Following the success of Primetime Emmy nominated reality series, The Apprentice, creator Mark Burnett and
Fremantle media Asia, a leading global entertainment company, decided on an Asian version on AXN. The Apprentice Asia, which premiered last Friday, has Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Air Asia, taking Trump’s seat. He is accompanied by Mark Lankester, CEO of Tune Hotels group and Kathleen Tan, group head of commercial at AirAsia. The format remains the same where 12 contestants from India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and China, will compete to win the dream job of working under Fernandes. The 11-episode series has two Indian contestants, Ningku Lachungpa and Samuel Rufus Nallaraj.
Inside the boardroom
The first task saw the teams (divided by gender) sent to a wet market to sell fish and make a profit. They later met at the boardroom, and in Trump style, the winning team was decided. The girls’ team (called Apex) won the task, while the boys (Mavericks) had to face the penalty with one of them making an exit from the show. Lachungpa, director at Yama enterprise, an infrastructure development company in Gangtok, votes for the boardroom scene as the most “interesting to watch on television” where “your real self comes out.” And despite all the bitchiness, they make up and are still in touch, confesses the director, who found a buddy in fellow contestant, Andreah Loh from Singapore. So, is Fernandes another Trump? “He’s very inspiring, super humble and down to earth. He has a child-like quality as he gets excited about new things. During our wrap up party, he was giving out free tickets,” she laughs.
The risk taker
Samuel Rufus Nallaraj, meanwhile, the vice president at Big Four, an audit and consulting firm in Hyderabad, survived by not being too nasty. “During the boardroom scene, even my opponents found my reasons against them quite rational,” reveals our VP. Sharing a favourite moment with Fernandes, he says, “Since I come from a consultancy firm, I do a lot of analysis before arriving at the bottom line. But Fernandes would say, ‘I don’t care. I’m a billionaire and have the attention span of a nail and hammer. Please get to the point.” Nallaraj admits that there was too much adrenaline pumping in the beginning as “everybody (representing different countries) had a point to make and started executing plans without a plan.” There were very few risk takers, admits Nallaraj, who was later referred to by the CEO as “The Risky Maverick Thinker.”
The Apprentice Asia airs every Friday on AXN at 9 pm.
