#af10

Background

Nan and Hongyok met on the tenth season of the show Academy Fantasia, which started airing on June 24, 2013.

I would best describe Academy Fantasia as a mix of a survival show and a reality tv show like Big Brother. Similarly to a survival show, AF is structured mainly as a singing competition.

Prospective contestants attend in person auditions or submit online clips, hoping to be accepted onto the show. In Nan and Hongyok's season, a total of 24 people competed, with one person being eliminated every week until 12 people remained. These last 12 made it to the grand final of the show, where a winner would be selected.

Week 8's live concert

In terms of the structure of AF, each week contestants are assigned songs to perform. They attend vocal classes, acting classes, and dance classes, eventually leading up to a live concert on Saturday or Sunday.

For the first nine weeks of the show, contestants were split into two teams, each composed of 12 people. The winning team (selected by the judges) was safe, while a person from the losing team would be eliminated. This was determined by contestants that had the lowest number of votes from viewers. By week ten, the teams were eliminated, and everyone competed independently.

Although AF has some similarities to the structure of different survival shows (singing competitions, voting, etc), it was also very unique.

Like Big Brother, the show was presented in a 24 hour live format, which was broadcasted all day long. Fans could watch the contestants both on the tv and online through live feeds. In addition, like BB, the participants all lived in the same house together. However, they were not totally isolated from the outside world (they could interact with vocal coaches/trainers, or get to see fans while onstage).

AF and Shipping

Source: Kim__Li

Something that's interesting about early reality shows is that Nan and Hongyok weren't the only queer ship to be formed there.

Here's what some posters have written about the intersection between AF and the Y industry, as well as its history of shipping:

The Love of Siam's intersection of the teen flick, gay, and Y genres would greatly influence its successors, though the effect wouldn't be immediately seen, as no major works in the genre directly followed. The attention of Y fandoms went back to focusing on shipping idols, which now expanded to contestants in the competing reality music competitions The Star and Academy Fantasia. (Reddit)

In its earliest days during the 2000s...the boys-love genre mainly existed in the form of fan-fiction and its similar equivalence circulated primarily through online forums, such as Dek-D.com. Often, fans of boys group at the time, such as TVXQ and Super Junior, would imagine their admired male band members being a couple with one another, or in vernacular term, they would ‘ship’ the members with one another. This earlier phase of boys-love genre in Thailand is important to mention, as it encapsulates the general “spirit” of boys-love movement, which, according to Prasannam (2019), can be described as “spirit of playful appropriation”, wherein conventional entertainment medias would be appropriated by fans in the genre and modified to fit into the boys-love narrative. This enables a crucial ‘interaction between fandom and industry’, whereby the industry would also cater to the fantasy input from the fandom, as can, for example, be seen during the launch of a Thai reality show Academy Fantasia (AF) in 2004 starring aspiring idols, where some of the idols were also romantically paired up by the network as BL couples or, as known in Thai, khu Y (คู่วาย). (Thailand Foundation)

Beside AF, other early queer reality show CPs included Oh Anuchit and Fluke Thammon from The Star, who were a side couple in the lakorn Proong Nee Gor Ruk Ter (Tomorrow I'll Still Love You), which aired in 2009 (shoutout to Claire for providing this info, plus sending me a clip from one one of their early fan meetings).

Overall, I think the structure of reality shows (such as AF or The Star) really encourage fan interactions that culminate in shipping.

Both survival shows and 24 hour live shows typically cultivate large online audiences. Through voting, fan interactions, or attending concerts/the recording of different elimination episodes, fans are motivated to become invested in the participants. If you watch a show like Big Brother, part of the appeal of its live nature (aside from getting to see the scheming going on, or having something that you're always able to watch/throw on in the background), is that you're able to see different relationships unfold. You can accidentally catch funny or cute moments between the castmates, or see people slowly become friends.

By combing the format of both shows together- especially ones that naturally encourage a lot of investment between the contestants and the audience- I think it's no surprise why shipping might become particularly popular within this kind of environment.

Nan and Hongyok in AF

Source: Pantip

Now that I've covered some background information about the show, let's talk about Nan and Hongyok, as well as some context surrounding the formation of their relationship.

