Radio Ga Ga & Episode 3

Been a hectic last 2 weeks with work,training and Radio interviews. I was on the Radio twice in 2 weeks to promote the sport of Muay Thai and the show The Contender Asia on two different stations.

Last week I was on 938 Live with Daniel Martin. Accompanying me was my friend & sports doctor, Dr.K.C Ang from Orthosports Clinic. He was there to talk about the benefits of the sport and also to answer health related questions. I just had to explain the history and the art of Muay Thai and also let listeners know about ME. There's one bit where Dr Ang says "Muay Thai is safer than Tennis".(There's more explanation that comes after that but I thought it was hillarious!) Im never gonna stop taking the piss out of him for that one hahah!! Well he was promoting the sport so no point dissing it to the listeners!!

Then on Weds I was on 98.7Fm with Shan and Rozz!! It was alot more laid back and just really fun. Was also quite interesting to see how a Radio Station and how Radio DJ's work. Especially coz as a kid I grew up listening to 98.7Fm. They made me feel very comfortable so it was easier to answer the questions they had. Hung around for abit and all I can say is, They are SOOOOO lucky to have such a cool job!! I just can't imagine talking to myself if I didn't have a partner. Would do some serious damage to my already failing mental health!! haha

I've got the interview on Mp3 but have no idea how to leave it up here so people can listen to it. Will figure it out then repost about that.


Right so here we are on to Episode 3,by far the most DRAMATIC one in terms of the scuffle with Jabba & Rafik. People always ask me when they see me...."Is Rafik really like that?....Were you guys acting?...Did the producers ask him to exaggerate his character??.....I don't know why people don't like him,Im sure they edited to make him look bad..." The answer is....NO. It's REALITY TV. We were never told what to say do,act or behave on camera everything happened as you saw it.

People on the forums are actually talking about Rafik ALOT they either like him or don't like him,people say like"Oh Rafik is a great character in the show....he makes it more exciting...he's a good fighter even tho he talks much....he's the lively one.....he's just very straight forward and misunderstood....he brings more drama". Hell yeah,I totally agree with alot of the stuff said about Rafik and he definitely made it livelier at times for all of us! BUT.... you try LIVING with the guy then you'll know if we are wrong to judge him and all? I would loveeeeeeeeee to tell you all things that were said and done off camera but I'd prolly risk a million dollar lawsuit!!!

All reality shows needs a good guy and a bad guy. It's not gonna be very interesting if we all sit there and be nice and talk about our favourite food and hobbies for every episode!??.... And in reality TV people always remember the good guy and the BAD guy...and it works in Rafik's favour coz forums are all talking about Rafik. So he's not on the losing end.

My favourite bit in this episode was prolly where he's saying to Soren,"In the Red team there are 3 or 4 people that I don't like."....Soren goes...."When you say 3 or 4?? How about looking at yourself first??" OWWWWWWWW!!! ....haha And at the end of the episode Rafik goes,"The Fight is easy....it's the living with others that is difficult."......Sheesh???!!! Right so it's all 15 of our faults now????

Hmmmm wonder if Im in that list of 3 or 4 people from the Red Team that he doesn't like?? Oh well.......

LaterZ

Episode 2

Episode 2 showed abit more of the other fighters, and also bits of us in training. Episode 1 felt like it went by very very FAST!! Maybe thats what happens when they have to fit in so much of a fight? (And when they have so much crap adverts in there!!!)

When I think back the amount of time the cameras are on us and what you guys see in one episode is soooooooo little!!! There is sooo much that I remember each day,what we say to each other and what we do. I can only imagine the amount of editing they have to go through!!

The Dragon Boat challenge was actually every bodies favorite one out of all the other ones. It was alot of fun!! I remember when I got in the boat and realized that Soren was sitting next to me and he was like,"Oh not you again!! Hope I don't hit you with the paddle or something this time!!" hahah Jabba was also hilarious he kept standing up and the boat would rock and we'd all be like..."JABBA SIT THE FUCK DOWN!!" We were actually leading for most of the race and at the end they caught up and beat us!!! It was soooooo clooooose!

