(Courtesy of ONE Championship)
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a href=”https://onefc.com” rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>ONE Championship‘s highly acclaimed non-scripted reality television program, The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition has won two major categories at the 2021 Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA).
Presented across two nights of virtual ceremonies last week, the AAA recognized Asia’s best TV programs and streaming content.
The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition beat Discovery’s Expedition: Asia for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment by a slight margin and also won the award for Best Adaptation of an Existing Format.
. (Courtesy of ONE Championship/.)
“Season one of The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition is a massive runaway success. And now, to be recognized as one of the best television programs this year in Asia is truly an honor,” says Chatri Sityodtong, founder and CEO of Group ONE.
“I would like to thank AAA for the honor, and of course, our official production partner, Refinery Media, and its founder, Karen Seah, for the creativity and excellence in bringing our vision for The Apprentice to life.”
“Working with ONE Championship on The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition was an unforgettable experience, and to be recognized for our efforts is truly amazing. We are very happy to win awards in two categories. On behalf of Refinery Media, we are grateful for the trust and partnership of Chatri Sityodtong and the entire ONE Championship team, without whom this award would not have been possible,” said Seah.
The inaugural season of the reality television program consists of 13 nail-biting episodes. It premiered across Asia on March 18, and the worldwide launch is expected to happen soon, Sityodtong revealed in a Facebook post.
The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition features 16 candidates from 11 countries, including Indonesian Paulina Purnomowati.
The candidates vie for a chance to be Sityodtong's protégé and receive first-hand knowledge on how ONE becomes a top 10 global sports media property in the world, according to Nielsen.
The winner will also receive a US$250,000 job offer to work directly under the ONE CEO for a year in Singapore.
Sityodtong, a self-made entrepreneur and lifelong martial artist from Thailand, was named Asia’s King of Martial Arts by The Financial Times, ranked as Asia’s Second-Most Powerful Person in Sports by FOX Sports, and was also selected as one of Asia’s Top 100 Business Leaders by Business Insider.
While Sityodtong’s business expertise has made him a perennial keynote speaker at top business conferences and an entrepreneur-in-residence at INSEAD, his rags-to-riches story began with martial arts.
. (Courtesy of ONE Championship/.)
Inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame in 2019, Sityodtong has over 35 years of martial arts experience as a student, a fighter, a teacher and a coach. Sityodtong is a certified senior Muay Thai instructor under the legendary Kru Yodtong Senanan of the world-renowned Sityodtong Gym in Thailand. He also holds a Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under master Renzo Gracie.
“I’ve always said this in our company meetings, but the path to greatness involves dreams, purpose and passion. It also involves sacrifice and suffering for those dreams, purpose and passion. It’s one thing to do it for eight weeks, or 10 weeks or 13 weeks on the show, but it’s another thing to do it every day of your life,” Sityodtong said regarding the role as chief of staff.
“The chief of staff has to juggle multiple projects, the most important priorities of the company […] Also, the chief of staff typically works on multiple projects across the company for me in addition to shadowing me, essentially giving me leverage as the CEO of ONE.”
Throughout the show, the multitalented candidates are put to test to overcome various business and physical challenges. In each episode, they have to compete and work together to survive and escape from the bottom three.
Top global CEOs are featured to mentor and assess the candidates’ skills in tackling the world’s everyday problems. Grab’s Anthony Tan, Zilingo’s Ankiti Bose, Catcha Group’s Patrick Grove and Everise’s Sudhir Agarwal are among the guest stars appearing on the program.
The show also offers different appeals as a number of martial arts World Champions are invited to measure the candidates' toughness during the physical challenges, which include ONE Atomweight world champion “Unstoppable” Angela Lee, ONE Strawweight world champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan, former ONE Heavyweight world champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera and Mixed Martial Arts legend Georges St-Pierre.
As the global version of the franchise, it involves high-level creativity, non-scripted drama and tough physical tasks, which make it clear that this show is, in fact, not your grandfather’s Apprentice.
This article is in collaboration with ONE Championship.