MANILA, Philippines - Since Oli and I were about five minutes early for our phoner interview, I had a little unarranged one-on-one banter with the guy. It felt more like a minute, though, due to his soft spot for chitchat.
This very same quick wit and easy demeanor paved the way for Oli to make a name for himself both on TV and in print. Born and raised in Hong Kong, the 30-year-old Briton started modeling for Levi’s in 1999, scoring a role in the film Gen Y Cops soon after. A two-week holiday in Singapore eventually turned things around for Oli, as he found himself landing coveted hosting roles for Starhub’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup 2006 and eventually, more regular gigs as host for Animax’s Technomax and AXN’s Sony Style.
Currently, Oli just wrapped up hosting AXN’s newest show, Cash Cab Asia. Devised by Adam Wood, Cash Cab Asia has been billed as “the only game show on wheels,” in which unsuspecting passengers are quizzed on their general and region-specific knowledge. As question difficulty increases, so do their chances of winning more cash.
Oli now spills more beans on the show and how superior the streets of Singapore are:
YOUNG STAR: How’s this year been treating you so far?
OLI PETTIGREW: It’s been phenomenal. This year has been the busiest I’ve had for my career, especially with the work I’ve done for Cash Cab and Sony Style.
Can you tell us about Cash Cab Asia?
I think it’s fantastic. When I was approached for the show, I had actually seen the American version of it already so I was excited for the prospect of hosting it because I have not hosted a game show yet. I like the unpredictable nature of it and how we approached the show differently as compared to other straight-laced versions of it. We just said, “Let’s just go out and have fun with it. Make fun, have fun, make them make fun of you” that was the dynamic aspect that kept me interested every day.
Plus the fact that it’s so scenic in Singapore. What’s it like to commute over there?
I don’t think Singaporeans know how lucky they are because the commute here can be so quick even in the morning. Sure, you might get caught in a bit of a jam coming from the east. They call it a jam here but what it really is is slow-moving traffic. You’re from the Philippines, so you might understand
“jam” as a car that’s stationary and does not move at all whereas in Singapore, you never really get to that point. And the rest of that time, if you’re not trying to travel between 8:30-9:30 a.m. or 5:30-6:50 p.m., you can genuinely get to just about anywhere in 20 minutes. If you don’t have a car, (the city’s) got an integrated MRT, cheap taxis, and buses everywhere.
Have there been any quirky stories on Cash Cab?
Too many times. It was a very long shoot and we lasted about 25 days. In the end, we had close to 120 scenes with two to three people most of the time. So I must’ve had over 250 people in the cab and each one is memorable for a number of reasons. The passenger can either be really smart or quite dumb. A great ride is when people actually want so much money but a hysterical ride is when someone didn’t really want so much but they kept guessing and getting it right. We got this really funny ride too, where someone just got everything wrong but in each way, it makes great television. It was a great experience coming into work not knowing who I was taking or where we were going.
But what was the worst thing you’ve ever had to do in your line of work, if any?
Interesting question. For the Food Network, I had to go to Korea and for breakfast I had to have live octopus and that was pretty, pretty epic. If you ask me to eat balut, I would probably say no but if you turn on the camera, I will. Because I love to eat and I learned very quickly that (my job) has nothing to do with looking cool. People don’t care whether you look cool or not. People get entertained when you do things they wouldn’t do like rock-climbing in Vietnam with no ropes on because there was water 30 feet below me anyway.
What I’ll probably do, since I’m going to the Grand Prix this weekend, is I will deliver you your balut frozen.
(Laughs) I will wear a celebrity disguise, like a baseball cap with thick sunglasses so you won’t come near me. (More laughter) I’ll be like, “It’s Ralph! Run!” (Laughs)
* * *
Cash Cab Asia airs Oct. 18 at 7:35 p.m., first and exclusively on AXN.