News anchors show lighter side of their profession

A pair of television news anchors from the Jinan Radio and Television Station in east China's Shandong Province have become Douyin's (Chinese equivalent of TikTok) new favorites for sharing a series of videos of their sweet and funny moments, breaking the public's common impression of the straight-faced profession.

Yoyo, the anchorwoman of the pair, has gained more than 1.16 million followers on Douyin within a week and is now up to 2.73 million. She describes herself in the profile as "a dopey anchor – poker face in front of the camera and indefinable behind the scenes."

In the outcut-style video series, Yoyo usually behaves recklessly, whimsically and unconventionally while her co-host, Xu Haoxin, always appears prudent, reliable and responsible.

In Yoyo's most-viewed video, she puts on a glittering tooth socket given to her by one of her followers and fails to take it off before the news broadcast begins. Xu quickly responds by calmly finishing the prologue. The video has garnered up to 100 million views and 1.82 million likes on Douyin.

In another video, Xu helps cover Yoyo's bosom with paper while she bends down toward the camera and tries to pick up a pen that had fallen in a gap in front of her. His gentlemanly gesture has won the hearts of many netizens.

yoyo0876 / Douyin

"Who asked you to perform a romantic drama while broadcasting news?" one follower joked.

Their video series has attracted 290 million views.

In response to netizens' inquiries about their relationship, Yoyo said Xu is a good colleague and friend.

Their producer/director came up with the idea for the videos, but the news anchors hadn't expected to attract such a large following and rave reviews. They simply wanted to convey that TV hosts are genial, interesting people and not robots or mystery men in suits.