BEIJING - The male version of hit Chinese reality show Sisters Who Make Waves has revealed its 33 celebrity contestants.

The identities of the male stars had been hotly discussed online and they were unveiled at the first show recording on Tuesday (Aug 10). The first episode aired on Thursday.

Among the big names to appear are former F4 member Jerry Yan, Hong Kong singer-actor Julian Cheung, guitarist Paul Wong from Hong Kong band Beyond, Taiwanese rapper MC HotDog, Taiwanese singer Terry Lin of Ukulele fame, Chinese concert pianist Li Yundi and South Korean actor Lee Seung-hyun.

The winners will get to form a male music group.

Earlier, leaked names had included Hong Kong actors Jerry Lamb, Michael Tse and Jordan Chan, who all had been in the Young And Dangerous triad movies (1996 to 2000). They were also confirmed to be in the line-up.

The filming of the first episode was not without drama, as Lin, 55, reportedly fell off a 2m-high platform while performing and had to be rushed to hospital for an x-ray and MRI.

His manager later confirmed that he did not break any bones and had only pulled some muscles.

According to Chinese newspaper Global Times, the first season of Sisters Who Make Waves ended with more than 44.5 billion views and tens of millions of discussions on Weibo.

The first season in 2020 saw the formation of girl group X-Sister with members Isabelle Huang, Lisi Danny, Zhang Yuqi, Meng Jia, Yisa Yu, Ning Jing and Regina Wan. The act disbanded on Jan 1.

The second season (2021) included many top female celebrities over the age of 30, including Na Ying, Joey Yung, Rainie Yang and Cecilia Cheung. Na, Yung and Yang were eventually picked to be part of the new X-Sister.