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From casual gamer to esports host | My Gamer Life - Destined for Greatness?
AsiaOne
Follow
2/17/2025
Mobile Legends Premiere League host Cheryl started off as a fan of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and nearly half a decade on, she's become a recognisable face in the scene. She tells us how she found herself becoming the face of MPL Singapore.
Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
Category
🛠️
Lifestyle
Transcript
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00:00
I definitely feel that gaming is and has a place for women itself.
00:04
So that's why I feel that when it comes to women,
00:07
we won't be losing out to our male counterparts when it comes to esports.
00:21
Hi, my name is Cheryl and I'm the host of NPR Singapore.
00:24
So for my earlier years, I started modelling and I took part in New Paper New Face 2017.
00:30
And in 2019, I tried out Miss Universe Singapore and I ended up with second runner-up.
00:36
Then I pursued hosting from 2018 onwards.
00:40
And during COVID itself, I started playing Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
00:44
That was due to encouragement of my now husband,
00:46
who actually was looking for things to do as a couple, especially during the COVID period.
00:51
So I tried it even though I'm not a gamer myself.
00:54
This was the very first mobile game that I've played.
00:57
And during the entire COVID season,
01:00
we were just both spending like at least 12 hours minimum playing the game.
01:06
Moving forward, I was watching MSC 2023 with my friends.
01:10
And my friend was actually saying like,
01:12
hey, you know, why not you host for NPR Singapore?
01:14
And I was just like, oh yeah, why not, right?
01:17
So I took my shot, messaged NPR Singapore on Facebook page.
01:20
Unfortunately, now I'm still on Bluetick.
01:22
But I really manifested hard at that period because I really wanted to host for them.
01:26
And by pure stroke of luck, I actually had a friend introduce me to Zenway Productions,
01:31
who is a partner here for NPR Singapore.
01:33
And the rest was history.
01:35
I'm now hosting for NPR Singapore for four seasons already.
01:38
The Mobile Legends Bang Bang Professional League Singapore, NPLSG,
01:43
is the only professional esports league in Singapore,
01:45
featuring the best teams across the country.
01:48
It starts with the qualifiers with the top two teams heading to the regular season,
01:52
joined by the six other invited teams from the previous season of NPLSG.
01:57
The eight top teams in Singapore will then battle it out
01:59
over a span of four weeks in a round-robin format
02:02
to determine their final position
02:04
before they are seeded into the upper and lower brackets during the playoffs.
02:08
The champions who will be crowned during the playoffs
02:10
will earn a seat at NIC's upcoming MLBB International Tournament.
02:19
We are an events management company that specializes in gaming and esports.
02:23
And we are now the partner of NPLSG in Singapore.
02:26
Previously, when we started NPLSG,
02:28
we were looking for a permanent host that can,
02:32
you know, commit long weekends with us throughout multiple weekends.
02:35
So Cheryl is introduced to us by a mutual friend.
02:39
He came by and, you know, introduced to us and said that,
02:41
you know, this friend of mine, she's a fan of MLBB.
02:45
She plays the game quite a bit.
02:46
And, you know, why not you consider her?
02:48
She's definitely new to the scene in terms of hosting.
02:51
But, you know, for us back then,
02:53
we were kind of still starting out the first season
02:56
when we took over from Singtel and went with our gut feel.
02:59
After, of course, speaking with Cheryl,
03:01
I found out more about her and, you know, we thought we'd give it a shot.
03:04
I'm now here at Zenway Studios.
03:06
And this is my little cozy corner where I usually hang out most of the time.
03:11
Now, what happens here is I do have setups
03:13
and this will be displaying the live feed of the games itself.
03:18
And before every match starts,
03:20
I would actually prepare a head-to-head of each of the teams.
03:23
Now, this will be kind of like a storyline,
03:26
you can say, to describe the match that's going to come up real soon.
03:31
So for me, when I was young, I tried to try everything at least once.
03:36
And then only after trying, I know if I like it or not.
03:39
So how family and friends really molded me is
03:42
it pushes me to try everything, everything at least once.
03:46
And this is what motivated me to try out NPL Singapore,
03:49
even though I've not hosted in the esports industry.
03:52
So after hosting for NPL Singapore,
03:54
then I pushed myself to understand a little bit more about the esports scene
03:59
and then push myself to switch things up every show
04:02
to, you know, at least keep the audiences entertained.
04:06
I initially joined NPL Singapore as a passion project
04:09
because I'm a player myself and I thoroughly enjoy the game.
04:12
And then moving forward, it turned out to be a very significant role
04:17
that I'm playing for Singapore
04:18
because when I actually went overseas
04:21
to actually be a part of the international tournaments,
04:24
then I realised that, hey, I'm actually a face of the Singapore region.
04:28
And hopefully, you know, it can garner more support
04:31
for our very small Singapore region
04:33
and hopefully we can grow into something bigger.
