The Great Singapore Shopping Challenge

Last May 27, I was in Singapore to be part of Team Philippines for the Great Singapore Shopping Challenge 2010, May 28 (Friday), 2:30 – 6:30pm. Starting/End Point was in front of Wisma Atria on Orchard Road. My partner was tall, willowy, 25-yr-old Junior Associate Editor of Metro Magazine Bianca Consunji. There were 11 international teams competing for the cash prizes: S$10,000.00 – 1st, S$5,000.00 – 2nd and S$2,000.00 – 3rd.

Singapore was divided into three precincts with specific malls to shop in: 1) Orchard Road – 313@Somerset, The Centrepoint and Wisma Atria (new establishments I checked out last November); 2) Marina Bay – City Link Mall ( a relatively small establishment we did not choose) and Marina Square (lovely stores with really cut down prices – we spent time here for best bargains that we planned for the Challenge next day); 3) Southern Waterfront – Harbour Front Centre and Vivo City (Singapore’s biggest mall, and the farthest, as this is where you get the ride for Sentosa Island).

We had to complete a task and to buy three items per precinct. Bianca & I opted to decorate a cake, instead of climb the rock wall at Orchard Central (another new mall). We also had our photo taken at the Merlion, instead of crossing the newly opened Helix bridge. Then, we did the memory challenge at Vivo, instead of the jigsaw puzzle in Harbour Front. A Polaroid shot of us was taken after we satisfactorily finished each of our tasks. If spot judges deemed otherwise, we would have to do it all over again, losing precious time. We pasted the Polaroid shots in our task book, which was presented to the judges at the end of the Challenge, together with our receipts (the original price together with the discounted sale price).

First prize went to Team UK who chalked up an unbelievable savings of S$25,000.00, using only S$900.00 of the S$1,000 each team was allotted for the challenge. Second prize went to Team Vietnam (S$18,000 savings), while third prize went to one of the Indonesian teams. We only managed to save S$2,100.00!

At half past 2 p.m., after the official start of the Challenge, Bianca and I sprinted – not just ran! – to grab a taxi to the farthest precinct, Southern Waterfront. We zipped through Vivo, snatched our purchases after doing the task, then took the MRT to Marina Bay. Our dependable chaperone, Byron Yap – marketing executive of SPH Media Box Office, the events coordinator – took care of paying for our purchases from a Prepaid Mastercard worth S$1,000.00. He at 25 years of age was also having a hard time keeping up with “Road Runner” Bianca. So, I did not feel bad, panting, sweating and scampering after both of them. My mouth was bone dry, as I gasped for breath while sprinting through the MRT stations, the mall corridors and the busy streets. Despite my aversion to drinking lots of water, I was gulping down my bottled water for dear life. Singapore was hot and humid. The only consolation was that I found out how fit I was to withstand the four solid hours of sprinting around Singapore. Not a minute to sit for a break!

We clocked in at a little past 6pm. To my extreme pride, I was intact and NOT out of breath when we were interviewed on the spot for the live telecast of the event.

We later found out, to our dismay, that one of the members of Team UK was last year’s grand prize winner! We noted that she asked a question during the briefing regarding the validity of written receipts, as against the usual machine tape receipts. We heard that Team UK presented a written receipt, which could easily be manipulated to bloat the savings incurred. They were the earliest to finish, at 5pm.

To lose fairly is fine with us, but to lose with such blatant disregard for fair decorum is another thing. Many locals who recognized her were disgusted with her presence and embarrassed in front of the other foreign contestants. The organizers (the lead organizer is the Singapore Retailers’ Association) are to blame for such a fiasco. They should have nullified her entry from the start.

If they want the British woman writer to do articles about the Singapore Sale in various London magazines, then they should have arranged to pay her for such a package, not use the Shopping Challenge to give her the cash she wanted. This makes a travesty of the Shopping Challenge that has slowly gained popularity among media participants in neighboring countries. China, for one, had five teams. Next-door neighbor Indonesia had two, while Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Dubai and the Philippines had one team each, making 11 international challengers (with Team UK).

Sad to say, Team Malaysia felt bad as they just grabbed whatever items they could, with the biggest discounts, only to lose so unfairly. (They told Bianca that they would not want to give the things they got to their grandmothers, or to their enemies.) We kept what we bought with the allotted money, but many of us ended up with items we did not want. At least, I was able to buy two pairs of Florsheim shoes for my elder son and dresses for my daughters-in-law.

I know the Indonesian participants lodged a complaint to Singapore Tourism Board-Indonesia. Malaysia, I think, also did so. 

I hope the organizers will do something to rectify that has happened so that the event will not attain notoriety among media practitioners in the region.