Dumb, degrading: The Sequel

Season 3 began on Sunday with a contestant who appeared to be mentally unstable – possibly autistic.

Sitthata Emerald, as he called himself, was clearly an oddball from the start, addressing the judges strangely and lapsing into incoherence. Actress Pornchita “Benz” Na Songkhla, one of the judges, asked him to introduce himself politely with a “Sawasdee”, but the 24-year-old contender said his family pays little heed to manners – they care more about morality. There were chuckles in the audience and Benz conceded that the show isn’t known for its good manners anyway. 

Emerald said he was inspired to come on the show by the likes of Susan Boyle and Warunee “Gig” Soontareesawas, and then wailed the theme song from the Chinese TV series “Justice Pao” – in Mandarin – driving judges Jirayu “Jo” Wattanasin and Pinyo Rootham from the stage, holding their ears. Benz sat listening to the off-off-key performance, after which Emerald apologised, saying he hadn’t had his usual warm lemonade beforehand. 

He was of course dismissed without pity (“Never mind, I can head over to ‘The Voice’,” he said), but by then Facebook and Twitter were aflame with condemnation for producer Workpoint Entertainment. “He seems to be autistic or has some learning disability,” was a common complaint. Was this deliberately controversial to boost ratings? Actress Inthira “Sai” Charoenpura questioned on Facebook whether the degrading segment should even have been aired. “I think Emerald has some problems, but having him onstage doesn’t do any good. Is this suitable?” 

On Pantip.com someone pointed out that the show isn’t aired live, so it would seem that Workpoint knew exactly what it was offering. “It just repeats the pattern from last year,” another Facebook user said. “When it becomes an issue, the producer gets a chance to be on the Channel 3 news and that just amplifies the story. It’s such a vicious cycle!”