The immense success of Chinese drama Pursuit of Jade (2026) means its cast has reached new heights of fame like never before.

For actor Deng Kai who plays Prince Sui Yuanhai, this journey to newfound fame was fraught with challenges.

On April 11, the 31-year-old appeared in the latest episode of popular Chinese variety show Hello Saturday together with actress Kong Xue'er, his love interest in Pursuit of Jade.

Following that, a clip taken from his old livestream surfaced on a fan account on Instagram, where he spoke candidly about not being able to make any appearances in variety shows as he was "not famous enough".

According to a fan, the clip is said to be taken from a livestream in 2023.

In the video, Deng Kai said: "If you're not famous enough, you don't get invited to variety shows. And if someone does reach out, they'll ask you to be an NPC - would you go for it? As an NPC, you might not even show your face - you'd be wearing a hood, dressed in black."

NPC stands for non-player character in video games, meaning background characters.

He recounted an incident where he had finished filming a role in a drama and was offered such a position in a variety programme, which he had declined.