ONE Championship to produce Asian edition of ‘The Apprentice’

MMA promotion ONE Championship is producing an Asian edition of the hit television show The Apprentice, featuring its chairman and chief executive Chatri Sityodtong in the lead role as the business leader hiring a protégé.

ONE Championship is producing the programme under licence from US television company MGM Television. It will be created by the promotion’s production arm ONE Studios, and will be distributed on linear and streaming platforms across Asia in the second half of 2020. The press release announcing the programme said it would also be distributed in markets outside Asia.

The programme will involve 16 contestants from around the world competing in business competitions and physical challenges for the prize of a “$250,000 job” working for Chatri at ONE Championship’s headquarters in Singapore. The press release announcing the show said 12 of Asia’s top chief executives will make guest appearances as judges during the first series. ONE Championship fighters will also make appearances, competing against the would-be apprentices in physical challenges.

Chatri said: “I am thrilled to announce The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition as our biggest foray into the non-scripted series genre. This brand new concept brings a completely unique and original dimension to The Apprentice, with the high-stakes drama of real-life business competitions, coupled with herculean physical challenges, featuring some of Asia’s top CEOs, the world’s greatest martial arts world champions, and A-list celebrities from across the continent. In combining our respective IP and assets, ONE Championship will redefine the non-scripted genre in Asia across scale and scope. The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition just might be the toughest in the history of all Apprentice shows!”

Versions of The Apprentice have been aired in more than 30 countries since the original series ran in the US in 2004. Donald Trump played the role of the hiring business leader in the original American series.