Social media-heavy tourism show inspires ‘edutainment’

JANET Hsieh

Taiwanese-American TV host Janet Hsieh is confident that the new season of her long-running series, “Fun Taiwan Adventures,” has different things to offer.

“The most important thing is entertainment—you need to have an entertaining show for people to watch it,” she told the Inquirer in a recent phone interview. “And the second element is education. We don’t want you to just have fun and go away with nothing.”

Hsieh, 36, revealed that diversity and unpredictability were key to the success of the show, currently airing on cable channel TLC every Monday at 10 p.m. A dozen bloggers from different fields were chosen for a trek across Taiwan, often resulting in hilarity and unexpected cultural education.

Excerpts from the interview with Hsieh:

How were the bloggers selected?

Because every country’s social media is different, we thought it would be entertaining to have people from various backgrounds to travel together.

To make it more interesting, we gave them the video challenge, to win the opportunity to decide how we travel as a group.

We included chefs, beauty bloggers, fashion bloggers—a wide group of people who, when put together, may not necessarily get along. [Some participants were from] Australia, the United States, Canada, India and Indonesia.

BLOGGERS stamp on leaf mustard at a farm in Hakka.

What were the challenges in making the show?

The biggest challenge—the winning bloggers got to choose where we went. So, sometimes that left the production company literally waiting until the last second to make any final communications or figure out how the script is going to work.

Sometimes, the hotel they’re staying in will be influenced. We had to be very flexible on this trip, but it was fun.

Can you describe further the entertainment value of “Fun Taiwan”?

We realized that if it’s just a purely educational show, we might not reach the target audience we want. We have to have fun. So we focus on finding things that everybody would want to see, do, experience or eat! Entertainment is very important.

How has hosting the show transformed you?

This show has changed my life completely. It’s been 11 years now! It’s made my life the way it is. It’s given me a platform where I’m able to do what I love and share it with people.

What were the funniest moments, on- or off-camera?

Off-camera, in the car, we talked about every topic possible. We shared our diarrhea stories—we laughed so hard about that. We had sing-alongs where, even if you didn’t know the lyrics, you would just make up your own. We tried rapping; we talked about sex and politics! That was really fun!

What elements should appeal to viewers?

There is an element of a reality show portion where the bloggers are trying their hardest to win the video challenge… Anybody can do a video. It shows that anybody can travel and share. I think the audience will like that!