Singapore – The opening fight of Muay Thai boxing for the 15-episode series The Contender Asia was filmed Wednesday night at The Contender House in front of an invited audience. Those ringside signed non-disclosure agreements, with the same expected of ticket-holders for the twice-weekly fights on Wednesday and Saturday nights, for the next seven weeks. Series is scheduled to air on pan-regional channel AXN from December 2007. Riaz Mehta, CEO of Imagine Omnimedia and the show’s executive producer, told Television Asia the production budget “is in line with the cost of the US version.” Mark Burnett and C. Scot Cru are executive producer and co-executive producer respectively. Burnett has stated this is just the beginning for Mark Burnett Productions’ formats in Asia, and Riaz Mehta says plans for a pan-regional version of The Apprentice are in the pipeline. For The Contender Asia, Singapore’s Media Development Authority facilitated financing from DBS Bank, and Mehta says every cent will have to be paid back through advertising and sponsorship.