Peyton Manning Whips Justin Timberlake at Chinese

By Michael Y. Park

09/21/2009 at 01:25 PM EDT

If you have to choose between taking Justin Timberlake and MVP quarterback Peyton Manning out for dim sum, here's a tip from Justin himself: Take Peyton.

"I can't even repeat what I said in the commercial," Timberlake, 28, told PEOPLE on the Emmys red carpet about a recent TV spot the two filmed for Sony Bravia HDTV. "I think it is Mandarin."

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According to Timberlake, nailing the Chinese dialogue – which they spout as they play table tennis under the watchful eye of ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews – was nearly insurmountable.



"Peyton, it took him about five minutes to learn it, and it took me about 20 minutes to learn it," he said. "I held up. production. I was very embarrassed."