04:35
So one of the toughest moments is in the grand finals of NPL SG Season 6,
04:41
where we see Team Flash going up against RSG SG, our three-peat champion.
05:05
Look at this! What on earth is going on?
05:08
Oh, they messed up with the truncate!
05:10
No!
05:12
It's over! Team Flash!
05:13
The game is over! Team Flash have done it!
05:17
Oh my gosh!
05:18
Excellent, ladies and gentlemen!
05:19
I'm so... I'm so sad.
05:22
Run!
05:23
They bring us to a game seven!
05:26
Now what was tough about that game was because
05:28
RSG SG actually made a grave error,
05:31
which ultimately cost them their championship.
05:34
It was tough because, you know, as seasons pass,
05:37
we're all friends, you know, with the players.
05:39
Even the players and the teams are all friends of each other.
05:42
So even though it was a happy moment for us to crown a brand new champion,
05:46
it was also heartbreaking at the same time,
05:48
knowing that the losing teams are right there at the side of the stage,
05:52
hearing every single word I say when I crown the winners.
05:55
My name is Wee Lee, known as Powerful from Team Evil,
05:58
and I'm the captain of the team.
06:00
I know Cheryl from MPL Season 4 when she just joined the scene as a host.
06:05
Sometimes when I'm nervous for an interview or whatever,
06:09
she'll give me encouragement.
06:11
She's very nice and supportive.
06:14
She always encourages me whenever I'm quite down.
06:19
She's always there to listen,
06:22
and I'm quite happy about that.
06:24
That's when I know that she truly cares about the players.
06:27
She has been super supportive in, you know,
06:31
all aspects of how we creatively like to take MPLSG.
06:35
First and foremost, very flexible, very receptive,
06:38
and also the fact that, you know, she understands the game
06:42
makes it a whole lot easier for us when we are talking to her
06:45
about how we want to take things in terms of the narrative
06:49
when it comes to talking about MPLSG.
06:51
She was quite new to the hosting scene when she first joined us in Season 4.
06:55
It started off with her having to read the script off her tablet,
07:00
having very scripted questions and stuff like that.
07:02
And throughout the seasons,
07:03
I think her familiarity with the teams, the players themselves,
07:07
and also putting in a lot of effort in getting to know them personally,
07:11
sometimes going to their streams,
07:13
invading their streams and chatting with them,
07:15
getting to know the community.
07:17
I think that was what we felt was something that she really put in extra effort.
07:21
And by the third season, she visibly won the Best Talent award.
07:26
And as you know, gaming is sometimes very niche.
07:29
If you don't have that much of an understanding,
07:32
it's very difficult to engage the community.
07:34
For recognition and awards,
07:36
this was something that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would receive.
07:41
Because usually as the host,
07:43
I generally just open up the show and I close the show.
07:46
The hardest workers are actually the casters.
07:48
Because when it comes to games for a match itself,
07:51
sometimes it's a BO3, a BO5, and for grand finals, best of seven.
07:55
That is seven full games of like half an hour commentary for each game.
07:59
So it's really tough work on the casters.
08:02
So the fact that they would include me into this pool
08:06
and to give me the recognition for that,
08:08
I am very eternally grateful.
08:10
And this is the first time ever after hosting for so long,
08:13
an award is presented to me.
08:15
I feel that the industry is ready for female gamers
08:21
because Mobile Legends Bang Bang even has a tournament called NWI,
08:25
which is coming up, which is a women's tournament.
08:28
Prize pool is 500,000 US dollars.
08:30
So I think that's absolutely wild.
08:32
When it comes to sports,
08:34
definitely if you're talking about stature,
08:36
if you're talking about strength, physique,
08:39
definitely women might be on the shorter end of the stick for that.
08:43
But when it comes to gaming,
08:44
I feel that it's a very genderless, you know, mode of sports
08:48
where it's more about strategies,
08:50
more about mechanics, and it's more about skill.
08:52
I definitely feel that gaming is and has a place for women itself.
08:57
So that's why I feel that when it comes to women,
08:59
we won't be losing out to our male counterparts
09:01
when it comes to esports.
09:45
So one of the highlights of me being in the esports industry
09:48
would definitely be the opportunity that was given to me
09:51
to head on over to the M5 World Championships held in Philippines
09:55
with courtesy of Moontan as well as Team Fletch.
09:58
While I'm overseas, I'm actually exposed to all of the different casters,
10:02
the different regions, the different cultures.
10:04
And it was interesting because I actually gave them Singapore treats.
10:09
And most of the time, they were like,
10:10
So I think on one end, it's a great way to showcase what we have for Singapore.
10:15
And of course, to, you know, shed light to international audiences
10:20
on the diverse culture that we have in Singapore as well.
10:24
And I'm very confident that we will go from strength to strength
10:26
and reach higher heights.
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