Rafik celebrated by jumping into the Singapore River. Notice how no one else did!!??? Well we all had out microphones packs on and Rafik must have forgot (or he didn't think!?) so he definetly cost the audio company some money. Imagine if the whole Blue team jumped in!!! I reckon the grand prize money would have got a whole lot less!! hahah To rub salt into our wound,Jaymee and Stephan told us that they'd be getting a reward on a YACHT!!! We were like...damnit!!

When we got back to the loft,we were feeling CRAP. We weren't so bothered about deliberation and who was gonna be picked....we were there to FIGHT not play games and we knew we could get picked at any point so no point stressing about that. But the fact that 2 challenges...2 losses really annoyed us!!! We were stressing that if we didn't win ANY challenges we'd come across as such dorks!! So there was a fair bit of pressure on us all!!

James is a real family guy. He has so much love for his wife and kids!! He's been seeing his wife since they were 17 or something? Sean is a cool guy and we got along really well in the house. Alot of the times we'd sit and talk and then just EAT loads of snacks in The Loft. There's only so much you can do in The Loft...Train...Sleep...Hangout and EAT!!! And EAT we all did!!!!

Well for those of you who haven't seen the show. There is a "RECAP" on the Official Contender Asia website. A written one or if you're lazy like me,just watch the video! Check it out!!


Episode 1 Recap
Written
Video

Episode 2 Recap
Written
Video

I'll try and write about every episode from MY point of view. I have to limit and be careful of what I say as we are all bound by contracts and I don't really know what I can/can't mention so I'll just play safe to avoid a multi million dollar law suit from the company!!!

If you guys have any questions just email it to contact@zigzach.com and I'll do my best to answer them. Or I'll compile a bunch of good questions and answer them all on the blog.

I know that there is a little chat corner on the side of the blog and some of you have made some comments. Thank you very much all for the kind words and support. I hope that people will like me on the show and I just hope people see that Im capable of achieving alot more good things in time to come.

There are a few TV interviews and Radio interviews I did that I should be uploading soon.

So please keep checking back on my blog for new updates!!

LaterZ

Another Old Fight Clip.

Here's another older clip I found of myself. This was actually uploaded by my cousin in 2006. I fought this fight with an almost healed fractured rib so was actually really worried going in and to make matters worse,3 days before the fight I had a MASSIVE infection on my right shin. It had swelled up and I was taking antibiotic pills and getting injections to get it down but it didn't subside. In the end I just taped it up and went into fight. (Look at my right shin). Think I stopped him in the 3rd round?

Was funny coz no one knew what I stopped him with or what had happened as he took awhile before the pain kicked in and he went down. So people were going "ohh this guy took a dive" or some said I caught him with a kick?? I actually stopped him with a straight knee to the solar plexus. Man wish we had instant replays on a big screen!!

This fight was down at the old Seletar Rings. This was where the first few fights in Singapore were held. We built a pretty good following and we've now moved on to better and more convenient locations for the fights nowadays! Thank God!!

Also if you guys (actually if you girls!!) haven't gone on the official Contender Asia site. You gotta go to the store and check out this item!! Think they should also give buyers the option to choose which of the 16 fighters names or profile picture do they want printed on it! haha!


LaterZ

Premier of The Contender Asia

So this was it,THE BIG DAY! Jan 16th the Premier Party at The Hotel Intercon. All the waiting around after all those months,of not being able to talk about what has happened in the show!! It was reallly nerve wrecking to see was all gonna look like!

So there was a Press Conference with the Executive Producer,Riaz Mehta,The Singapore Tourism Board,The big boss of AXN and the very special guest, "The Godfather of Reality TV shows" (as one of the reporters called him) Mr. Mark Burnett. He was there to answer questions from the press and give his views on the show.

There was quite a fair turnout....Saw some familiar faces there. Producers,editors and people who worked on the audio and visual of the show. Was good to see them all again!! Some people I've never met would come up and say "HI" but coz they worked in the production house and they have to stare at my face alllllllll day for hours!! haha god I pity them!! So they came and said HI and we'd chat about the whole show. Was nice I really give credit to everyone who worked on the show. There was ALOT of work put in to make this happen.

