Winners of ‘The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun in the Philippines’ series on AFC known

By: 10 years ago

Jun WU

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Food Channel (AFC), part of the Scripps Networks Interactive family of lifestyle media brands has unveiled the winner of its original production, The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun in the Philippines.

Jun Wu, Hong Kong resident and sports buff, took home a grand prize of $30,000 in cash and a Phillippines travel package. The reality competition series was produced in collaboration with the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Tourism Promotions Board Philippines (TPB). The winners were announced last June 3.

Of the original 10 contestants, three finalists battled for the coveted first prize in the nail-biting finale.

Wu, Malaysian image coach Connie Chew, and Singapore resident and accountant turned F&B consultant Timothy Ong, went head-to-head in a heated cooking showdown. Their challenge – to prepare three Filipino dishes using the skills and knowledge that they had learned during the 13-episode series.

Jun blew the competition and the judges away with his meticulously prepared sutukil (a dish featuring seafood that is prepared three different ways) and was crowned the first-ever winner of The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun in the Philippines.

Chew and Ong did not leave the competition empty handed, each taking home $4,000 and $6,000 in cash respectively and a 3D2N travel package to the Philippines.

When asked about his victory, Jun said, “After almost getting eliminated in Cebu for my sutukil dish, I was glad to have a chance to prove my capabilities. Participating in this program was such a great life experience; I rode an ATV through Mount Pinatubo, raced across the Lignon Hills hanging bridge and learned so much about the wonderful Filipino food and culture. I would like to thank AFC, DOT and TPB for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to watching more of such programs on the channel.”

Derek Chang, managing director of Scripps Networks Interactive Asia Pacific operations, said, “This partnership truly exemplifies our ability to provide great value to our partners while creating compelling original content for our viewers. We are happy to share the beautiful sights and sounds of the Philippines with viewers and response has been very positive. Fans have even taken to social media, where the program’s Facebook campaign has received more than four million unique views to date. We hope to continue creating high-quality local programs with like-minded partners to entertain our audiences.”

The Amazing Food Challenge: Fun in The Philippines was hosted by Malaysian celebrity, Sherson Lian and resident judge, Chef Rolando Laudico from the Philippines. For more information on the program, please visit www.asianfoodchannel.com/afcfoodchallenge.