“You’re fired!” This dialogue – immortalised by Donald Trump on the iconic show from the early noughties, The Apprentice – came to represent the heyday of reality TV. It sparked a love of competitive live entertainment across the world and even spawned a million memes! Following its tremendous success, many have attempted to adapt its format to suit contemporary viewing, yet very few succeeded – until ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ came on the scene. Debuting in March 2021 on AXN in Singapore, Hong Kong and a few other South-East Asian countries, its popularity led to it being picked up by OTT platform Netflix to stream across 150 countries. Hence, from February 1, 2022, Indians have had front-row access to this exciting reality show.
Described by its makers as ‘the toughest series in history’, ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ reimagines the popular format of the original show to test strength, character, and determination in an entirely new and unique manner. Sixteen candidates are handpicked from around the world to compete in a high-stakes competition involving challenges that test their business acumen as well as their physical strength. The winner receives an exciting prize – a US$250,000 job offer to work directly under ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a year as his protege in Singapore.
“For the first time, viewers will see world champion athletes and top CEOs pose tough challenges to the candidates to assess their sharpness in both physical and business tasks. We have assembled a cross-cultural cast, including candidates from eleven different nations, to represent the inclusivity that should be the norm in all businesses around the world – this is a major change of pace from other versions of ‘The Apprentice’. Not only will the series take viewers into uncharted territory through its distinctive tasks, it will also allow audiences to experience the Lion City of Singapore,” explains Sityodtong with a smile.
In keeping with the original format, special guests appear throughout the show’s ten episodes. These include CEOs like Zoom’s Eric Yuan, Grab’s Anthony Tan, Zilingo’s Ankiti Bose, Catcha Group’s Patrick Grove, and Everise’s Sudhir Agarwal. Famous athletes also make an appearance alongside the CEOs. These include martial arts legends Georges St-Pierre and Renzo Gracie, former ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren, ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon Vera, ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee, ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Champion Demetrious Johnson, Indian Wrestling Champion Ritu Phogat, Karate World Champion Sage Northcutt, and ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion Xiong Jing Nan.
The candidates come from eleven nations across the globe, representing Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and New Zealand. Each one brings a unique individuality on board that is sure to appeal to audiences. As the only Indian candidate on the show, Niraj Puran Rao, has been a football player and the winner of reality TV show ‘Asli Champion’ in 2017, which picked the fittest men and women in India. He is also the founder of JOATFIT, an online fitness company that promotes healthier living, and was part of the sales team of India’s International Health, Sports and Fitness Festival in 2019.
Lara Pearl Alvarez from Philippines is a martial artist, accountant, and single mother – all roles that have taught her endurance. Alvin Ang from Singapore represents his country in the martial art called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has founded the Singapore BJJ Open, a top-tier competition for grappling lovers. Russian Irina Chadsey is passionate about fitness and is also a Senior Associate, handling investment sales across Asia for real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle. Eugene Chung from United States is the youngest candidate on the show. He practices martial arts, helms a creative talent agency with twenty photographers and videographers on his roster, a digital and social media consultation firm, and is also part of Forbes’ programmatic team, where he does digital marketing strategy for various agencies and brands. Teirra Kamolvattanavith from Thailand is an award-winning journalist trained in Muay Thai. Joy Koh from Singapore has dabbled in many professions and is now a gymnastics program director.
Other candidates include American entrepreneur Monica Millington, Indonesian corporate professional Paulina Purnomowati, Venezuelan sales professional Jessica Ramella, American aviation expert Nazee Sajedi, MMA star and entrepreneur Louie Sangalang from Philippines, Japanese star athlete Sho Takei, Muay Thai expert Clinton Tudor from New Zealand, American corporate professional Roman Wilson, and German entrepreneur Kexin Ye. These candidates fight with single-minded determination for a chance to work with Chatri Sityodtong, the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, Asia’s largest global sports media property. A self-made entrepreneur and martial artist from Thailand, Sityodtong’s rags-to-riches life story is certainly an inspirational one. He has been named ‘Asia’s King of Martial Arts’ by Financial Times, and the ‘Second Most Powerful Person in Sports in Asia’ by FOX Sports.
Sityodtong holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Tufts University. He was inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2019 and has over 35 years of martial arts experience as a student, fighter, teacher, and coach. Sityodtong is a certified senior Muay Thai instructor, trained under the legendary Kru Yodtong Senanan of the renowned Sityodtong Gym in Thailand. He also holds a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Master Renzo Gracie.
Talking about his brand, he says, “ONE Championship is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural treasures and the deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion. As the world’s largest martial arts organization, ONE Championship is on a mission to unleash real-life superheroes, tell stories, celebrate values, ignite dreams, inspire nations, and change the world.”
Headquartered in Singapore, ONE is the world’s largest martial arts organization, hosting bouts across all styles of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Mixed Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Submission Grappling, and more. ONE hosts the biggest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world’s best martial artists and world champions on the largest global media broadcast in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts across 150 countries with some of the largest global free-to-air and digital broadcasters, including Star Sports, Tencent, TV5, Astro, ClaroSports, Startimes, Fox Sports, Thairath TV, Turner Sports, Skynet, MediaCorp, Great Sports, Mediaset Italia, ProSiebenSat.1, Dubai Sports, and more.
The team at ONE Championship are known for pushing the boundaries of traditional entertainment and sport. Their reformulation of ‘The Apprentice’ is in keeping with this philosophy. As it is one of the largest non-scripted reality television programs in history, ‘The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition’ promises to stand out in the clutter of TV shows and OTT offerings. Watch it now on Netflix for the ultimate dose of entertainment.
The writer pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.