The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition is a reality television program that premiered in Asia on 18 March 2021 and concluded on 10 June 2021. On 3 December 2021, the show won two major categories at the 2021 Asian Academy Creative Awards for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment and Best Adaptation of an Existing Format. It began broadcasting worldwide in June 2021. Although the series was filmed in Asia, it has no relation to The Apprentice Asia, and it is the first-ever global edition of The Apprentice co-owned by MGM and ONE Championship. On 1 February 2022, it became the first version of the franchise to stream on Netflix in over 150 countries.
The show features 16 candidates from around the world competing in both business and physical challenges. CEOs from major companies and prominent mixed martial artists will also guest star on the show. The finale is won by Venezuelan sales director Jessica Ramella, who won a US$250,000 job offer to work directly under ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong for a year as his protégé (and as a member of chief of staff) in Singapore.
On 21 June 2021, Sityodtong greenlit a second season of the show, expecting newer challengers.
Summary The series is hosted by Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship. Sityodtong is joined by Niharika Singh, ONE's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy, and Dominic "Dom" Lau, ONE Championship's ring announcer, who serves as taskmaster, and also analyzed each contestant's performance during the task for both Business and Physical tasks, respectively. This edition marked three firsts in The Apprentice franchise: one that that featured two tasks airing in a single episode (until Episode 10); only one person, Singh, analyses each contestant's performance during the business task, instead of the usual two; and also, the first time two teams were dissolved and merged as a single team.
These physical tasks are designed to test each teams' heart and endurance and are often supervised by popular figures from the martial arts world, such as Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson, Rich Franklin, Angela Lee, Renzo Gracie, and Ben Askren. The winning teams of each week's physical task will receive some advantages on business tasks.
Each team will then pick a project manager for the episode's business task portion. They must impress Sityodtong, Singh, and the week's guest advisor – which includes the likes of Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom; Anthony Tan, co-founder and group CEO of Grab; and Ankiti Bose, co-founder and CEO of Zilingo – with their pitches.
The board decides which team showed superior business acumen and won the challenge. The project manager and two members from the losing team then face Sityodtong and Singh in the boardroom, where they are up for elimination from the show. Like The New Celebrity Apprentice and some foreign editions which does not use the traditional catchphrase of "you're fired" for the contestant's elimination, Sityodtong declared the candidate that he or she is "not the ONE", referencing the company's theme of ONE Championship.
The show was announced on 20 February 2020 and auditions began in March. The show initially slated for a premiere on the latter half, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic at the time of filming, production commenced from September to November 2020 in accordance with health and safety protocols. The season was shot entirely in Singapore, primarily at Andaz Singapore near DUO for business tasks and boardroom, and other places across Singapore during physical tasks.
Season 1 Candidates
ContestantBackgroundAgeOriginOriginal teamResultJessica Ramella Sales Director 31Venezuela Valor Hired by Chatri (06–10–2021)Louie Sangalang Procurement Consultant 43Philippines Valor Fired in the season finale (06–10–2021)Irina Chadsey Investment Consultant 29 Russia Valor Fired in week 11 (05–27–2021)Monica Millington Fashion Entrepreneur 30United States Valor Fired in week 11 (05–27–2021)Paulina Purnomowati Retail Country Manager 41Indonesia Conquest Fired in week 10 (05–20–2021)Kexin Ye Entrepreneur 27Germany Valor Fired in week 9 (05–13–2021)Nazee Sajedi Aviation Consultant 37United States Conquest Fired in week 9 (05–13–2021)Niraj Puran Rao Entrepreneur 26India Conquest Fired in week 8 (05–06–2021)Eugene Chung Digital Marketer 23United States Conquest Fired in week 7 (04–29–2021)Clinton Tudor App Developer 44New Zealand Valor Fired in week 6 (04–22–2021)Joy Koh Gymnastics Instructor 36Singapore Conquest Fired in week 5 (04–15–2021)Sho Takei HR Manager 28Japan Valor Fired in week 4 (04–08–2021)Teirra Kamolvattanavith Journalist 27Thailand Valor Fired in week 4 (04–08–2021)Lara Pearl Alvarez Accountant 24Philippines Conquest Fired in week 3 (04–01–2021)Roman Wilson Investment Banker 29 United States Conquest Fired in week 2 (03–25–2021)Alvin Ang Sport Entrepreneur 24Singapore Conquest Fired in week 2 (03–25–2021)
Season 1 results CandidateOriginal teamWeek 3 teamWeek 4 teamWeek 5 teamWeek 7 teamWeek 8 teamWeek 10 teamApplication resultRecord as project managerJessica Valor Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Dream TeamHired by Chatri1-0(won week 7)Louie Valor Valor Valor Valor Valor ValorFired in the season finale2-0(won week 2 & 6)Irina Valor Valor Valor Valor Conquest Conquest Fired (Week 11)1-1(lost week 4, won week 8)Monica Valor Valor Valor Valor Valor Valor2-0(won week 5 & 9)Paulina Conquest Conquest Conquest Valor Valor ValorFired (Week 10)1-2(won week 3, lost week 8 & 10)Kexin Valor Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Fired (Week 9)1-1(won week 4, lost week 9)Nazee Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest0-1(lost week 1)Niraj Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest Conquest ValorFired (Week 8)0-1(lost week 6)Eugene Conquest Conquest Valor Valor ValorFired (Week 7)0-2(lost week 2 & 7)Clinton Valor Valor Conquest ConquestFired (Week 6)1-0(won week 1)Joy Conquest Conquest Conquest ConquestFired (Week 5)0-1(lost week 5)Sho Valor Valor Valor Fired (Week 4)0-1(lost week 3)Teirra Valor Valor ValorLara Conquest ValorFired (Week 3)Alvin Conquest Fired (Week 2) Roman Conquest