Both of them were aspiring singers. Nan (her name is sometimes also spelled "Nann," but I'll use the former for more consistency) was 22 years old at the time of filming, and had already played some minor roles in different tv productions (such as Sadtree Tee Lok Luerm (2007) and Mook Liam Petch (2012)), while Hongyok was 20.

Interesting, although they were initially put on different teams, they both ended up making it to the final- where Nan placed 6th and Hongyok placed 9th.

Source: YONFamilyClub

In terms of shipping, Nan and Hongyok's pairing grew out of many different interactions they had on the show- a form of IRL shipping that later led them towards the Y-industry.

I think from an outside perspective it might be easy to brush some of aspects of this off, as shipping sometimes occurs in real life between people who are just friends.

However, although it can be really tough to categorize Nan and Hongyok's relationship, after watching a bunch of clips I can say that I definitely see (at least to a certain extent) where shippers were coming from. It's clear that they had a very different relationship with each other compared to other contestants.

To give some more context, they could be super affectionate and playful with each other. Nan was able to do a really good impression of Hongyok, the type that's only produced by knowing someone for a long period of time or studying their face a lot.

At one point in the show, before going to bed, they were both mad at each other, but they made up in the middle of the night and ended up holding hands under the blanket. At other points in time, Hongyok called Nan cute, and talked about how much she missed her while she was away from the house.

To viewers, it's likely that it was a lot of small, intimate moments like this that added up over time, and contributed their ship becoming popular.

Kru Noom, one of the trainers, teasing Nan and Hongyok

However, what's interesting was that shipping Nan and Hongyok wasn't only limited to fans- other people on AF sometimes teased them about their relationship with each other. For instance, on the show, Nan once commented that she "like[d] Hongyok the most, seriously." Another one of the contestants, Mook, jumped in, responding that:

Mook: Oh, so you like Hongyok? Hern Fah: How do you like her? Tang Thai: Oh, really? Nan: I like to imitate her. (sound from the other contestants) Tung Beer: I don't think so. Mook: What did you just say?... You just said what you like the most? Nan: I like Hongyok the most, like Hongyok the most. I focus correctly.

(there's so many moments like this that you can find throughout the show. For instance, one of the participants, Tuey, once joked that if "[people] didn't have a clue [about NHY], then why did it become the talk of the town?." Even aside from Tuey, some of the acting/singing teachers sometimes got in on it, too, such as when they asked Nan and Hongyok to act out a proposal scene.)

During an interview at a film festival, Tina, one of the leads of Yes or No 1 and Yes or No 2.5 also teased Nan and Hongyok, saying that, "in the movie [Hongyok] likes Nan. In fact, she also likes Nan [implied to be outside of the film as well]."

Hongyok and Mook's conversation

I think what's tough about Nan and Hongyok is that they seemed to have a bit of a more ambiguous relationship, especially in terms of the way they defined it/explained it at times.

On one hand, you have some clips from their time both inside and outside the show, where they seem to talk about each other in a more romantic way.

For instance, during week seven of AF, Hongyok had a couple of interesting conversations that suggests that something might have been going on.

Conversation #1:

Hongyok: If everything goes on like this...what should I do when I'm out of the house? It's kind of like...if we were out, will we have any arguments or not? Mook: Go separately...you mean. Hongyok: I don't know. I feel like I... Mook: Confused? Hongyok: No, I'm not. Mook: You know who you gonna be with, but don't know what you should do now? Hongyok: Hmm... Mook: I had this feeling a long time ago. Kind of like couldn't do that, couldn't make up your mind, right? Hongyok: As we're treating each other like this now...when wanna kiss the cheek...hmm.... Mook: So you should talk to each other. Hongyok: Already did. Mook: You did and what did she say? Hongyok: We should focus on singing for now... Mook: Don't want to let it exceed your expectations. Hongyok: I can't stop it. First, I think I'll stop at 50 something, but now it is like... Mook: 80 now Hongyok: Whatever I do, I'll think of her.

