News this week included: Baey Yam Keng the latest politician to pose on public transport; Sheng Siong to keep prices affordable despite Iran war cost pressures (as its net profit climbs); scrapping PayNow nicknames to fight scams; a regional crackdown on online child abuse nabs 326 people, including 11 men in SG; HOME renews its call for legally mandated weekly 24-hour rest for migrant domestic workers; parental concern about introducing AI at Primary 4; more emphasis on screening for oral frailty; CNA explainer on five everyday habits that cause muscle imbalance and strain; commentary on why flexi-time arrangements are more important to parents and caregivers than work-from-home rights; Gen Zs wanting a return to the low-tech 1990s; global tariff wars might result in more American whiskies in SG; NUS orientation leader’s racist video mentioning “Indians” and smells of “curry” and “onions”; the revamped Malay Heritage Centre; Malaysia arrested 58 suspects after raiding a Kelantan resort allegedly used as a love scam centre targeting Singaporean men; 85-year-old British “Con mum” handed 34 additional charges here; ST explainer on the task force that caught 7,000 cicadas in Tampines; ST FAQs on safety issues for EV owners; ST interview with Aware’s new leader; and Singaporean Dante Chen’s five-year WWE wrestling career ends.
Below are the issues we explore in depth.
Culture: Beastly realities
“Wheel. Of. Fortune!” the audience chants before the show even begins. The set is designed in technicolour glory—metallic-coloured balloon arches over rotating vintage Mazda cars. Hosts in crisp suits and fabulous evening gowns. “Wheel of Fortune” premiered in 1975 and is still airing, making it the longest-running syndicated game show. Spin, solve a word puzzle, and potentially win a million dollars. It, and “The Price is Right”, both previously shown on Channel 5 here, are legendary, but the roots of reality entertainment stretch back to 1948, when American practical joke series Candid Camera (similar to Just for Laughs Gags) started turning unsuspecting strangers into patsies, capturing what felt like unfiltered human behaviour. By the early 2000s, the genre had evolved with the likes of “Survivor”, stranding contestants in remote locations where they competed in physical and mental challenges to avoid elimination. Cultural critic Emily Nussbaum wrote that the show “unite[d] three key traditions: Allen Funt’s prank show model; the Chuck Barris-esque game show; and the real-life soap opera”. The result? A prime-time hit for CBS that feels “big, brash, and Hollywood”.
TV viewership has declined precipitously and short-form online content rules, yet the allure of the reality show endures. YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has scaled the format with Beast Games—a tie-up with Amazon TV. Halfway through its run, “Beast Games” has hit the number one spot on Amazon in over 80 countries, with over 50 million viewers in just 25 days. The show promises its thousand contestants a chance to win: a grand prize of US$5m (S$6.4m), a Lamborghini, and a multi-million dollar island. Reportedly produced at an eye-watering sum of US$100m (S$128m), the set includes neon-lit pedestals with trap doors to swallow eliminated players; a US$14m (S$17.9m) entire purpose-built Canadian village, dubbed “Beast City”; and a pair of tropical islands in Panama.
But reality shows offer more than just prize money. A single appearance on a popular one can convert local recognition into global visibility. Consider the South Korean competition series Physical: Asia. It has brought Mongolian athletes into wider view, showcasing both their performance and underrepresented cultural identity on the international stage.
For the next season of Beast Games, three Singaporeans, Nicole Liel, Calros Ong, and Willabelle Ong, are turning their followings into launchpads, rallying votes across social media in a bid to become the first Singaporean contestant on the show. When voting closes on May 1st, the top vote-getter will head to the US to compete—a rare Singaporean thread in the tapestry of global culture.
Not everyone, however, is convinced of the show’s merits. Jeff Yang, cultural critic at The Guardian, described it as “degrading” and a “dystopian nightmare”, perfect for America in 2025. Yang claimed that the show is “a lurid exploration of the humiliations humans will undergo in order to give themselves a chance at $5m” with its problematic framing of rich white technopreneurs as benevolent patrons handing out bags of cash in exchange for the contestants demeaning themselves. Yet, as Nussbaum argued in her book, “the discomfort that has always radiated around these shows—their nosiness, their brutality—isn’t an argument for looking away from them. It’s a reason to look closer.”
Society: The wisdom of (punting) crowds
Earlier this month, Parisians got two rude weather shocks that seemed to typify our burning earth. On April 6th, the city’s temperature rose 4°C in 12mins; and then slowly declined over the next hour. Similarly, on the 15th, up 6°C in 30mins, then back down. Time to whip off those espadrilles, scarves, and trenchcoats? Not quite. Investigators suspect the spike had less to do with anthropogenic climate change than plain human fraud. On both days, large bets were placed on Polymarket, the prediction market. For instance, on the 6th, with the market consensus at 18°C, one user bet on readings above 21°C and made almost €30,000 (S$44,800). Polymarket was determining its Paris temperature based on a single sensor near the Charles de Gaulle airport’s perimeter. Ruben Hallali, CEO of weather risk company Sereno, told The New York Times that somebody may have used a “calibrated portable heating device” on the sensor. Hairdryer or lighter, some have speculated. “The Charles de Gaulle incident is not an isolated curiosity,” Mr. Hallali said. “It is what happens when financial incentives meet fragile data infrastructure.”