Me next to ME!!

After the Press Conference there was a Preview of the Contender Asia Episode 1!! All I can say is WOW.....it was reallly amazing to watch it for the first time. Remembering all the good times...and the bad times!! It was funny to see it from a viewers point now,coz we were there and we knew what happened...and we knew like what was said...how the tension was and it was weird watching it again from a DIFFERENT point of view. Also hearing things the others said during their one on one interviews or when they were in the other rooms. It's just weird. But still it looked AMAZING!!! Singapore has never looked more VIBRANT and never looked more BEAUTIFUL than in this series.

My main man Sammy(Producer),one of my sponsors,Henne from Toni & Guy Hairdressing,Drina(Producer) & Jeff Lim (Executive Produer)

"The Godfather of Reality Tv" Mark Burnett and Me

After the screening,the good people of AXN introduced me to various press and media representatives from Hong Kong,Indonesia,Malaysia and Phillpines. So I had to spend a bit of time answering a few questions here and there about the show,the sport and just ME. Had to pose for a few pics here and there. haha It was alllll good!

On another note,The new website for The Contender Asia looks AMAZING!! Immediately after the show,the site is updated with a write up on the whole episode and pics from the fights. And also EXCLUSIVE footage that didn't make it on the show due to time constraints (and prolly coz of the extensive use of vulgarity!!) hahaha. There is also a FORUM on the site where you can discuss and talk about the show,the fighters and just ANYTHING. It's very very cool. So sign up and check it out!!

There is also another website built by the fans called Contender Asia Fans. I love it when people take time out to do things like this. Without fans and people like this the show and the sport wouldn't get to where it is. So I'd really like to say a big THANK YOU to all of them who have taken time out to make the website.

Alright soo keep the Contender Asia madness going coz this show is gonna ROCK!!!!!!
(For all the viewers in Singapore,I hope you watched our show over the Deal or No Deal Hunks Edition! The 16 of us can whoop ALL their asses any day!!!)

LaterZ

New poster!! New year resolutions!!

Just saw the new poster for AXN's promo on The Contender Asia!! And it looks awesome !! (Coz Im in the front!!)

Well been busy getting back in shape and getting back to doing some Personal Training classes.

Have a few stuff I plan to achieve for 2008.

1) Get more fights!! Its always so hard to get fights here in Singapore. So Im gonna try and get some around the region and also hopefully Australia?

2) Hope to fight down at Lumpini or Rajadamneorn this year. Doing that would be a dream come true and it would mean that I've accomplished one of my dreams in life.

3) Wanna try and win another belt!! Need more silverware in my collection!!

4) Wanna try fighting in an 8 men or 4 men tournament. Would be a real test for myself, physically and mentally.

5) If time and my business allows me to head back up to Thailand for a month or two to train and fight...that would be SWEET!!! Really miss living and getting good quality training at my doorstep!! *sighs*

6) Gonna try and get some DJing done this year too. Would be nice to DJ out at some of the smaller clubs. House parties are great fun but they are hard to find here in Singapore!!!

So far these are whats important to me and hopefully 2008 will be better than 2007!!

LaterZ

P.S one more goal for this year....

7) Make 1 Million dollars!!! but it's been my new years resolution for the last 15years!!! BAH!!

New Year Goodies!!

Right here are some goodies for you all reading my blog.

The Contender Asia Trailer 3

Here it is one of the final trailers for The Contender Asia. I think this will be the "main title" that is at the begining of every episode. Think I heard the final one will have our names coming up. Enjoy!! Ohh and its only about 2 weeks til the show airs on AXN!!! Am sooo excited and nervous at the same time!!!!!

Also my fight from Phuket in Feb is finally uploaded. (Check the previous blog entry) Yes that is me even though it says "DSUKA" from Japan!!...They always call me a Japanese when I fight in Thailand?!!? Just watched the fight again and almost forgot how fast that guy kicked!! Man I was struggling at first to get my rhythm in the fight.

Will post again over the weekend. With my uber looooong list of new year's resolution!!

LaterZ