Conversation #2:

Nan: Sing again...want you to know...again Hongyok: What? Nan: Want you to know...what? Hongyok: Want you to know I love you Nan: Want you to know I love you, right? (They practices the chorus verse of this song)

(a little while later) Hongyok: I think...my feelings have exceeded what I had expected. What should I do? I've begun to lose my concentration...Mook can't give me any answer or help me...She told me that she doesn't know and...[that] I should keep trying. Nan: What's keep trying? What is it?... Hongyok: I don't know. I just asked her whether I should step back or not? Or do something else. I don't know what to do. So I'll just keep going on. That's all.

During the second conversation, there's a moment around 4:16 where both of them aren't totally visible on camera. Some people think that they might have kissed, as there's a pause in the conversation and a kissing noise that can be heard in the clip.

Outside the show, there's also some other moments that are a little bit more romance-coded. As a lead in to a couple performance, there's a clip where Nan and Hongyok discuss how many different people have questioned the nature of their relationship, and how they'll answer them with a song. The song they end up singing has romantic lyrics, and talks about "not telling anyone how we feel about each other...because I want to keep it between us."

On the other hand, however, both of them have given more neutral/ambiguous responses at times, or even clarified how they're just friends. In response to a fan question about their relationship in 2015, Hongyok wrote, "Ummm...Every relationship status [is] based on real friendship ~ even [despite] what status we're in, we take care of each other :)."

During another 2015 interview, Nan clarified that their relationship was just "phi-nong." From what I've seen some people say, I seems like this was usually their go-to answer when asked to specifically define their relationship (even back during their AF days).

However, in an interview from 2014, Nan somewhat complicated this label. After calling themselves friends, she stated that she was aware that fans wanted them to be an item, and that it was "normal for khu jin." In terms of their relationship, she noted, "we have to wait and see because we don't know our future yet." In response to another question, her answer was similarly a little vague.

Nan's 2014 interview

I think the important thing here is to try to do three different things: to acknowledge that this situation is complicated, to be respectful of their relationship (whatever it may be), and recognize that there might not be one specific answer.

I struggled a lot while writing this section, especially as I felt it was hard to explain the context behind Nan and Hongyok's relationship without veering too much into territory that might feel a little speculative or overly intimate. So, in general, I really want to avoid passing any judgement, or coming to any definitive conclusions about the nature of their relationship. Instead, throughout this section I've tried to take a more nuanced approach.

It's worth noting that back in the day, a decent portion of fans thought that they might have been dating and/or had a crush on each other (which I don't blame them for, it's not a totally unreasonable conclusion to come to lol).

However, especially coming in from a 2025 perspective, I think it's important to be super careful. There may be many assumptions (especially by outsiders), that turn out to be true, but it's also good to recognize that there may be many that are false.

In general, I feel like things can be complicated. Humans are complex and messy and there might not be one definitive answer, or several partial ones. In addition, back in 2013, there likely weren't as many people in the entertainment industry who were out compared to the number of those that are today. If Hongyok and Nan were dating, they have might faced some career repercussions, harassment, or public backlash, such as those that current or former QL actors have sometimes dealt with. (In addition, based on one of the clips I saw, Hongyok might have had a boyfriend before entering the show, which would have made the relationship between her and Nan even more complicated. However, I'm not totally sure if they were joking/teasing each other/being a bit unserious during this moment or not)

Source: Alchetron

To complicate things even further, I think another really important thing to discuss is age, as well as the transition that Nan and Hongyok went through between young reality tv show contestants, and more established public figures who were really active, aware participants in their own ship.

Both Nan and Hongyok were in their early 20s when they were cast on the show- 20 and 22- while the youngest contestants on their season were 16. Starting in season seven, AF changed the age requirement and began admitting people as young as 15.

I know that survival shows will often include minors/younger participants, but in terms of 24 hour live shows like Big Brother, the cast members usually skew a little bit older. The American version of BB, for instance, currently has an age requirement of 21 (this likely for alcohol/drinking age reasons, but I think it's a good policy regardless).

Based on what houseguests have said in the past, I think appearing on the livefeeds/being filmed 24/7 can definitely be a really mentally exhausting experience. And this isn't even to mention the added pressure of AF also being a singing competition, and requiring contestants to have to learn a song well enough to perform it on stage each week.

