UWeekly taps first issue’s cover stars Bryan Wong, Kym Ng for final edition

SINGAPORE – After 23 years, local Chinese entertainment magazine UWeekly, a publication of SPH Media, is bowing out.

The weekly magazine’s final edition, its 986th, hit the shelves on Oct 25, with familiar faces on the cover. The magazine costs $2.

Local television hosts Bryan Wong and Kym Ng teamed up for a photo shoot in September with a carousel as the backdrop.

Ng, 57, had appeared on the cover of the March 2001 prototype edition with former actor Ix Shen. The two were photographed on a merry-go-round, with Ng atop a wooden horse.

Wong, 53, had appeared alongside Ng, Shen, actress Jeanette Aw and Taiwanese artiste Li Che-wei on the first edition of the magazine in May 2001.

The final edition features a double cover. The other depicts Wong and Ng amid a pile of old UWeekly magazines on the floor.

In an Oct 24 Instagram post, UWeekly said its team unanimously decided to tap the pair for its last cover, so the magazine could “end on a perfect note”.

The cover shoot is the first time the pair have collaborated in six years. They used to co-host the popular 1990s local variety programme City Beat.

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao after the photo shoot, Ng said she remembers the moment they first met in 1996, when she became a host of City Beat. At the time, the show was hosted by Ng, Wong, actress Pan Lingling and former Mediacorp artiste He Yongfang.

The petite Ng recalled: “I was very scared at the time, but he was very friendly and very considerate of my feelings... Both (Pan and He) are great beauties who are really tall, and when they gazed down at me, it made me quite nervous. But, thankfully, there was a sweet man like Bryan there.”

The final edition of the magazine includes a 56-page farewell special with recollections and reflections from 30 artistes, and reveals which was the best-selling issue of the magazine.