Late yesterday evening (Tuesday, 3rd November), the highly followed MediaCorp Subaru Car/Palm Challenge 2015 officially came to a close, crowning its respective winners.
Returning for its 14th year, the challenge kicked off on Saturday (31st October) afternoon, gathering a whopping total of 400 determined participants (320 Singaporeans, 80 regional) for the chance of winning the biggest prize in the history of the challenge.
Should the winner be a Singaporean, he/she would be bringing home a Subaru XV 1.6 I-S worth up to SGD115,000 (including COE) plus SGD5,000 worth of free fuel from Shell. If the winner is Malaysian, the prize would be a Subaru XV Premium worth up to RM114,000.
Alas, neither a Singaporean nor a Malaysian bagged the ultimate winning title as the contest was swept up by another regional contestant!
32-year-old engineer Nguyen Phuoc Huynh emerged winner a mere few minutes before the last 3 contestants standing were to have gone for their 5-minute 7pm break. The final Singaporean contestant dropped out first, leaving Vietnam and Malaysia to battle it out.
2015 is Nguyen’s 5th attempt at the challenge as he was also a contestant in the challenge’s previous years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Nguyen also bagged 2 other titles on top of the grand prize – “Country Winner” (longest standing contestant from a country) and “Asian Winner” (longest standing Asian).
His closest contender was none other than 35-year-old Malaysian contestant Tan Hong Sheng.
Tan is also a repeat participant as he was part of the challenge in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. Clocking 77 hours at the end, he bagged the 1st runner-up title (cash prize worth SGD5,000), as well as the “Country Winner” title (prize worth SGD1,000).
He also helped pave the way for #TeamMalaysia to their “Country Team Winner” crowning glory. All 10 Malaysian contestants were handed a giant mock check of the “Country Team” prize worth SGD10,000, to be split evenly amongst themselves.
Despite the blistered palms, fatigue, hallucinations (due to sleep deprivation), and heavy, swollen legs, #TeamMalaysia essentially held on for as long as they could to claim the “Country Team” prize. The 10 of them clocked 580 hours collectively!
The MediaCorp Subaru Car/Palm Challenge 2015 was truly historic for #TeamMalaysia both the 1st runner-up as well as the “Country Team” titles were firsts for Malaysia 🙂
More importantly, this year was truly a game-changer (no pun intended) because for the first time ever, the grand prize winner was not a Singaporean.
Other “firsts” for the MediaCorp Subaru Car/Palm Challenge 2015 include:
- This was the first year that Subaru offered a grand prize which included COE.
- The challenge was held in a tented venue due to the erratic haze conditions in Singapore.
- Supporters can help grant contestants additional 5-minute breaks by playing an online game via carchallenge.sg.
- A MediaCorp journalist put himself to the test as he took part in the challenge for 24 hours.
- There were onsite activities for visitors such as the “The Walking Dead” live showcase, Les Miserables booth, and special appearances of ANTM contestants.
Special mention: Thank you, Subaru, for sending us to Singapore and for the wonderful yet nail-biting and hair-ripping experience!
Hit up our Instagram for our full 4-day coverage of the challenge. For more information, visit the challenge’s official website.
