Love her or hate her, anyone who watches GOMtv’s GSL Code A tournament is familiar with Singaporean commentator Kelly ‘KellyMILKIES’ Ong Xiao Wei. Last night Kelly announced, via Twitter, that she will be heading back to Singapore on March 15th, just one month after she came out to Korea to work for GOMtv.
Kelly was the first person specifically hired by GOMtv to commentate its Code A competition. Unfortunately for Kelly, she was met with harsh criticism from viewers who picked on her Singaporean accent and level of game knowledge.
It is important to note that Kelly did not specifically say that she was ending her professional relationship with GOMtv. In all reality this news shouldn’t come as that big of a surprise to followers of the GSL. On the GOMtv forums there is a post outlining the company’s strategy for selecting Code A casters. The post reads:
Q : Why does GOM keep changing casters for Code A?
A : Some people have claimed we are running a ‘beta’ test for casters in Code A. This in a sense is true. This is the final procedure for selecting casters for Code A. We need to test them out in actual matches and see the reaction. We plan to try out few more casters over next few seasons. So if one caster stops showing up after a season it does not mean he or she is fired. It just means it’s next candidate’s turn for the try out. I know from my experience that every time we make some changes people freak out but without changes there can be no improvement.
Earlier this week GOMtv brought in the new Code A caster DOA. Chances are that March 15th marks the end of Kelly’s try out period and that GOMtv will bring in another commentator give it a shot.