular stole most of the limelight.
These were the NKF Charity Show and Ren Ci Charity Show, which both aired on the mandarin language TV channels, Channel U, and Channel 8 respectively. Now, the way these shows staked their claim to staggering viewership stats and more importantly, a mind-boggling donation heap, is nothing short of genius.
NKF (National Kidney Foundation) Charity Show
The very first NKF Charity Show in 1994.
Image credit: AloyTC via Facebook
An established TV franchise of the late 1990s that aired on Channel 8, the NKF Charity Show first blazed the trail ahead for all televised fundraising antics. Apart from the usual musical performances, dance numbers, comedic sketches, and beneficiary stories, they were the pioneers of sprinkling a little razzle dazzle into their programmes to keep audiences hooked and constantly dialling in.
Image adapted from: AloyTC via Facebook
Their stunt segments were initially tame, with harmless challenges like standing on eggs and fishing for items with a pair of chopsticks. But, they soon realised they had to raise the stakes to turn heads and draw eyeballs.
Over the years, the NKF Charity Show would up the ante, to the point where the line between fundraising and entertainment became increasingly blurred. Throw in the pulling power of Channel 8’s household names like Zoe Tay, Kym Ng, and Li Nanxing, and you’ve got a potent formula that would have today’s social media managers drooling at the mouth.
While folks might remember her for roles in iconic primetime Channel 8 dramas, Zoe Tay was not one to shy away from putting herself in harm’s way for a good cause. For a couple of years, she was a regular fixture of the NKF Charity Show, not as a passive guest, but a fearless stuntwoman.
Remember, these shows were televised live, so if any mishap were to occur, they would be broadcast for all to see
Image adapted from: Wayback Machine
In 2000, she played with fire, literally, by kicking and tossing poles set ablaze. 2001’s show saw her co-starring in a stunt with Li Nanxing, as she stood on him while he was pulled off the ground by 2 motorcycles travelling in opposite directions. The Queen decided to draw inspiration from Cirque Du Soleil for her feats in 2002, bending over backwards to retrieve a flower between her teeth placed atop 5 chairs.
Image adapted from: Wayback Machine
She also famously balanced chairs to form a structure of sorts, and scaled it with fellow Mediacorp artistes Carole Lin, May Phua, Joey Swee, Hu Wensui, and Chen Tianwen. She was even able to hold a handstand the longest while precariously perched atop the tottering stack of chairs.
Image adapted from: Wayback Machine
Not to be outdone was Li Nanxing, who marked his return to the show by skipping about in a cage lit on fire. This stunt almost went wrong on live television, as the actor claimed to have experienced a bout of giddiness due to the sudden inhalation of smoke and kerosene after he asked to extend his act for another minute.
Image adapted from: Jia Qing Caleb Lim via Facebook
The good-willed madness spiralled into 2003 too. This time, Fann Wong stole the show with a death-defying strut. Held up by Christopher Lee and another male assistant, the trio had to make their way across 2 tightropes roughly 80 feet in length, suspended above onlookers at Bugis Junction.
They even stopped midway through to allow Fann Wong to climb onto their shoulders to strike a triumphant pose. Although all eyes were on the brave artistes, you could see a meteoric spike in the donations on screen too; in total, the 16-minute-long spectacle amassed a little over $187,000.
2004 was a special year for the NKF Charity Show. For context, most editions of the programme were split into 2 separate shows, and they were typically aired 1 week apart from each other. This was to perhaps accommodate the long list of performances and segments, and effectively doubled the amount of fundraising opportunities.
Image credit: National Kidney Foundation
In 2004, they introduced an additional 2-part fundraiser, the NKF Children’s Medical Fund Show. With the airing of 4 shows in a year from a single organisation alone, you can see why folks were getting weary of getting their heartstrings tugged.
For a change, we’re highlighting the absurdity that went on during the NKF Children’s Medical Fund Show in 2004. The late Moses Lim was suspended 3 metres above the ground for a cooking challenge, while Mark Lee called out for more donations before relenting to set the Under One Roof star down.