I think Nan and Hongyok, especially as young adults, might've felt additional pressure while trying to navigate their relationship, all with the knowledge that it was being filmed. Trying to deal with a sense of confusion or uncertainty at times might've been really difficult, especially when having little-to-no privacy (during week 7, they even received a minor punishment for trying to cover up/conceal a conversation).

I don't want to necessarily speak for them (especially as I haven't come across any clips so far of them being critical of AF), but I want people to keep in mind that aspects of their journey could've be really challenging.

Nan and Hongyok hold hands during a performance on stage

On the other hand, however, it's important to also note that they weren't opposed to being shipped- Nan and Hongyok were both active participants in forming a CP. For instance, they talked about how they liked being able to work together. Hongyok was happy to answer questions related to Nan during a solo session on Weibo. They were definitely aware of what they were doing by performing romantic songs together during their concert, or holding hands together on stage.

So it's not right to discount their sense of agency either, and say that they had no choice or options in terms of what was going on.

I think Nan and Hongyok's situation sits directly at the intersection between the personal and the commercial (in terms of the way that ships/khu jin can be commercialized). In a sense, I think this makes them really tough to talk about.

In the current QL industry, if a pair starts dating or has a really big argument, we usually find that fact out later. We don't see their first off-screen kiss, or the deeply personal apologies that they give each other. But on a reality show like AF (especially one which is livestreamed 24/7), you do see all those things- those moments of uncertainty that feel maybe too intimate to be shown.

As a result, especially when discussing Nan and Hongyok, it's more challenging to draw a clear line in the sand between the personal and the public. There's such a dichotomy there initially between young reality show contestants, and later, more experienced CP figures that it's difficult to grasp which is the right way to talk about them.

Is it best to talk about them just as a CP or to focus on the business side of things, while ignoring the whole personal side of the equation? What's the right approach?

AF Contestants discuss the meaning of NHY signs

I think that given that Nan and Hongyok were apparently aware of stuff like fan-made LED NHY signs while AF was going on, I believe they knew (at least to a certain extent) about the shipping that was going on in the outside world. And I don't think they were 100% opposed to it- during a clip from week 9, Hongyok was happy to chant/joke about "NHY." (there are also signs that they may have been aware of previous contestants' experiences with shipping, as there's in interview where they discuss the point at which in the show that CP signs start showing up in the crowd [usually later in the season]. However, this may have also been something they learned on their own from their own experience).

As a result, because of that, I think it's worthwhile to discuss their relationship in terms of the dual nature of the personal and the commercial- all while trying to strike a middle ground in between (as to not be too distanced/unbalanced about either approach on each side).

I've talked about the personal so far, so now it's time to transition to covering their work post-AF as a CP.

Intermission

Source: BowlingBoice

After leaving AF, Nan and Hongyok worked on several different projects. They each had some solo concerts/events, and as well as some AF-related stuff (when AF was going on, they regularly hosted reunion concerts that would bring back many of the contestants that appeared on the show).

However, aside events related to the show, Nan and Hongyok also did promo together briefly- mostly around 2013 to 2015- which corresponds to the same time period as the release of Yes or No 2.5.

Yes or No 2.5

Source: NanHongyok

I've discussed some of ComeOn Sweet's amazing decision making in the past, but I think their choice to cast Nan and Hongyok as the second couple in Yes or No 2.5 was incredibly smart.

Getting the two of them would bring in an entirely new audience, thus allowing the film to appeal to two different groups of fans (both Tina's and NHY's) who would be able to support the project from day one.

In addition, like prior pairings included in the Yes or No films, Nan and Hongyok were a tom/dee couple, which mapped onto a lot of depictions of sapphic relationships in media at the time (re: see films like Do-nut [2011] or Fingering ]2013]).

I think an additional factor why Nan and Hongyok were chosen is that ComeOn Sweet had expressed the desire to produce even more films in the Yes or No series (Yes or No 3, 4, etc). At this point, the plot of 2.5 (and likely future films) was very different than that of the first two (to clarify, they don't exist in the same universe, and 2.5 isn't a sequel).

