Riding Along The Champion Wave

A few days ago, I said I wanna blog about TV. In the midst of my hectic life, the only show I catch every night is Ren4 Wo3 Ao2 You2, The Champion. I wanted so much to bitch about that show.

The casts


Few days later, so much has happened that I don’t exactly know what to write about.

Joel has already bitched about The Champion on his blog. Xiaxue too.

What Joel said + What Xiaxue said = 70% of what Jolene would say. Damn, they stole all my thoughts!

8 Days has written many articles on that show. The Straits Times too.

In almost every recent issue of 8 Days, we would see articles on The Champion. And it’s really amazing how BBB (Big Boobs Babe, Boing Boing Boobs whatever) and that famous running along Orchard Road in 2 bikinis photo have been gracing the pages of every local magazine and newspaper.

Fiona ‘BOING BOING Xie appears to be everywhere!!!

I finally decided to flip through the newspapers today, who should I see on the cover of Life! but BBB.

When I said I wanted to blog about TV, I have in mind to say “A TSUNAMI of sun-bronzed hunks and bikini-clad babes has taken over the airwaves at Channel 8 lately, thanks to the popular primetime drama series, The Champion.”

Sun-bronzed hunks


Bikini-clad babes


All of them



But when I decided to leave it for another day to write, media reporter Hong Xinyi stole my words and now I have to write the above sentence in quotation marks.

It’s true! I have planned to start off my entry with a sentence somewhat like that.

The show is over hyped. And the media is making use of BBB to garner ratings for the show. The ratings have since been boing boing consistently since its debut.

Talking about BBB, Joel has an innovative way of typing her name on his blog. It’s amazing how he takes great care in NOT typing her name out lest her fans get misdirected to his blog. PH10!\!4 x13 (fee-oh-na xie). He learnt his lesson from yours truly. Did you come out with that yourself or is it something that everyone should know. Sorry, I’m a suaku.

Right, back to what I wanna say.

Despite being a Y-generation and oh-so-cool show with a combination of mouth-watering local and foreign casts, Mediacorp never fails to offer a smorgasbord of familiar social themes. And in exploring such themes, the plot becomes unrealistic and unbelievable at times.

Theme #1: Every woman must fall in love, get married to a man, settle down, produce babies and increase Singapore’s birth rate.

We have tanned, and sporty yet refined beauty Yixuan thirsting for freedom and determined not to be tied down by marriage and kids.

Yixuan, whom my er jie thinks is a hua1 ping2 in the show


For a moment there, I thought that was pretty refreshing and so unlike the usual Mediacorp-produced shows.

Until Yilin gave her elder sister a long lecture on the role of women. That speech was so long that it would be better to summarize Yilin’s point: EVERY woman HAS to get married and have kids.

Her speech was so long and boring that I fell asleep for a few seconds and I swore I heard the SG Garmen talking. I opened my eyes only to see gorgeous Yilin rattling on.




This is one societal expectation that seem to resonate among Singapore Garmen.

Since all profound theories and explanation did not sink in with our people, the SG Garmen decided to exercise underhand means and let Mediacorp do the job. The hot bod good-looker casts are just a cover up for their propaganda.

Subtlety does the trick. Unfortunately, I thought that was obvious.

Theme #2: Familial ties are extremely important
Like all Mediacorp productions in the 7pm and 9pm belt, the plot is heavily laden with traditional familial values. We have so many filial children in the show, Jingwen, Jinglong, Jingfang, Kaiwei, Kaixin, Jiajun etc and their sacrificing parents.. eh.. I don’t know their names. I find Jeanette Aw’s character the most unbelievable. She is too good to be true and I can’t stand her goody goody character in that show. Give me vicious Yilin anytime.

“All parents love their children. Even as they beat you, their heart is actually bleeding inside.” Loosely translated from Jeanette Aw’s halting Mandarin. I thought that was heart wrenching, heart wrenchingly pathetic.

Theme #3: Teenage delinquency
Well the whole part about those youths hanging out at void decks and basketball courts drinking, smoking and peddling drugs is so farcical. Don’t these scripwriters know that youths don’t do such things at void decks? They do it at pubs.

My, I just realised I used the word “farcical”. I hated that word back in secondary school.

Theme #4: Single parenthood is a No-no in SG
Father and son, Zhengkang and Xiao Jie enjoy each other company. When mother returns from America (It’s always America!) unexpectedly, Mother and son also enjoy each other company. Solution? Put the family back together again. The third party gets the hunk in the end.

With that, let’s explore the next theme.

Theme #5: Third party please scram for there would be a hunk out there waiting for you.
Yes Jingwen. You goody goody two shoes should not break up Zhengkang’s family. Leave the not so handsome guy and snag that hunky Kaiwei.








