The Apprentice: One Championship Edition Winner Jessica Ramella, A.K.A. Lady MacGyver, Calls Herself “A Local Ang Moh”

When 8days.sg spoke to Jessica Ramella, it has been nearly a year since she emerged victorious in the inaugural season of reality TV competition The Apprentice: One Championship Edition — and she’s still basking in the afterglow.

“I think when something as monumental as winning The Apprentice happens to you, it creates a ripple effect in every area of your life,” says the 32-year-old Venezuelan who beat 15 other contestants to take home a one-year, US$250,000 (S$340,000) contract to be the Chief of Staff to One Championship chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

“My life has changed drastically in many ways,” says Ramella tells us via Zoom from her apartment somewhere at Stevens Road. “Not only professionally by starting at a new company in a new sector and field while learning a completely new set of skills, but it’s also changed me a lot as a person.”

At 18, Ramella moved to the US where she studied for three years and then relocated to London for work for six years. Prior to taking a shot at The Apprentice title (at the urging of a friend), Ramella — who bears a fleeting resemblance to Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown — had lived in Singapore for six years where she was the Head of Sales for a software company.

Previously available on meWATCH, The Apprentice was added to Netflix last month where it became a Top 10 hit (not too bad for a reality show about business strategies and PowerPoint presentations in conference rooms, and zilch to do with horny singletons chilling out at the beach).

Here, Ramella — who also goes by the nickname ‘Lady MacGyver’ because of her ability to solve problems on the fly under pressure — reveals more about her life after The Apprentice … 

8 DAYS: The Apprentice: One Championship is now on Netflix. Have you watched it? Wait, do you dare to watch it again?

JESSICA RAMELLA: Of course (laughs)! It’s always playing in the background. It was really nice to see it a year later. I watched it when it came out on AXN, and then I hadn’t seen it for almost a year. So when it came out again — by now I’ve been working at One — I’ve seen how things have progressed, or how my life has changed. So I now see it with a completely new set of eyes. And at some point, when I was watching it, I was like, “I can’t believe I said that (laughs)!” But I loved it. I’m very proud of the project and everything that we did.

We hear of reality TV contestants suffering from what's called the Truman Show Syndrome. Did watching The Apprentice again set off any PTSD?

A little bit (laughs). Honestly, I wouldn’t change anything in the journey. I feel like it was one of the hardest, most gruelling and soul-crushing things I’ve ever done in my life. But at the same time, it was one of the most fun, most exciting and empowering moments of my life. It was really beautiful to get to know my true colours. I thought I knew myself before going on this show, but I actually had no idea. So by the time I entered, they stripped me of everything and I got to know the true Jessica — the Jessica that only has one hour left, hasn’t eaten, is under pressure, people are trying to get her kicked out of the show and play dirty, and all that stuff. Yet I’m still here standing on my two feet believing what I’m doing. That was really nice for me to know and experience. So yeah, I’ll take all the PTSD and I’ll do it a million times again.

One of the classic lines — and my personal favourite — from the show has Chatri, where he lost his temper, going, “You bombed! You bombed! You bombed!” Now that you’re working with him, does he talk like that in the office?

He does. That’s how he talks. He always says, “This is unacceptable!” like on the show (laughs). He’s never said, “You bombed!” in the past year, but he’s said, like, a variation of it. And he’s always full of inspirational quotes when wrapping up meetings, or when he thinks the team is not pushing themselves enough. He always goes back to “Life is won in inches”, “We need to unleash our greatness”, “We need to fight with our warrior spirit”. One of my favourite phrases of his is, “The winner’s starting line starts where the rest of the world quits.” I remember on the show when he first said that to us, I realised how much it actually resonated with me — because I do believe that as humans, we all can take so much and at some point, we all start quitting. The winner is actually not the one who holds on the longest, but the one who lasted that extra second, that extra 1%. I was really inspired by that quote.

What sets The Apprentice: One Championship Edition apart from the other versions is the physical component in the challenges. How did you get yourself in shape, especially during the Circuit Breaker? The show was filmed from the end of October to early December 2020.

Well, during the pandemic itself, as I was preparing to go on the show, I was working out in my living room. I was watching a bunch of YouTube videos. I even remember using my coffee table, which was this big, wooden table, as a stepping stool or a jumping box — and I almost broke it! I bought weights. I was just really getting myself in shape for this big challenge that the show was going to be.

On a scale of one to 10, how fit are you now?

I would say I’m between seven and eight. I mean, I train and lift weights four to five times a week. I do yoga at least once a week. And a couple of years ago, I went through a full-body transformation. I lost a ton of weight — maybe 22kg— and I essentially changed my life through exercise and fitness. So now, it’s become part of my routine and it’s something that I swear by and I think it helps me not only physically, but also mentally. So I think it’s a really important part of me.

What’s a day at the One office like for you, the Chief of Staff?

The days at One are never the same (laughs) — they’re constantly changing. Essentially, One has a million different projects happening all the time. They’re incredibly innovative in what they’re doing, and they want to test different ideas. Some of them may fail and get scrapped, while some of them we will run with. But for that, you essentially have to be very dynamic and willing to work with every team. Sometimes it’s marketing, sometimes it’s PR, sometimes it’s the tech team, sometimes it’s the product team, sometimes it’s the events team. So a day would be a ton of different meetings where we’re essentially trying to make these ideas a reality. We work as a very entrepreneurial and hands-on team, so no one really sits back and goes just like, “Oh yeah, just send me the presentation.” No, everyone has to put the time and effort and it’s all hands on deck. It’s long hours, it’s very intense and a lot of work, but it’s also really exciting and inspiring, and we’re constantly doing new things. There’s not a minute that you can really get bored. So that’s pretty much it!

