Split Ends
Channel 5, Tues, 9pm

Sleepless in Malaysia

By Dawn Tay · Urbanwire reporter
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You've stopped counting how many times you'd read about this stick-thin celebrity or that powdered-face celebrity clad in Prada dining at a 5-star restaurant or shopping in Milan, all expenses-paid. Admit it, you're green with envy and loathe them because you wear Giordano while they wear Gucci. It's all so unfair.

Split Ends, a travel-cum-variety show helps to level the playing field and swipe at those rich and pampered Celebs.

Each week, pairs of contestants (mortals like you and me) and beautiful/famous people travel to the same tourist destination in Malaysia, but it won't make good reality TV without a twist. The exalted beings travel on a shoestring budget while the ordinary folk live it up like the rich and famous.

In other words, the average Joes drink red wine while the Joe Millionaires drink red bull.

A list of comedic MediaCorp artistes who have braved the constraints of budget travel include Patricia Mok, Kumar, Sharon Au, Gurmit Singh and Irene Ang who, as their common man alter egos in sitcom Phua Chu Kang, undeniably guarantee laughter on the show. If you're the typical Singaporean whose motto is to "live to eat", you'll start to think after a while it's yet another food programme you're catching because there's so much chow featured. From cheap and famous hawker fare like minced meat noodle to elaborate dishes such as "tom yam river prawns in young coconut", the show will set your stomach growling.

As good service to the viewer, Split Ends doesn't forget to give you details to retrace their footsteps and tastebuds, such as the exact road names and prices, which are consistently flashed across the screen.

A highlight of the show is when artistes such as Kumar and Sharon Au travel with their siblings or best friends, so be highly entertained by silly sibling rivalries and childish girl fights.

In the segment "Chance Encounter", the 2 groups get together to exchange stories of their travel adventures. The idea's great because any decent soul will love to see the celebrity grit his or her teeth or fight the impulse to scratch the eyes out of the contestant in the face-off. Disappointingly, the segment is shown rather briefly. Surely the producers must realise viewers don't sit through watching lovely tourist places waiting for both teams to smile, talk and smell the flowers together.

Even if it's just for half an hour, it certainly feels good to watch celebrities eating humble pie or Penang laksa.

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