Pornsak Prajakwit

The Host Who Couldn't Speak Chinese

Pornsak Prajakwit was born in Thailand in 1982 and arrived in Singapore at age twelve without understanding a single word of Mandarin. His father sent him there in search of a strict education, and the boy ended up absorbing the language until it became his main professional tool.

In 2007 he won the Star Search talent contest, and Mediacorp offered him a contract. They weren't looking for a soap opera heartthrob but for someone with electric energy who could carry variety shows for hours.

And it worked.

For more than a decade, he specialized in travel and food formats. His show Food Source began airing in 2010 and took him across half the world in search of the origins of the most basic ingredients in Asian cuisine. He won the Best Variety Show Host award at the 2015 Star Awards after being nominated multiple times.

College Degrees and Traditional Medicine

His profile goes against the stereotype of the TV star who lives only off his image. While filming shows, he earned a bachelor's degree in Business Management and later a master's degree in Early Childhood Education. But the strangest move came years later.

In 2021 he graduated in Traditional Chinese Medicine from Nanyang Technological University. It was no honorary degree, since the years of clinical study and rigorous exams were demanding. Pornsak was looking for a solid foundation for his next chapter outside the usual spotlight of the studio.

Knowledge is his true obsession.

That technical training allowed him to connect with a larger audience that trusted his health recommendations. Television was no longer enough for his business ambitions, so in 2020 he co-founded the live commerce platform Mdada with actress Michelle Chia and stylist Addy Lee.

Breaking Away from the Studio System

The company Mdada took advantage of the global lockdown to sell luxury and beauty products through social media. In just two months of 2021, the platform generated 3.9 million dollars in gross sales. Pornsak left Mediacorp in February of that same year to focus fully on his career as a digital entrepreneur.

But the business venture ended in conflict. In January 2023 he announced his departure from the company, citing management disagreements and vision problems with his partners. The Singapore press covered the back-and-forth for months because the split was public and quite tense.

Pornsak then decided to step back and focus on his traditional Chinese medicine clinic and on one-off collaborations as an independent content creator. In 2024, his media presence remains tied to wellness and nutrition brands. He closed his chapter at Mdada with a legal dispute that was still making headlines in legal circles by the middle of that year.