You’ve lived in Singapore for more than six years. How Singaporean are you?

I call myself a local ang moh [Hokkien slang for Caucasian], you know? (laughs) I don’t know how Singaporean I am, but I feel like I’m very well-embedded in Singaporean culture, I would say.

What’s your favourite Singaporean phrase?

I have two that I say every day. One is, “Can lah!” because it’s positive, it’s easy, and it works for anything. You can say it sarcastically, you can say it positively, you can make anything with it. My other phase is, “Makan already?” Because as a good Singaporean, you have to talk about food! (laughs) We all care about our lunch and that’s now become very much a part of my life.

Speaking of food, what’s your go-to local food?

I love local food. I love Asian food. But the thing that I crave all the time that I’m constantly going, “Should we go? Should we? Should we?” is prawn noodles. I love prawn noodle soup. I love going to Beach Road Prawn Mee which is a pretty famous stall in East Coast that's incredible. I often can be found there ruining all the work that I did at the gym (laughs).

I’ll look out for you there next time — I live at Joo Chiat.

I used to live at Joo Chiat! It’s a beautiful neighbourhood. Right now, I live at Stevens Road. I just moved here a couple of months ago. Before that, I was living at Everitt Road. [If you see me at Beach Road Prawn Mee], you’ll see me in a big bun, eating chilli, sweating and just enjoying it (laughs).

Where else can we find you?

I love cocktails and wine. If I could meet up with my friends to just have a chat over wine, I’d do that. So I can be found at Club Street, Robertson Quay… actually, a lot times at Robertson Quay, as well as Fullerton Bay, that entire river area. Anywhere with a nice bar, I’m always there just hanging out with some friends, eating some good food.

Here’s a sensitive question. As an expatriate, what are your thoughts on the rise in anti-foreigner sentiment during the early days of the pandemic?

It’s a tough one. I understand both sides of the argument and I feel like, during COVID, a lot of people were losing their jobs and of course, they were saying, “Why am I losing my job but my foreign counterpart isn’t?” I also understand from the point of view of my expat friends who said, “But I live here! I’ve been here for seven, eight years — it’s almost like my home is kicking me out.” So I understand both sides. I do have to say I’ve been incredibly lucky that I haven’t been a victim of it. So even when sometimes people say they don’t feel welcomed, I’ve never really had that issue. I’ve always felt incredibly welcomed in Singapore, and I’m talking not only with my friends but also with taxi drivers and aunties at the shops. I’ve never really felt any rejection towards me. Actually, I find Singaporean people incredibly cordial, polite, and kind. Like, they’re friendly to me! I’m basing my answer to you pretty much on what my friends have told me, about their struggles versus mine. My mum came to visit a couple of years before COVID, and she couldn’t speak English. She would go join a dance class. I went to see her once and she was dancing in this class with what I think was maybe 12 local aunties of her age. I guarantee you some of them didn’t speak English, and neither did my mum. Yet somehow, they were all friends, they welcomed my mum, and they were hanging out all the time! I feel like they’re very welcoming people. So I can’t really comment much more than that I understand both sides.

Do you have any plans to settle down? What’s your relationship status?

I’m single. Do you mean settling down in Singapore or settling down with my life?

Both. Settling down in Singapore or do you still want to travel?

Singapore’s my home and I still feel really happy here. I feel comfortable. Also, One Championship is here, and I just did a TV show here, so I feel like it’d be silly for me to leave something that is great and comfortable. I’m happy and I have friends here — I’ve built a life here. I’m not saying that I’m not open to moving overseas for the right reason or for the right opportunity, but right now it’s not something that I have in my trajectory. Similar to what I said on the show: So as long as I’m happy here, there’s no reason for me to go.

Do people really call you Lady MacGyver?

In my entire life, they called me MacGyver. I think the ‘lady’ part was added as a way to maybe make it feminine. My dad came up with it, and from there, a few friends [started calling me by that name]. Here in Singapore, no one has ever called me that, but I think a lot of people after reading about it in articles have said that to me as a joke. But yeah!

So your father was a fan of the 1980s TV series, starring Richard Dean Anderson?

Actually, I wasn’t a fan when I got called that. It was just like, I can turn things into other things very quickly, or if I would get in trouble as a little kid, or if I get locked out, I’d be the one climbing the door and grabbing a stick... I was always doing things with my hands and trying to get myself out of trouble. I think that’s where it came from, and my dad was like, “Oh! You’re like a little MacGyver.” From there it got picked up, and then I started watching the show and understood what that meant. I didn’t even know what that word was!

Have you seen the new version of MacGyver, with Lucas Till?

I haven’t seen the new version! It’s only the old one that I’ve seen.

Does your phone have the MacGyver theme music as the ringtone?

No! (laughs)

The Apprentice: One Championship Edition is now streaming on Netflix. One Championship matches are available on meWATCH.

Photos: Amy Asyraf, Karan Gurnani, Farhan Arif, AXN, One Championship, TPG News/Click Phoptos