Samantha Ko's Rape & Back-Revealing Scene only 9 Seconds, Producer: We're Not Selling Porn

There has been many sexy appearances in TVB series Friendly Fire from actresses including Christine Kuo, Grace Wong, Toby Chan and now Samantha Ko. Last year Kate Tsui's "1 second rape scene" in Highs and Lows caught a lot of attention and boos from the audience. On Wednesday night's episode of Friendly Fire, Ronan Pak first beats Samantha and then rapes her. However the scene lasted less than 2 seconds and the anticipated "full back revealing" part did not appear at all and caused major disappointment to the male fans! A Netizen said he rather watch Alice Chan's bikini scene. Last night (Thursday), Samantha's "back-revealing" scene was separated into parts and only lasted a total of 7 minutes. Again, audience shouted they have been cheated. 

Yesterday Samantha accepted a telephone interview and expressed that night she stayed home just to watch her own rape scene and felt very nervous: "When I was watching the scene, my heart was beating fast. That type of heartbreaking feeling just came out all at once, I was crying as I watched!" After the scene aired, she got several SMS from friends and colleagues, and there were a pile of comments on Weibo, which pressured her a bit. When asked if she expects to see a breakthrough in the rating? She said: "Of course I hope so, the whole crew spent a lot of time and effort on this scene. Tavia Yeung and the producer taught me how I could get into character. When we were filming, the producer felt emotional and cried too." 

When speaking of the criticisms on the rape scene cut short and Samantha's "back-revealing" scenes were shown on two separate days, which clearly indicates the attempt to boost ratings? Samantha said: "I think this is necessary for the plot, I think it's normal for the series to be edited like that. (Fans aren't satisfied?) They have high expectations then, we are not selling porn." 

As for the "rapist" Ronan Pak, he did not get to watch the scene due to work, but he responded to the audience's reaction. He said: "No fear, it's a good thing that audience has this reaction. I know Samantha's fans feel bad for her, but it's just part of the storyline, it's not real."He said shooting the rape scene was challenging because it was an awkward process. When asked if he would challenge large TV scale scenes? He said: "I am willing to do anything, but of course I can't go fully nude!" 

Producer Man Wai Hung reiterated that the series is not trying to sell porn, "We were just trying to sell Samantha Ko's role, she's a rookie in the field and when encountering such an unfortunate situation, she has to face it with courage. Last night, in the court scene, Derek Kwok kept attacking and insulting her, and she was able remain strong! (Audience are disappointed?) It is not just this one scene, I just saw on Baby Kingdom's website, the moms weren't in opposition and they even supported Samantha, praising that she did a good job. They are actually audience whom are into the storyline."