It is going to be an expensive victory for television actor Dicky Cheung Wai-kin, whose The Duke Of Mount Deer on TVB Jade ended on a record-breaking high note by hitting 46 points in viewership (2.97 million people) last Friday.
The popular series is adapted from a martial arts novel by Louis Cha and revolves around the antics of an eunuch, Wai Siu-po (played by Cheung), whose castration was never quite completed. His quick brain and charm leads him to a high court position and seven wives. An earlier TVB version starred Cannes best actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai.
Cheung had promised to take all seven of his wives in the series - Ruby Lin, Athena Chu Yan, Shu Qi, Monica Chan Fatt-yung, Zhang Xi, Mak Ka-kei and Ng Sun-kwan - on a holiday to Japan should the series ever break the 45-point viewership mark.
The Duke Of Mount Deer has been averaging 36 points (2.33 million) since the start of its 40-episode run.
Cheung said that he would keep his promise. 'However, it is going to be really difficult to get all seven people to go on holiday together,' he said. 'What I might do is to get all of them business class tickets and book them into five-star hotels and they can go whenever they like.'
This bout of magnanimity may cost Cheung more than $200,000 but his salary of $3 million for the series will more than cover it.