Wow Wow World
Channel 5, Thurs, 8pm

Jack: Mandarin No Enough

By Michelle Tan · Urbanwire
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When a TV artiste attempts to cross over from 1 channel to another, the public often nit-picks and speculates on the artiste's versatility to speak in another language.

Image taken from straitstimes.asia1.com.sg

Fortunately Jack Neo is such a well-loved and self-deprecating national icon, that the ribbing is replaced by genuine respect for his efforts and achievements at speaking in English, even if it's simple conversation.

However, the jury is still out over whether Jack can displace his ample ex-partner Moses Lim - who acted in Under One Roof for Channel 5 and Comedy Night for Channel 8 many moons ago - as the undisputed Joker of both TV stations.

Together with May Phua, another Channel 8 artiste, Jack hosts the travel variety programme Wow Wow World on Channel 5. As the programme title suggests, Jack and May bring us around the world every week. Each episode sees the 2 teams pair up with a local guest celebrity each, in search of food and delicacies in the country they've travelled to.

Image taken from ch5.mediacorptv.com

The game is played in a simple manner; just think The Amazing Race with food thrown in. Both teams receive the name of the 1st food item and subsequently, they use the last letter of the food item to come up with another food. The teams travel to the place where the food is sold, finish consuming it before moving on to the next clue. For example, after finishing eating e-g-g-s, they may have to find a place that sells s-o-u-p.

If you find the show familiar, it's because Jack got the concept from Taiwanese entertainment host Jacky Wu's programme called Fun Club. Jacky, who is Jack's close friend, suggested he adapt Fun Club for an English-speaking audience.

Actually Jack does a pretty good job hosting Wow Wow World. Granted that his spoken English isn't that fluent, he more than makes up for it with his humour and enthusiasm.

Image taken from www2.ch8.mediacorptv.com

May Phua isn't bad either at her biggest hosting stint so far. Previously she helmed small gigs like the Chinese New Year outdoor events. As both Jack and May have little opportunity to host together, they spend most of their time with the guest stars, it's still not clear if there's any chemistry between them.

Past guest stars like fellow artistes Patricia Mok, Tay Ping Hui and cast members from drama series First Touch and sitcom Light Years help to provide the dramatic moments on the show. For example, Amy Cheng (First Touch) breaks out in tears when she's challenged to climb the tallest tower in Macau in the 5th episode on July 17.

Although the idea for this show was the brainchild of Jacky, Wow Wow World lacks the excitement and exhilaration of the original. Half an hour for the show is simply insufficient and it might be more challenging to search for more than just 4 food items.

Nevertheless, you've got to hand it to Jack and May for their debut in an English programme, because they do a great job in giving us the laughs, and for their bravery to be laughed at.

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