THE ONE Championship edition of the global hit reality TV show The Apprentice is set for airing in Asia in March with two Filipinos vying to emerge as the winner.
One of the new offerings of Asia’s largest sports media property for this year, The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition will see 16 people compete for a $250,000 job offer to work directly under ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a year as his protégé in Singapore.
Two of those who will compete are Lara Pearl Alvarez and Louie Sangalang from the Philippines.
Ms. Alvarez hails from Baguio and is no stranger to adversity, having worked for long hours even as a child on her father’s farm, where she harvested crops and sold them at the local market.
She works as an accountant and trains martial arts with Team Lakay and she is looking to take things to a higher level as being an apprentice to Mr. Sityodtong at ONE.
Mr. Sangalang, meanwhile, is also from Baguio and is a champion mixed martial arts fighter. He has extensive experience working for several industries, something he is banking on as he tries to hold his own on The Apprentice.
Both Ms. Alvarez and Mr. Sangalang passed the tough eliminations to make it to the final list of contestants.
In the show, the participants will be asked to solve business problems in real time, but a twist — in the form of physical challenges with MMA stars — is also involved.
To make the challenges well-rounded for the participants, the show has invited executives from top companies to join the show.
CEOs confirmed include Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, Grab CEO Anthony Tan, Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose, Catcha Group CEO Patrick Grove, and Everise CEO Sudhir Agarwal.
Apart from Ms. Alvarez and Mr. Sangalang, the other The Apprentice contestants are Alvin Ang (Singapore), Irina Chadsey (Russia), Eugene Chung (United States), Teirra Kamolvattanavith (Thailand), Joy Koh (Singapore), Monica Millington (United States), Paulina Purnomowati (Indonesia), Jessica Ramella (Venezuela), Niraj Puran Rao (India), Nazee Sajedi (United States), Sho Takei (Japan), Clinton Tudor (New Zealand), Roman Wilson (United States), and Kexin Ye (Germany).
The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition was filmed entirely in Singapore in accordance with prevailing health and safety protocols. The series features iconic locations and brings forth passion made possible by stories that mirror the country’s never-settling spirit of enterprise.
It will have 13 episodes and will premiere across Asia on March 18 on AXN. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo