First Trans Model Wins ‘The Face’

Kulchaya “Candy” Tansiri wins The Face season five. Photo: The Face Thailand / Facebook

BANGKOK — The Thai version of the international modelling show “The Face” has crowned its first transgender winner.

Kulchaya “Candy” Tansiri was crowned the winner of season five of The Face Thailand on Saturday at a ceremony in CentralWorld mall.

The Face Thailand is a reality TV modeling show that has seen seven seasons since 2014. Each week, three teams of contestants compete in modelling tasks such as commercial shoots.

The show is an offshoot of The Face franchise, first produced by Naomi Campbell in 2013. The winner becomes the presenter, or “The Face,” of the brands sponsoring the show.

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Of all the show’s international versions – the US, UK, Australia, Vietnam – Thailand was the first both to have males compete (in their The Face Men and starting since season 4 of The Face) as well as to have a transgender winner.

Candy, 23, was also the winner of the Miss Trans Star International beauty pageant in 2018.

The other two finalists included Natharuetai “Zorzo” Akkarakijwattanakul, 24, a Top 10 finalist in the Miss Universe Thailand 2018 pageant. The other, Chompooh Chutimon, 23, is a Thammasat University drum major.