Dramas from Studio GOOD ENTERTAINMENT (THAILAND) COMPANY LIMITED

This is a chaotic and hilarious story set in the world of a transgender beauty pageant. When the leading contestant suffers a terrible accident that leaves her face badly disfigured and in urgent need of reconstruction, the show must still go on. So a replacement is needed—and the only possible stand-in is the contestant’s twin sister, who is nothing like a beauty queen and is as tough and tomboyish as they come. The question is: can she possibly fake it well enough to save the day?

Pang and Paeng, male-female twins, are separated as children when their parents, Preeya and Praphan, decide to divorce. Preeya can no longer tolerate Praphan’s gambling addiction. She takes the son to raise, while Praphan takes the daughter, Paeng, and moves to Pattaya. Out of a mother’s tenderness, Preeya raises Pang with great care and affection, which makes him become attached to feminine softness and want to be like his mother. Over time, Pang grows up flamboyant and effeminate, eventually becoming a transgender woman and changing his name to Prang.

Paeng, meanwhile, grows up under the care of her father, whose main occupation is gambling. As a result, she becomes rough, bold, and tough. She often has to box in pubs to earn money and help pay off her father’s debts. The more trouble Praphan causes, the stronger and more capable Paeng becomes. She has a close male friend named Krabi, who has secretly loved her since childhood, but Paeng has never thought of him as more than a friend.

Everyone’s lives might have continued normally if not for Jae Tum, a famous transgender modeling-agent owner and close friend of Nuch, Preeya’s younger sister. Jae Tum is stabbed in the back—both figuratively and literally—by Jae June, a younger transgender rival who steals away all of her models. Furious over her loss of income, prestige, and status, and humiliated by people saying her career is in decline, Jae Tum becomes so devastated that she attempts suicide. But hell does not want her yet, and Nuch rushes her to get her stomach pumped in time.

Heaven still has mercy on Jae Tum, because a Miss Rainbow Queen competition is announced to find Thailand’s best transgender beauty contestant to compete abroad. Jae Tum and Nuch search desperately for someone to enter, but no one seems good enough—until they realize that the perfect candidate has been right in front of them all along. Prang is exactly the beautiful, polished transgender contestant they need. Jae Tum decides to send Prang into the competition, with help from Prang’s close friend Ueam, who assists with grooming and preparation.

But as soon as Preeya, Prang’s mother, hears about it, a small war breaks out in the house. She strongly opposes the idea because she is afraid that Praphan, her ex-husband whom she divorced when the twins were born, will find out and mock her for raising her son into a daughter.

In the end, because of her love for her child, Preeya finally gives in and allows Prang to compete. As soon as Jae Tum introduces Prang as her contestant, the pageant world is shaken. Prang immediately becomes a frontrunner thanks to her beauty, intelligence, and graceful manners. Jae June is nearly driven mad with jealousy because Khao Fang, the transgender contestant she had hoped would win Miss Rainbow Queen, is now completely overshadowed by Jae Tum’s contestant, Prangthida.

Meanwhile, Nakrob, a talented young photographer, agrees to accompany his close friend Tod to photograph the Miss Rainbow Queen pageant in Pattaya. There he meets Paeng and mistakes her for a bag snatcher. Paeng tries to explain, but Nakrob does not believe her. Later, when he arrives at the pageant and sees Prang, he thinks she is Paeng and angrily confronts her in confusion. As a result, Nakrob gets beaten up by a group of transgender contestants.

Jae June, unable to bear the humiliation of seeing her own contestant lose so badly to Prang, plots revenge. She secretly puts acid into Prang’s makeup, leaving Prang’s face badly disfigured. Jae Tum is nearly in shock when she sees Prang’s ruined face. Nuch, deeply sympathetic, reveals a long-hidden secret—one that even Prang never knew: Prang actually has a twin sibling born at the same time, identical in every way… except that the twin is a woman. That twin is Paeng.

So they set out to find Paeng. For someone like Nuch, it is not difficult. When Paeng meets Nuch and Jae Tum and learns the secret that has been hidden all her life, she is stunned. But solid proof—such as childhood photos of her with her mother and twin brother—forces her to accept the bizarre truth. And then she is even more shocked when Nuch and Jae Tum ask her to impersonate Prang in the pageant while Prang recovers from facial treatment.

Under intense pressure, Paeng gradually begins to give in. She badly needs money, and deep down she also feels sorry for her twin brother, whose dream was shattered just before success. So Paeng finally agrees to Jae Tum’s proposal without Praphan knowing.

Once the arrangement is made, Jae Tum begins training Paeng in the “art” of being a transgender beauty queen, while Prang is sent to stay with their father Praphan so he will not discover the pageant secret. Jae Tum brings Paeng to the hotel where the beauty contestants are staying just as Jae June publicly announces Prang’s accident—only for “Prang” to appear in person, leaving Jae June utterly humiliated.

Meanwhile, Nakrob encounters a robbery, and Paeng jumps in to help. In the confusion, the two accidentally stumble and fall into a kiss. Nakrob is left stunned and deeply impressed by Paeng’s beauty and charm. From that moment, tender feelings begin to grow in his heart.

Nakrob’s parents, Saksit and Sopha, are meanwhile trying to match him with Chotirot, a successful businesswoman who owns a famous department store. More importantly, she owns the TV program Following the Life of the Rainbow Queen, the major sponsor of the Miss Rainbow Queen competition. Nakrob is forced to become the producer of the show whether he likes it or not.

Things become even more chaotic when sweet and delicate Prang, who has to pretend to be Paeng, is forced to enter a boxing championship match in Paeng’s place. Naturally, Prang gets badly beaten in the ring. At the same time, on the pageant stage, Paeng appears as Prangthida, the leading contestant and soon-to-be winner of Miss Rainbow Queen. Nakrob, who is busily photographing the event, is shocked beyond words when he realizes that the woman he has feelings for is actually a transgender contestant—or so he believes.

Then comes the most exciting moment of all: the host announces that Prangthida has won Miss Rainbow Queen. Jae Tum bursts into tears of joy, having finally reclaimed her reputation as a top model-maker. Meanwhile, Prang jumps up and down with happiness that Paeng has successfully fulfilled his dream. Paeng also receives 300,000 baht from Jae Tum, enough to help pay off Praphan’s debts.

Everything seems as though it should end perfectly—but nothing is ever that simple. The pageant organizers reveal that Prang has signed a contract to star in a reality TV show, Following the Life of the Rainbow Queen, and there are also many advertising jobs waiting. Because of necessity, Jae Tum begs Paeng once again to continue impersonating Prang until Prang’s facial wounds are fully healed. Paeng is forced to agree, especially because the 300,000 baht is still not enough to pay off all of her father’s massive debts.

From this pageant, Paeng gains not only prize money and a twin brother she never knew she had, but also a sense of warmth from learning that her mother is still alive and that family is something real she might finally have in her life.

When Chotirot realizes that Nakrob is falling for Paeng, she quickly tells Saksit and Sopha. Both parents become deeply alarmed and decide to join forces to stop and destroy what they see as this “unnatural” relationship. How will Nakrob and Paeng’s love story end? And will Prang’s dream finally come true?

Don’t miss Faet Na Ya, airing every Monday and Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. on Thai TV Channel 3. Faet Na Ya premiered on Tuesday, October 12, 2010.