Lots of goodies, a little exploitation for Bangkok's expat 'models'

[webfact]

Lots of goodies, a little exploitation for Bangkok's expat 'models'
By Victoria Mitchell


Photo: Igor Oussenko

BANGKOK: -- Jessica arrived in Bangkok four years ago with empty pockets and no desire to return to the United Kingdom.

Fresh from backpacking across Asia, she took a teaching job she despised just to stick around. That’s when one of her condo neighbors, a casting agent, suggested she try modeling on the side.

“I never considered it before, but I didn’t have any money, and I didn’t have any friends,” Jessica said. “So it seemed like a good idea. I went to my first casting for a Japanese commercial.”

She didn’t get the job, but met a guy who invited her to one of Bangkok’s notorious “models nights” and her first dreamy taste of the expat “beautiful people” scene where skinny, statuesque eye-candy from Eastern Europe and South America bask in free stuff and can find themselves being groomed for prostitution.

“I have to say they were sort of like better-looking backpackers,” she remembers. “They all had three-month tourist visas and just wanted to have fun and party,” said Jessica, who didn’t want her name used because she is still working in Bangkok.

Back when she was the new girl in Bangkok, she started going five nights a week, but not for the pleasant company.
“A lot of time was spent talking about things like, ‘I want to go to Japan, but I need to lose weight,’” she recounted. Instead it was the ready supply of free food and booze – 10 drink tickets up front and free piles of king prawns and sashimi. There was a different bar or nightclub offering free goodies every night of the week, and this crowd loved to get wasted and blow lots of coke.

During that time, not much happened for Jessica’s professional modeling career. She got two jobs as a commercial extra. She wouldn’t have called herself a model, but hey – she had a “comp card” identifying her as such at bars and clubs.

“What defines a real model anyway?” said Jessica, who was 21 at the time and had just graduated from university with honors. “I guess some worked, but maybe just once every three months.”

A nightlife institution

The model scene has long held a warm and fuzzy spot in Bangkok’s nightlife, and so-called “Models Nights” remain a staple of the free-wheeling nightlife scene everywhere from low-rent discos to high-end eateries.

There are model nights almost every day of the week, and almost every upscale restaurant, bar or nightclub has advertised such parties, from Zuma and Limoncello to Maggie Choo’s. A decade after it was pioneered in Bangkok by Bed Supperclub, regular “models nights” can be found Tuesdays at Flix on RCA and Fridays at Circle on Soi Ruamrudee. That’s not to mention Fashion TV’s The Love F Bar in Mixx, which also offers 10 drinks and a free taxi for groups of three models on certain nights, and Koi is perhaps the most well-known model hangout.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co//2014/12/10/lots-goodies-little-exploitation-bangkoks-expat-models


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2014-12-10

[zaphod reborn]

This story is worthless gibberish. Where's the pics?

[terryp]

most of the ones i've seen working benatone etc are nothing special and i doubt they would get any work outside of thailand

[Orac]

Models get three month tourist visas???

[ColdSingha]

models not need work permits then?

[ChangMaiSausage]

Its a joke, another accident waiting to happen free flowing drugs and drinks how long before you hear in the international papers I was raped / abused etc.....

[davidmann]

any one take vintage models

[ExPratt]

You know the rules , Link to Model night party

[DGS1244]

“What defines a real model anyway?” said Jessica, who was 21 at the time and had just graduated from university with honors. “I guess some worked, but maybe just once every three months.”

What a lot of rubbish, something wrong with the time line I think and brain if it comes to that.

[lust]

Pure drivel. Coconuts is shit.

[JacChang]

What's the point of this article?

[bryanlunadelacruz]

Any photos of the police pointing to the clubs??

[klauskunkel]

Am I supposed to feel good or bad for them after reading this,...I guess feeling bored will do.

[kurnell]

So she's a hooker or what?

[KonKorat]

This is news?

[sydneyjed]

Jessica.."not her real name" and incidentally not her real photo there neither!

I think some one from Coconuts is extracting the urine here or desperate for material as sure as hell

this story must have been dreamed up in a noodle soup lunch break at Terminal 21 or a 99 baht Singa happy hour some where!

[ATF]

They should have gone to the YWCA instead of snorting cocaine and getting $1000.00 a shag and free king prawns.

[neverdie]

They should have gone to the YWCA instead of snorting cocaine and getting $1000.00 a shag and free king prawns.

Ugly wenches like that would be flat out getting pun bucks.

[ATF]

They should have gone to the YWCA instead of snorting cocaine and getting $1000.00 a shag and free king prawns.

Ugly wenches like that would be flat out getting pun bucks.

As the song goes "We're big in Japan".

[neverdie]

They should have gone to the YWCA instead of snorting cocaine and getting $1000.00 a shag and free king prawns.

Ugly wenches like that would be flat out getting pun bucks.

As the song goes "We're big in Japan".

All the ladies tell me I'm big

It's 6 inches across the eye

[jamiesilver]

I remember being invited back to an entire complex full of models, mostly from S America at that time. They had an entire floor to themselves and they invited me back to their room whilst they were getting ready to do whatever it is they actually do in the evenings.
What struck me immediately was how shallow and conceited the majority of them really were, they hardly even noticed me there and most of them didnt even say hello to me. instead they were walking around in Bikinis or with their tops off, and i kid you not every 5 minutes would wander over the nearest mirror and complain about their abs, their skin color, and then flex their muscles. This went on for hours and hours until i finally said i needed to go now.
It was like being in a Ladyboy bar but worse! I felt sorry for them and wouldnt want their job even is it was free!

[Loles]

The daily COCONUT B ull s just arrived, if you believe you are nut also.

And Jessica, if you look like a 250 L electric boiler don't dream about model work ....

[foxteen]

Is the News about Jessica and who she is sleep. Does she a night star

[kinmaew]

With all these "Freebies" wonder who pays for those in the end? i.e. the male punter stupid enough to enter places so superficial, I prefer live music instead and some bloody good food.

[SOTIRIOS]

.....the 'benefits' are extremely overstated.....

...and the flipside is extremely understated......

....it is not an easy business at all......you need great support...great agents or great agencies to back you..

....otherwise....you are flying by the seat of your pants...and not hard to guess how it will all end...

[lil fluffy clouds]

Narcissists, how exciting to here about your boring lives....

[elgordo38]

“What defines a real model anyway?” said Jessica, who was 21 at the time and had just graduated from university with honors. “I guess some worked, but maybe just once every three months.”

What a lot of rubbish, something wrong with the time line I think and brain if it comes to that.

Beats working standing up its a horizontal position

[siampolee]

Well for me anyway the opening post with its image brought to mind the witches on the heath scene from Shakepeares Macbeth .

Just younger versions of the crones in the image below..

Everyone has right to be born ugly but those females in the opening picture of this thread sure do seem to have abused that particular birthright.

[A1Str8]

Models are good. From my experience. Good at s...... c...

[Cypress Hill]

Models are good. From my experience. Good at s...... c...

Always knew you were a classy guy . . .

. . . not

Your Thai-Chinese dates must feel so fortunate