Dee Hsu honors late sister Barbie with Taiwan's Golden Bell win

Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Taiwanese television host Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) on Friday honored her late actress sister Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) with dark humor and heartfelt gratitude during the finale award segment of the Golden Bell Award for Best Variety Show.

"My sister and I are the two people who knew each other the best in this world," Hsu said during the ceremony. "So I know she would want me to attend the event today to let my mom remember that even though my sister is gone, I am still here."

Friday was Hsu's first public appearance in more than eight months since the passing of her sister in Japan earlier this year.

Barbie Hsu, who shot to superstardom across Asia in 2001 for her portrayal of Shancai "杉菜" in the TV series "Meteor Garden" (流星花園), died of pneumonia at the age of 48 after contracting influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday in February.

While one focused on acting and the other on hosting, the sisters have been known to be two peas in a pod throughout their time together in the public eye. Devastated by her sister's passing, Dee Hsu stepped away from the limelight after Barbie Hsu's death.

Although many anticipated Dee Hsu's return to the public eye on Friday, she skipped the red carpet event of the award ceremony and only took the stage as a part of the headlining presenters' act for the Golden Bell Award for Best Host in a Variety Show, of which Hsu herself was a nominee.

Hsu was introduced onto the stage by her longtime co-host, friend and mentor Kevin Tsai (蔡康永), who also won the same award with her in 2005 for their 12-year-long talk show "Kangsi Coming" (康熙來了).

After Tsai's intro, Hsu walked on stage accompanied by "Ten Minutes of Love" (十分鐘的戀愛), a song made popular by her and her late sister when they performed it together as their music duo act known as "A.S.O.S."

Following a series of heartfelt questions from Tsai to update Hsu's friends and fans on her status over the last few months, Tsai went on to encourage Hsu to take the opportunity of them presenting on stage to speak to her late sister, just in case Hsu would not have the chance to do so if someone else won the award she was presenting.

Instead of a long speech, Hsu sang an excerpt from the A.S.O.S song "Sisters of Shiu" (姐妹情深), whose lyrics were written by Barbie Hsu to illustrate the bond between Barbie and Dee.

"Sister, even though life without you truly is hard, I will definitely keep moving forward. I love you."

In honor of Barbie Hsu, both Dee Hsu and Tsai went on a banter with Dee Hsu joking about death and holding her audience emotionally hostage by saying her late sister would want her to win the award which she was presenting.

The reason behind the bleak references was eventually revealed by the onstage duo as a tribute to Barbie and Dee's love of dark humor, cracking up both the audience members and Dee Hsu's fellow nominees alike.

A win made possible by Barbie

The winner of the award was eventually revealed to be none other than Hsu herself and her co-host Patrick Liu (柳柏丞) for their talk show "Dee Girl's Talk" (小姐不熙娣).

In his acceptance speech, Liu said that in his onscreen debut 11 years ago in a TV program, he had answered a question about his future goals from the show's host by saying his dream was to become a TV host himself.

Liu went on to update the statement by revealing he had just won the hosting award with the same host who had asked him that question 11 years ago.

"Thank you, Sister Barbie," Liu added. "Thank you for bringing beauty to the world and allowing us to host together."

Dee Hsu went on to explain Liu's gratitude towards Barbie Hsu in her own acceptance speech, revealing it was the late actress who encouraged her to return to hosting after a break and made the win possible.

"This award though, Barbie, sorry, I will not be dedicating to you," Dee Hsu said. "I am dedicating this to my mom. Because my mom said there is a very big hole in her heart. She said that if I won today, the hole in her heart might fill up just a little. So mom, this award is for you."

While Friday was Hsu's second time hosting the award in her career, it was actually her first time onstage to accept an award in that category since she missed out on the opportunity in 2005 due to a pregnancy.

She was subsequently nominated three times for the same award with "Kangsi Coming," one other time with her show "Dee's Talk" (熙娣想聊) and once more with "Dee Girl's Talk."

Liu, meanwhile, was nominated last year with Hsu for "Dee Girl's Talk" before winning on Friday, an honor which Dee Hsu jokingly said was "undeserved" because it was only Liu's second nomination.

While their show was not nominated for Best Variety Show, the award's panel of judges said Hsu and Liu won best hosts after two rounds of deliberation.

The head of the panel, Liu Soung (劉嵩), said the jurors had an overwhelmingly unanimous decision for the category.

Liu added that the win could be seen as a "landslide victory" due to Hsu being an experienced host.

The Golden Bell Award for Best Variety Show was held as the first part of a two-night ceremony at the Taipei Music Center on Friday.

The second part of the award ceremony, the Golden Bell Award for Best Television Series in Taiwan, will be held Saturday night at the same venue, and will honor the best television programming and the cast and crew that made them.