Topless talent stunt splits Thai celeb panel

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Published time: June 18, 2012 15:23
Edited time: June 18, 2012 19:23

What began as a modest painting master-class turned into a wild lesson in TV striptease as a “Thailand’s Got Talent” contestant let it all hang out, ditched her “boring” brush, and painted a canvas using her bare breasts.

­Pretty twenty-three-year-old Duangjai Jansaunoi walked onstage with a hippie’s slouch, barefoot, in jeans and a “boyfriend’s” plaid shirt. She told the Thai celebrity panel and packed studio audience she was an indie artist from the north of the country.
Surrealist Striptease

But once in performance she wasted no time in getting down on her knees, stripping off her shirt and bra as celebrity-chins dropped and studio directors freaked.

As the audience gawped she covered herself in deep red, yellow and green paint, spreading the palette across her naked breasts.

She then got up close and with the canvas, rubbing her breasts against it with a series of moves straight from the pole-dance move book.

“If I paint in a normal way, then it would be too ordinary,'' Duangjai told the judges, explaining her “unconventional” behavior.

Fans of the show as well as its three judges – two men and a woman – reported “culture shock”, however.  

The panel's only female judge, the appropriately named Pornchita Na Songkhla halted the performance. “I'm not saying this is not good, but it's not appropriate,'' she said “I don’t support this as part of Thai culture”. Pornchita: chocolate hypocrisy?

The topless Thai art aficionado was nevertheless voted through to the next round – despite her breast efforts, thanks to votes from the panel’s two male judges.

Actress-turned-judge, Pornchita, resplendent in one-piece plunging halter neck mini-shirt and heels that had her towering over her male co-panelists, walked off the set to clearly demonstrate her disapproval of what she considered a “macho decision”.  

Some called her a hypocrite, referring to a recent fashion photoshoot she did in which she covered her lithe and naked torso with chocolate.

Singer Jirayut Wattanasin defended his decision to vote for the topless talent, saying “This is an art form. If we were in Italy, like Florence or Milan, or the Czech Republic, say Prague, this would be OK,'' said.

The day after the show was aired on Channel 3, “Thailand's Got Talent” issued an official apology.