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