I don't follow these things. I don't know anyone that does. It is a big money maker though and Thailand takes a great deal of pride in winning these things, as they should I guess. A win is a win!
One thing that you will notice if you travel around Thailand even just as a temporary visitor is that there are an awful lot of exceptionally beautiful women here. There is just something about the genetics I guess. Some would aruge that this, combined with relative poverty, is a big part of the reason why divorced middle-aged men like coming here so much. That's a bit dirty I know, but let's face the reality.
Beauty pageants aren't your run of the mill "who's hottest in Pattaya" though, these women have to be good at a lot of things, and this year's winner certainly is that.
Her name is Saffron Maya Snook and if that sounds like a strange name, it's because it likely isn't her actual name. She is also half-British and this brings about something that Thais don't really like the mention about the winners of these pageants. The girls that win them or are pushed to the forefront, are often half Thai, half something Caucasian. I'm not trying to make some sort of white-power something other statement here, I'm just stating a fact.
One time I went down to Krabi with a friend and ended up meeting a woman who had won Miss Thailand or something like that a while ago and while her given name was "Farida" because of her Austrian father, the name that Thailand required her to use for the contest was Nutpimon Natthayalak.
I spoke to Farida, if she didn't tell you that she has a Thai passport, you would assume she was American. Her accent is absolutely perfect and indiscernible from a native speaker. She was also strikingly beautiful.
Anyway, lets get back to Saffron, the recent winner.
There is no denying her stunning looks, but when I read into it a bit I found out that she is much more than just a pretty face. She was a top student at an International school in Thailand and then when she got a bit older she went to the UK to continue her studies where she got good marks and also became the captain of the women's football team.
According to her bio she graduated with a degree in Marketing and Management with Psychology, in the top couple of percent of her class.
She will go on to have a wonderful career in acting and modeling in Thailand if she has a good manager and plays her cards right. I would imagine someone is already managing her social media to strike while the iron is hot. When I spoke to Farida she told me that right after she won Miss Thailand all those years ago, she had "handlers" constantly bothering her and she endured it knowing that it was good for her, but her mental health kind of suffered because none of the decisions she was making in her day were her own. She had an assistant responding to a manager that was leading her around like a dog all day every day and she barely got any time to relax. After getting a job on a soap opera that I guess is somewhat famous in Thailand she got rid of most of these PR people because she couldn't take the pressure anymore and just wanted a regular life.
That being said she told me that when she travels she still has to have security with her because she will be mobbed at airports. We all thing we want that sort of thing but Farida told me the most annoying thing about being Thai-famous is that nobody is genuine with you and everyone is trying to make money off of you.
It's been 14 years since she won, she is in her late 20's now and the only thing I said to her was "you've been given a ton of opportunities with that victory though, you should be thankful for it because not to be rude, but once you leave your 20's the fashion and beauty world is likely not going to be interested in you anymore." She laughed at this, but she kind of knew I am correct. "I hope you saved a bunch of your paychecks" I joked, but I wasn't really joking.
