Yanee insists political satire didn't cost her a job

One way or the other, Poly Plus, which produces the show for Modernine, has decided to replace Tuk. This come just over a month after she appeared onstage at an anti-government rally as part of the cast of a satire routine called “Chidlom”. Tuk played the Yingluck part. 

So it’s easy to see why a lot of people are assuming that she’s lost her job for expressing her political views. Poly Plus insists, though, that it’s been planning to revamp “VIP” for a long time. It’s lined up Jennifer Kim to take over as co-host as of Monday, at which point the programme will be renamed “VVIP”. 

And Tuk insists that Poly Plus is quite right, noting there’s been no change in the show format in 10 years. “It’s understandable, and I don’t think there’s any other reason behind me being replaced, but I can’t help it if anyone else thinks otherwise,” she tells Matichon. Basically, Tuk says, she’s getting older, and the programme is entering its second decade this year. “I don’t think the change involves politics, but I can’t stop people from believing there’s a political reason.” 

As far as Tuk is concerned, having different opinions is fine as long as no one crosses the line. “We should be able to tolerate different ideas. Without people who think differently, we wouldn’t have radio, television or refrigerators.” 

Well said, girl.

 

Frequent flyer Mario

Actor Mario Maurer is always open to opportunities to work overseas and his good looks have made him popular in the Philippines and the Chinese mainland. He regularly flies back and forth to meet his fans and take on odd jobs. He starred in the 2012 Chinese romance “Love on That Day” and the Filipino heart-tugger “Suddenly It’s Magic” that came to Thailand last year.

This year has been another great one so far for Mario. He’s flogging three different products in Thai advertisements and a clothing brand in the Philippines. His busy schedule is curtailing further work in the Philippines, but that schedule includes a modelling gig on the catwalk in China at the end of this month and talks about another movie there. 

Mario faces no language barrier when Filipino films use English as well as Tagalog, but he says it’s time for him to get serious about learning to speak Mandarin.

He’s still humble despite all of this. Mario says he feels overwhelmed every time he arrives at an airport and there are hundreds of fans there to meet him. He says it makes him feel like a K-pop superstar, which is great – but also in need of a squadron of security guards, which is not so great.