Girl group show wins Taiwan's Golden Bell for Best Variety Show

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Taiwan's 2023 girl group show "Next Girlz" (未來少女) on Friday won the Golden Bell Award for Best Variety Show, for its efforts in putting Taiwan pop (T-pop) on the world's entertainment map.

The survival reality television show defeated the likes of "When Comedians Encounter Hakka" (怪客臨門), "Music Maker" (音樂主理人), "All Star Let's Debate" (全明星辯論會) and "Hot Door Night" (綜藝大熱門), a variety talk show that has been led by famous Taiwanese TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) since it first aired in 2013.

According to the chairperson of the award's jury, Liu Szu-ming (劉思銘), "Hot Door Night" only lost to "Next Girlz" by one vote.

Liu said the panel of jurors unanimously gave credit to "Next Girlz" for its efforts in putting T-pop on the world's entertainment map.

"Next Girlz" was shot and aired last year. In the show, seven girl groups engineered by different talent agencies competed together and against one another for performance and promotional opportunities, as well as endorsements.

Members of one of the girl groups, Genblue, upstaged the others -- Sunny Parfum, babyMINT, Twinkle Black, Purple Crush, Crimzon and Cryxtal -- to win the competition.

Earlier this year, Genblue became the first group of mainly Taiwanese performers to debut in the competitive K-pop industry in South Korea.

After clinching the Golden Bell, the production team of "Next Girlz" thanked the jurors for their recognition and said it brought pride to over 400 crew members involved in making the show, including those behind the scenes.

The team also gave credit to the talent companies that helped with engineering Taiwanese idols, adding that they were finally able to achieve what they did not last year with Taiwanese boy band reality TV show "Atom Boyz," which is currently airing its second season.