I don’t wanna explore silly themes anymore. I wanna talk about how dumb some of the characters in the show are. Such dumbness only happen in reel life but as what my dad always says “Zuo4 xi4 ma. If not no show to watch liao.”

Dumbo #1: Jiajun
Jiajun doesn’t stand up for himself and his girlfriend, allowing the misunderstanding to deepen when all could have been solved easily. And I felt like punching his face when he kept begging for Kaixin to listen to his explanation. “Ni ting wo jie shi. Ni ting wo jie shi.” He said it like 65498309 times. No wonder Kaixin refuses to listen, for similar to nagging, if you hear a phrase too many times, you automaically switch off. He should have replaced that phrase with all his explanation instead. Maybe that would make Kaixin see the light. And he had the cheek to give that exasperated look. I mean in real life, no bf would be as stupid as to keep begging for his gf to listen to his explanation without explaining.

Dumbo #2: Kaixin
Kaixin is another dumb one. All she does is to say sorry to people. And I hate it that she doesn’t talk things out with her bf and best friend. After 4 years in a relationship and many years of friendship, I realised the best way to solve a conflict would be to thrash things out. Misunderstandings get cleared up much faster this way. Kaixin is also dumb as she cannot see how every sticky situation is so coincidental and every misunderstanding so contrived. I mean if I were her, I would have found out long ago that my best friend is the bitch all along and I would slap her like 10 000 times.

The dumbo couple


Dumbo #3: Jingwen
When her brother was beaten up so badly by their dad due to some misunderstanding which she obviously knew the truth, all she can say is “Ba4, bu shi4 wan2 quan2 jinglong de cuo4.” And like Jiajun, she said it like 65498309 times. In real life, upon seeing your brother being beaten up like a pulp unfairly, any sane person would immediately clarify the misunderstanding rather than to say “It’s not entirely his fault. It’s not entirely his fault.” And not explain why it isn’t his fault. I felt like punching her face.

And then my dad would appear and say “Zuo4 xi4 ma.”

Dumbo #4: All the lackeys in the Seagull team
Following their leader like a bunch of dogs. Need I say more?

There are many parts in the show that made me cringe.

The exchange of insults between the Seagull team and the Flying Fish team. Really childish and unrealistic. The insults were ludicrous. Don’t they have wittier retorts??? And real sports people do not exhibit such childishness.

Seagull Team


Flying Fish Team


The courtship sequence between Jiajun and Kaixin. Please refer to Joel’s entry.

The viciousness of best friends. With friends like this who needs enemies? I wanna slap Yilin each time she appears on screen yet I cannot help but admire her beauty. She is not exactly pretty but I like her eyes. And she is one good actress to make me hate her to the bone.

I cringe each time I see the pretty girls’ rebonded hair wave delicately on screen. Soft, silky and smooth.The only problem is all of them just had a swim but their hair is unwet. And the clothes supposedly worn on the same day don’t match too. Don’t do they some coordination while shooting?

And of course, I still cringe whenever I hear BBB speaks. She has created her own blend of Mandarin accent. I thought she was more inclined towards English. But did you see that contact lens ad? Her English accent is just the same. Maybe I shouldn’t criticize people’s speech too much as I’m also guilty of speaking Mandarin with a horrible accent. I ought to be shot.

"So what if i speak funnily? My b**bs bigger than yours ok?" 


"Can see or not? Confirm bigger than yours right?" 


"Still cannot see huh? How about this? You still dare say I speak funnily? I smash your face into my chest ah!" 


Sorry BBB! Wo bu gan le... I speak lousy Mandarin too and my chest isn't as big as yours. Karma karma!

All these criticism aside, I faithfully watch the show every night. It is irritatingly irresistible.

Before its debut, I was looking forward to it as I love sports show. Do all of you remember this SBC swimming show aired when we were in primary school? And also the volleyball show with young Chen Liping and Chen Xiuhuan? Sports themed dramas are really engaging.

I was also looking forward to salivate at the bikini babes. Who cares about the hunks in trunks? Give me a babe anytime. The only hunk there would be 715. And I love how he has shed his goody boy next door image for this role.

Goody Two Shoes to... ...


Beach Hunk


And then when it started its runs, I was still giving tuition every night so I got my dad to tape for me. It has since become a must see for the whole family. My disgruntled da jie who watches CSI on AXN grumbled at first for she could not watch her show. Then she started follwing up with The Champion too.

I love watching it for the girls’ dressing. I love to look at how they mix and match their clothes. Their clothes are really gorgeous. BBB and Xiaoqiao have really great dress sense but the former mostly look good in everything coz of her BB.

And on the topic of BB, I simply adore BB. I’m a b**bs kind of person. I go gaga over BB ladies.

And because of all these factors, my personal rating for the show has gone from a 0 star to 4 stars. Call me a bimbo.

And for the more bimbotic ones... Oops.. I meant for the fanatics of the show, check out The Champion home page.