That Time We Met ‘If You Are The One’ Host Meng Fei And Ate His Noodles
Meng Fei has a noodle restaurant in Melbourne now! For some reason!
Meng Fei is a huge celebrity in China; his extraordinarily popular dating show If You Are The One has an average audience of 50 million people (!!!!). Though to be honest, I mainly knew the show from the blistering comments made by female contestants, often passing judgement on the male contestants’ appearance or personality.
Meng Fei is also known for his zingers, and despite the show’s huge success, the super chill host has been slyly building a side career as a restauranteur. His first international venture, Mr Meng’s Noodles, opened in Melbourne in May.
It’s a bit of a weird move for the celebrity, but not unprecedented. Fei’s first noodle chain opened in Nanjing in 2014. The decision to open another store in Melbourne came about because Meng Fei has a friend who lives in the city (sure, why not). Now we have the spicy Mr Meng’s Noodles on Elizabeth Street. This is where we met him for an interview.
The restaurant has a minimalist style — lots of exposed concrete, brick and woodwork inside the unassuming entrance — that clashed with the style of the restaurant opening. It was w i l d. There was quite literally a red carpet being laid out and select members of the hundreds-strong crowd were given stickers to indicate whether or not they were allowed in. It felt like being a contestant on If You Are the One (with less chance of devastating insults).
There was a cacophony of drumming as a huge dragon appeared, weaving between the tables. When Meng Fei appeared with his entourage, people rushed and crowded around the entrance, clamouring for photos and attention. The man of the hour seemed simultaneously amused and perplexed by the whole thing.
Meng Fei is a difficult man to read; his face barely changed throughout the interview. When I tried to ask about whether he was excited about the restaurant, he dismissed the question, gesturing to his business partner Guo Degang and explaining, “Oh, it was his idea”.
Fair enough.
Junkee: Can you tell me about some of the challenges hosting If You Are The One?
Meng Fei: There are virtually no challenges because I’ve been doing it for seven years and it’s really streamlined. So, you do what you do every day and there is no cross-talk, which is a really good thing. If there is anything it is the pressure — pressure from the audience, you know, so many people watching.
What’s your favourite part of hosting If You Are The One?
The best part is seeing so many young people expressing themselves in a very relaxing environment [Ed note: is it though?]. That is actually quite rare in China because most shows are about celebrities. The ordinary people do not really have so much of a chance to be on TV.
In China, there are two types of reality shows. One is a ‘real’ one where they employ real people who appear on the show only once. The second type, which is much more common, is where they employ celebrities who know how to act; basically they are actors. So, they are really acting and expressing their emotions, also they have a script as well. If You Are The One, then, is one of the very rare few that is genuinely reality show.
What is the funniest moment you can remember from the show?
Well from 7,000 candidates, boys and girls, it’s really hard to recall one moment in particular.
Maybe from the re-launch then. What’s the funniest moment from the show so far?
I earn more money now. That’s why I have the money to open this restaurant!
In the old version of the show there are 24 girls, 12 on each side. The middle four are the most beautiful ones, so all the girls want to be in the front row, because that’s an indication they’re the most beautiful. But then what happens is that whoever is in those four spots doesn’t ever want to leave.
In the re-launch however, instead of them coming all together there is a screen so when the girls come in one-by-one, they can’t see the boy. Then the boy decides whether she is pretty enough to be on the right side or the left side: red area (pretty) or blue area (not as pretty). So the prettiest girl may not be the prettiest all the time because it depends on what each boy thinks is beautiful.
Suddenly Meng Fei remembers an anecdote. He proceeds to tell it in Mandarin, and the crowd surrounding the interview erupts into peals of laughter. The translator, Jing Han, has to rapidly repeat the story in English before the moment is gone…
Well, actually, there was this one girl who was not really pretty, and she was always selected into the blue side (the ‘not pretty’ side). Until one day this boy really sees her beauty. He puts her into the red section, and without even seeing the boy, she says, “I’m going to go with you for the rest of my life”.
Do you ever feel sorry for the people who don’t get matches or dates?
No, I don’t feel sorry at all. After the show, regardless of whether they’re boys or girls, people are lined up to date them. They become incredibly popular. Four years ago, a candidate — he was a very ordinary looking boy — who didn’t get a date got 30,000 email requests after the show. He spent a week replying to all the emails without eating or sleeping.
Do you think the girls get more power with this new format? How do you think the show will change?
The new format doesn’t give girls more power, but more opportunities to express and demonstrate themselves.
There is no special meaning in “Boys’ Special”, because mutual choice is the key formula of this show. Boys and girls have the opportunities to choose each other. The only special effect is that it might satisfy female viewers’ experience.
I had gone in hoping that maybe Meng Fei would throw me some choice one-liners or a glimmer of his cheeky on-screen personality. I don’t really know if that’s what I got, but the reboot of the show sounds as spicy as the Chongqing speciality pork noodles.
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If You Are the One Boys’ Special is on 7.20pm weekly each Sunday night on SBS until July 23.
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Caitlin McGrane is a writer, marketing communications professional and social media researcher based in Melbourne. She writes about popular culture, and researches the effects of online harassment. She tweets at @KenlyMcG.