Elena Kong Was Put In ‘Cold Storage’ By TVB After She Got Her First Lead Role, Says She Got “Too Arrogant”

Hong Kong actress Elena Kong is the hot favourite to win Best Actress for her role in 2022 TVB drama Get On A Flat at the TVB Anniversary Awards tomorrow (Jan 8).

The actress is also up for the Most Popular Female and Favourite On-screen Couple awards this year.

Safe to say, it was a fruitful 2022 for the 51-year-old actress.

Recently, the actress went on veteran Hong Kong DJ Jacky Chan's show On Gor Tong Xue Hui, in which she spoke about how she was boycotted after starring in 2017's Tiger Mom Blues, which marked her first lead role for TVB. Prior to joining TVB, Elena worked for ATV, the broadcaster's long-time competitor. 

"Tiger Mom Blues was my first time being a female lead in TVB. I was very nervous and wanted to do everything well. Maybe in the process I became too self-centred," she admitted.

"I wanted people to cooperate with me for every detail, and I felt that I was giving off quite a bit of negative vibes during the shoot. In the end, every thing became quiet after this drama as there were too many rumours and too many things had happened. I only started having jobs after I did [variety show] Bazaar Carnivals. At that time all my drama jobs were ceased."

So what were the "many things” that happened"?

According to reports, when Elena was filming Tiger Mom Blues, there were rumours that she wasn't happy with the script.

She reportedly took matters into her own hands and approached veteran TVB producer Felix To, who was the broadcaster's assistant general manager then, to complain aboutTiger Mom Blues' producer Kwan Wing-chung.

All this happened when TVB's chief drama producer Catherina Tsang was on leave. 

Wing-Chung was said to have worked for TVB for 30 years, and reported directly to Catherina.

In the end, not only did Elena's actions cause production to stop, Wing-chung got so mad that he quit.

Unsurprisingly, Catherina was furious with Elena and rumour has it that the actress was placed in 'cold storage' by the company. 

“This industry is quite funny. Firstly, actors like us from ATV are already inferior. Don't know why, people think that actors from ATV are second-rate. And if you are inferior, you don't get jobs. It's really miserable," she lamented.

According to Elena, after Tiger Mom Blues, even though there were producers who approached her to be in their dramas, their requests were not approved by the company.

Even when Elena eventually got a role in The Unholy Alliance, she was merely a supporting character. 

That was when the actress decided to reflect on her past actions. 

"There were many reasons, but what's over is over. If you want to help someone, there are 100 ways. But I chose the worst, most direct and most unsettling way. People did listen to me, but they didn't feel good. I meant well so why did I let things turn out that way?," she questioned herself.

"I was too arrogant and self-centred back then. The show did receive good ratings, but it didn't achieve its intended effect," said Elena.

Photos: TVBAnywhere, hk01