| Director: | Tony Fernandes |
| Starring: | Tony Fernandes Mark Lankester Kathleen Tan |
| Presenter: | Tony Fernandes |
| Country: | Malaysia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Episodes: | 11 (see episodes) |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Location: | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Network: | AXN Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Thailand) TV3 (Malaysia) DZBB-7 (Philippines) Mediacorp Channel 5/HD5 (Singapore) MCOT HD (Thailand) TVB Pearl (Hong Kong, Macau) SINDOtv (Indonesia) |
| Narrated: | Tony Fernandes |
| Producer: | Tony Fernandes |
| Creator: | Mark Burnett |
| Company: | FremantleMedia Asia |
The Apprentice Asia is an Asian reality game show that was broadcast from May until July 2013.[1] In this show, a group of aspiring young businesspeople compete for the chance to work with the host of the show, Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes. Dubbed as “The World’s Toughest Job Interview,” the show is the Asian version of the original American show, The Apprentice. It was aired on AXN Asia (also in several countries in Asia) and produced by FremantleMedia Asia.[2]
The Apprentice Asia was hosted by magnate Tony Fernandes, who was later joined by Mark Lankester, CEO of the Tune Hotels’ Group, Rob Jesudason, finance executive, and Kathleen Tan, CEO of Expedia Asia. The role of the hosts in this show is to analyze what went wrong with the contestants' strategies and business outcomes, and to determine which team member of the losing team should be "fired" from the show.[2] [3]
The first season started with 12 contestants, six men and six women from across Asia. All of the participants had been successful in various enterprises, including restaurant management, IT, and sales. During the show, the contestants lived communally in a suite in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where they were divided into two teams based on their gender. Each week, Fernandes assigned the teams a task. Each team selected a "project manager" to lead them in the week's assigned task. The winning team received a reward, while the losing team faced a boardroom showdown with Fernandes and two of his associates in order to determine which team member would be fired. Elimination proceeded in two stages. In the first stage, Fernandes confronted the losing team and required the week's project manager to select two additional team members which the project manager believed were most responsible for the loss. The rest of the team was dismissed (allowed to go back up to the suite, because they were safe to stay for the next round), and the project manager and the two other selected members faced a final confrontation several minutes later in which Fernandes fired one of the three.
The Apprentice Asia is expected to broadcast in all parts of Asia via the cable channel Sony Pictures Television International. Additionally, other local free-to-air channels aired the series.
| Country of Broadcast | Broadcasting Station | Broadcasting Channel | Start Date | End Date | Aired | UTC | Dubbing | Subtitle |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Philippines Thailand Vietnam Sri Lanka | Sony Pictures Television International | AXN Asia | 22 May 2013 | 31 July 2013 | Wednesday at 20:00 WIB/TST/VST | +07:00 | English | Subtitle in various languages in Southeast Asia |
| Wednesday at 21:00 MST/SST/PST/HKT | +08:00 | |||||||
| Malaysia | Media Prima Television Networks (Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad) | TV3 | 1 August 2013 | 11 October 2013 | Saturday at 00:30 MST | Malaysian | ||
| Thailand | MCOT | MCOT HD | Saturday at 00:30 TST | +07:00 | Thai | |||
| Indonesia | SINDOMedia (Media Nusantara Citra) | SINDOtv | 31 May 2013 | 16 August 2013 | Friday at 21:03 WIB[4] | +07:00 | Indonesian | |
| Friday at 22:03 WITA | +08:00 | |||||||
| Philippines | GMA Network | DZBB-7 | Friday at 22:00 PST | Tagalog/Filipino | ||||
| Singapore | Mediacorp TV | Channel 5/HD5 | 1 August 2013 | 11 October 2013 | Friday at 22:00 SST | Chinese | ||
| Hong Kong | TVB | TVB Pearl | 1 October 2013 | 11 October 2013 | Weekday at 20:00 HKT | |||
| Macau | ||||||||
| Vietnam | VTC | Let's Viet/VTC9 | 23 June 2013 | 1 September 2013 | Sunday at 21:30 VST | +07:00 | Vietnamese |