Image credit: J Team Productions via Facebook
Local filmmaker Jack Neo also took the stage, surprising onlookers by putting out fires by swallowing them one by one, and even chewing on white-hot charcoal at one point. Backstage, he held his mouth open to reveal burns and blisters on the inside; as they say, play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
To close the show, the formation of a gravity-defying human ladder was also on the cards, a stunt performed by 16 Mediacorp artistes and their assistants. Try as we might, we couldn’t dig up any images or videos of the feats showcased during the show, so we’ve got to use our imagination to employ some artistic liberty here.
“Artist” impression of how the human ladder was pulled off.
Image credit: Khoo Yong Hao
From what we gathered, the stunt involved the artistes getting into position on free-standing ladders, as Mark Lee and Terrence Cao carefully lifted Sharon Au, who subbed in last-minute for the injured Zoe Tay, to execute a perfect split.
Ren Ci Charity Show
NKF Charity Show’s main competitor vying for the views and donations was none other than the Ren Ci Charity Show. It was aired on Channel U, and since the SPH-owned channel only came under the management of Mediacorp in 2005, the rivalry between the shows ran especially deep in the early 2000s.
Image credit: Ren Ci
The Ren Ci Charity Show was first broadcast in 2003, and they came in swinging. After all, they had to step into the ring with the NKF Charity Show, which was already far more established. Since Channel U’s roster of local stars was smaller, they had to bolster the show with an international arsenal.
Andy Lau in 2007.
Image credit: The HK Hub
The 2003 show’s roster was studded with actors and performers from Hong Kong. The legendary Andy Lau headlined the show, accompanied by TVB regulars such as Nancy Sit, Law Kar-Ying, and Yuen King-Tan.
While the Hong Kong contingent mainly stuck to singing, dancing and performing, it was the homegrown artistes that kept the audience entertained with other theatrics. Kym Ng partook in some pizza twirling, Bryan Wong pranced around during a flag-dance performance, while Adrian Pang and Darren Lim had a go at some unspecified stunts.
Image credit: ~江湖笑II~
But it was Venerable Ming Yi, a Buddhist monk who’s also the founder and former chairman and CEO of Ren Ci Hospital, who truly stole the show. As far as charity show stunts were concerned, he set the bar sky high; the monk abseiled 45 storeys down Suntec City Tower 2, cementing his status as the face of future Ren Ci Charity Show telethons to come.
The buzz generated by Ming Yi’s nerves of steel, along with the $6.5 million dollars raised, provided solid proof that the Ren Ci Charity Show could go blow for blow with the NKF Charity Show. As such, In 2004, they kept to their game plan.
Image credit: Sina Corporation
The show managed to call Hong Kong entertainment mainstays down for a 2nd year running, along with a couple of Taiwanese singers. Perhaps you’d recognise names like Liza Wang, Nancy Sit, Law Kar-Ying, Chen Chao-Jung, and Power Station.
This time, the local artistes were also responsible for keeping the viewers at home on tenterhooks. Kym Ng revisited Suntec City as part of the show, and crossed a makeshift bridge between Towers 1 and 2, 45 storeys up. Bryan Wong then wowed with a fire-twirling act, but Ming Yi’s stunt this year just couldn’t be topped.
Image credit: ~江湖笑II~
The monk stood chest-deep in a container filled with around 1,000kg of ice, and kept his position for around 22 minutes. The feat was performed live at the Suntec City Fountain of Wealth, and over 130,000 donation phone calls were logged during that segment of the broadcast alone.
And then came 2005’s show. It was the first Ren Ci Charity Show that aired after the SPH MediaWorks and Mediacorp merger, which meant former Channel U artistes and Channel 8 personalities could now appear under the same organisation. However, that didn’t mean they pulled punches as far as international acts were concerned.
Image adapted from: 想甄幸福 via YouTube
Whether it was performing live or providing support through heartfelt video messages, superstars like S.H.E, JJ Lin, Fish Leong, and Jay Chou gathered their adoring fans for a good cause.
Image adapted from: Youku
Of course, the stunts performed on the show didn’t disappoint folks who were all primed and ready for a kick of adrenaline. Some of the standout feats included Mark Lee’s and Kym Ng’s comedy skit which saw them tend to household chores while hanging upside down.