Season 1 Physical task results In a history first for The Apprentice franchise, candidates had to undergo a preliminary task called Physical tasks which assess on the candidate's abilities and teamwork. The list shows only the results as part of the team. The list do not include task 10 onward due to the merging of two teams on Week 10. + Physical Task results Candidate Task Number123456789Jessica WIN WIN LOSE WIN WIN LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSELouie WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WIN WIN WIN WINIrina WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WIN WIN LOSE LOSEMonica WIN WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WIN WIN WIN WINPaulina LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN WIN WIN WIN WIN WINKexin WIN WIN LOSE WIN WIN LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSENazee LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN WIN LOSE LOSE LOSE LOSENiraj LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN WIN LOSE LOSE WINEugene LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN LOSE WIN WINClinton WIN WIN WIN LOSE WIN LOSEJoy LOSE LOSE LOSE WIN WINSho WIN WIN WIN LOSETeirra WIN WIN WIN LOSELara LOSE LOSE WINRoman LOSE LOSEAlvin LOSE LOSE Color keys
Season 1 Elimination table + Elimination chart No. Candidate Task Number1234567891011121Jessica IN IN IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN IN IN 2Louie IN WIN IN IN IN WIN IN IN IN BR IN FIRED 3-4Irina IN IN IN LOSE IN IN IN WIN BR BR FIREDMonica IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN BR WIN IN FIRED5Paulina IN IN WIN IN IN IN IN LOSE IN FIRED 6-7Kexin IN IN IN WIN BR IN IN IN FIREDNazee LOSE IN IN IN IN BR IN IN FIRED8Niraj IN IN IN IN IN LOSE IN FIRED9Eugene IN LOSE IN IN IN IN FIRED 10Clinton WIN IN BR IN BR FIRED 11Joy IN IN IN IN FIRED 12-13Sho IN IN LOSE FIREDTeirra IN IN IN FIRED 14Lara BR IN FIRED 15-16Roman IN FIREDAlvin BR FIRED Color keys
Season 1 Recap Episode 1: The Home Coming Air date: 18 March 2021Off to the Races: Recapping Episode 1 Tasks Physical Task: Teams competed in a relay starting with a run followed by a series of obstacle courses, which tested their speed, endurance, and strength. The team that finishes first win the task. Winning team: Valor Highlights: At the time of the challenge, both teams were unnamed and raced around 24OWLS, and Team Valor (in black shirt) maintained the lead enough over Team Conquest (in white shirt) to secure the first physical task's victory. Each contestant revealed their experiences via confessions along the way. Business Task: Teams have to create a prototype of ONE at Home fanbase kit. Project managers Conquest: Nazee Valor: Clinton Monologue: Anyone can be a boss, but not everyone can be a leader. Looking forward to your pitches tomorrow. Dramatic Tension: Clinton was vocal and focused mostly on his own vision of Team Valor's product, which led to some early friction between team members. However, Nazee delegated tasks to her teammates and united everyone, which led to more harmonious strategizing. In their pitches, Conquest came first with ONE Elevate containing a trading card and a burger, and other products that are mostly digital including a Wi-Fi dongle; Valor came next with ONE for all and contained well-rounded products, including a lucky draw concept and meal set to provide a "multi-sensory" user experience. Boardroom Tension: Chatri praised Team Conquest for its stellar presentation, but he admitted that the products did not live up to ONE's core brand for putting gadgets and dongles, in which Paulina was in charge for the products. Paulina explains that they were unable sell something that is too much. Roman mentioned that he was trying to push the markup 25-30% and Niharika found that Roman seems to be blaming the team for not allowing to price the way Roman did. He praised Nazee as a project manager for her delegation skills, especially with her choice to pass the presentation over to Niraj. Team Valor's presentation was criticized for spending time on marketing instead of mentioning the components of the box, especially Clinton when he was reading his presentation off his mobile device, despite their products which were superior to Team Conquest. Niharika also saw his disrespectful attitude towards other teammates, including using his mobile phone during the Conquest's presentation. He praised Jessica for saving her team after delivering a passionate marketing plan, as well as her co-leadership, with 6 out of 8 members feel Jessica was "the real project manager". Irina mentioned than Clinton is visionary, but Louie mentioned that he is a poor communicator, did not listen well to the other teammates, and Kexin also mentioned that sometimes there were moments where he was literally "screaming" several times at all teammates. But Clinton was praised for the potential that he has, and a desire to win. In the end, Chatri wants Clinton to reflect deeply about what teammates have been said. Winning team: Valor Reasons for win: Good pick-up of the products, despite criticism for Clinton's lack of leadership, and the team's overall mediocre presentation material. Losing Team: Conquest Reasons for loss: Despite having a good presentation and praised Nazee's leadership, Chatri felt that they had picked up the wrong products for the kit, and the team also set up low profit margin and selling prices ($79 as opposed to Valor's $139.90), which Chatri felt would not attract fans to buy their kit. Chatri also criticized Alvin's lack of copywriting skills, despite his background as a copywriter. Sent to boardroom: Nazee, Alvin, Lara Firing verdict: Chatri initially wanted to fire one but after noticing that each member having merits and experience, coupled the fact that it was their first business task, he ultimately decides not to fire anyone, and instead encouraged the candidates to reflect on the values in themselves. Fired: None Notes: This is the first time in The Apprentice franchise history that no one was fired at the first task.