Retired NBA star Yao Ming was spotted on Monday filming the hit Chinese reality show “Where Are We Going, Dad?” at Shouchang Town, Zhejiang Province. His part on the show was confirmed yesterday by Hunan Satellite TV Station, the show’s producer.

    A photo released by a netizen was proof that Yao, along with five other celebrity fathers, had joined the show as a guest participant.

    “It is the only reason I will now watch the show,” said one anonymous netizen. “Have you ever considered the feelings of the photographers?” joked one Sina Weibo user named Wuguifuren about Yao’s height.

    Yao’s partner is his daughter Yao Qinlei, who was born in May 2010 and is said to be far taller than other children of the same age.

    Yao and famed female Chinese basketball player Ye Li tied the knot in Shanghai in 2007.

    According to the show’s director Xie Dikui, the new season will adopt a “4+X” model, which means a guest star and his child will be joining four other pairs. To make the shooting schedule more flexible for the stars, the five original pairs that joined the show in mid-May will take turns teaming up with the guest pair.

    The other five pairs are famed sportsman Yang Wei and his son, actor Francis Ng and his boy, actor Huang Lei and his daughter, actor Lu Yi and his girl and singer Gary Chaw, together with his son and daughter.

    (Tan Yifan)