Next up was Bryan Wong and Xie Shao Guang, whose driving was put to the test. They had to perform parking maneuvers at high speeds, fitting their cars into a series of parking lots that became increasingly narrow. Now, you might be wondering what Ming Yi had up his sleeve that year? Turns out, he was already right in the heart of the action from the get-go.
Image adapted from: Youku
While the show ran, he was already standing in position atop a narrow, 4-storey-tall pillar which was barely wide enough for his 2 feet. For the grand finale, Lin Minglun and Edmund Chen were cranking out push-ups down on the ground, as they had to accumulate a grand total of 2,000 reps before Ming Yi could be safely hoisted down.
Image adapted from: Youku
With the help of eager onlookers and the moral support of fellow artistes on-site and back at the studio, the target was hit, and so Ming Yi was swiftly reunited with his peers after having kept his balance for nearly 2 hours. The daredevil monk would go on to raise the stakes in the following 2006 and 2007 editions of the Ren Ci Charity Shows.
While we won’t go into as much detail, the 2006 show had Ming Yi crossing narrow planks suspended from the 66th storey of Republic Plaza, a stunt he had to pull the plug on midway through due to heavy rain and winds. Over at Raffles Place Park, celebrity couple Chen Liping and Rayson Tan were scaling heights of their own, walking on tightropes 3 storeys above ground.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Misfortune befell Ming Yi the next, as his stunt for 2007’s Ren Ci Charity Show was once again cut short. This time, he aimed to ascend the 23 storey-tall City House Building using a rope and pulley system that relied heavily on his upper body strength. However, things went awry when his ropes tangled midair and had to call off the attempt.
What happened to the NKF Charity Show & Ren Ci Charity Show?
Image credit: Wikipedia
If you’re wondering why we don’t see such dangerous stunts attempted during charity shows today, they started tapering off around the late 2000s. These segments started coming under the scrutiny of the government and the wider public. Firstly, apart from donation fatigue, the government had concerns about this theatrical style of fundraising technique.
They questioned if it was morally and legally permissible for prominent celebrities to endanger themselves in said stunts to plead for donation calls, which could be interpreted as a form of emotional blackmail. Viewers were compelled to donate, not to support a charitable cause, but to reward someone for putting themselves in danger.
Tell me why Zheng Geping and Pan Lingling are swinging across a blazing inferno to retrieve a key to free Kym Ng from a water tank?
Image adapted from: jaburuians via YouTube
The concerns surrounding the safety of those taking part in these stunts were also well-warranted, as there were quite a number of reported cases of celebrities sustaining injuries during stunt rehearsals and during the live telecasts themselves.
Moreover, the NKF scandal of 2005 and the 2007 investigation of Ren Ci Hospital & Medicare Centre exacerbated the public’s growing distrust of large-scale, televised fundraisers. In essence, the former’s scandal exposed festering problems with how the NKF was run, how money was spent, and how transparent the charity had been with its donors.
Ming Yi was granted a reduced sentence of 6 months in jail for his past charitable contributions. He spent 4 months behind bars before he was released for good behaviour.
Image credit: Buddhist Channel
On the other hand, an audit of Ren Ci’s books uncovered questionable interest-free loans which dealt in the millions, as well as discrepancies in records involving companies that had received loans. Ming Yi was eventually charged with criminal breach of trust, forgery and falsification of accounts, and violations of the Charities Act, before being sentenced to 10 months in prison in November 2009.
Within 2 to 3 years, the 2 charities most closely associated with Singapore’s spectacular stunt-based fundraisers crumbled under the weight of their respective scandals, and the public’s trust in them was in the gutter. The NKF spent a number of years rebuilding their reputation, while Ren Ci’s annual charity show never graced national television again after its 2007 edition.
Looking back at the chaos of early 2000s charity shows in Singapore
Perhaps a little too ahead of its time, charity shows in the early 2000s perfectly harnessed the power of a spectacle before going viral was even a thing. In hindsight, they weren’t sustainable in the slightest, but for those who grew up watching them, there was something so captivating about watching a familiar face hurtling headlong into danger, all in the name of philanthropy.
For more things to reminisce about:
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Cover image adapted from: jaburuians via YouTube, ~江湖笑II~, Jia Qing Caleb Lim via Facebook