In a post on Weibo, ComeOn Sweet explained that they continued using the same name despite different stories/universes because they had a "deep affection for it" (it might be worth noting as well that franchise films and/or certain film IPs can end up being super profitable, so that may have been a motive here as well).

I think that, in an ideal world, ComeOn Sweet could have used Nan and Hongyok's appearance in 2.5 to springboard them into a role as leads in Yes or No 3 (especially if Tina didn't want to come back for whatever reason). But unfortunately, Yes or No 3 didn't end up happening, so this is just up to speculation.

I have a few theories as to why this might be the case.

#1: Bad Box Office Performance

I'm not able to get the full stats on how much money both of the films earned, but according to box office data from IMDb, Yes or No 2 made (at least) a gross $843,210 after its release. On the other hand, 2.5 made $156,856.

It's likely that 2.5 wasn't financially successful enough to produce a sequel/another film with the same name, so Yes or No 3 never happened.

#2: Actor Involvement

Another possible reason is that the four lead actors simply weren't interested in coming back. I find this explanation a little bit less likely, as in a 2015 interview Nan indicted that she was willing to work with Hongyok again, but there's also a chance this might be the case.

#3: Different Agencies

Besides monetary issues, I think another key reason was that Nan and Hongyok ended up being signed to different agencies.

The Wikipedia page for AF notes that the show's 12 finalists sign an artist contract with True Fantasia, but this must have not been a super long term agreement, as by at least 2015 Nan and Hongyok were a part of different companies.

In the same interview mentioned earlier, Nan discussed the difficulty of working together:

Nan: We have our own separate work. The thing is since we're in different companies now and our work is different so for us to be able to meet and work together is pretty difficult. Like our AF reunion meeting, we can't make it because everyone is very busy. Reporter: [inaudible] so there's no opportunities for you both to work together. Nan: Actually, there [was/is] but our time is incompatible. Just in my case, I'm filming a drama every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So for example if we're going to set up a fanmeeting, and if it's on the weekend, then I can't since I have drama filming. I think after I'm done filming then there'll be no permanent work on weekend. There will be more opportunities to work together with her.

I think that if this wasn't the case, then there may have been the chance that Nan and Hongyok worked on more projects together, or even became more of a long term couple within the industry (company disputes or differences have honestly killed so many different pairs).

Joint Concert, Events, and Fandom Makeup

Source: NanHongyok

Now that we've finished covering Yes or No, I wanted to take a brief moment to talk some stuff related to the fandom, which I've kind of neglected to discuss until now.

Like with Tina and Aom's fan club, it can be really hard to get a good estimate of the number of people in the fandom. However, it similarly seems like there was at least a decent amount (some videos of them on Youtube have over 100k views).

Something that's really interesting is that in 2014, Nan and Hongyok were given the nickname "khu jin inter" or "international khu jin," because they had a large international fanclub. According to them, fans came from places such as China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as English-speaking countries.

Fans were also dedicated- they had signs and personalized lightsticks. In the early days, some of them were too impatient to wait for an official t-shirt to be released by the Thai fan club, so they made their own first. They were also excited to pay for a ticket for a fan trip to Pattaya with Nan and Hongyok- it completely sold out.

Fan-made signs and lightsticks

At times, looking back at all this stuff can be a little bit hard because if Nan and Hongyok wanted to continue to work together (or if they fully had the opportunity to), I think there's a chance that they could've been really successful.

Obviously, it would've depended on what they were comfortable with (especially given that a lot more of their personal life was intertwined than most other ships), but I think if they were catapulted into 2025 and given a more standard series of promotions (or even multiple acting jobs together), I think that they might've managed to go very far. Not all actors/pairs can build an international fanbase even before the premiere of their first project, so looking back on what could have been can be a little bit challenging sometimes.

Nan and Honyok performing together at their couple concert

2014-2015 truly were Nan and Hongyok's peak- not only did Yes or No 2.5 come out, but there was still a decent amount of couple content being released.

In 2014, they had a concert together- "NHY: Journey of Us," which came with some fun performances as well as VTRs showcasing their relationship that was complete with some clips from their time on the show.

They attended official events together, including ones related to the premiere of Captain America and Ender's Game.

Nan's music video

In addition, with the release of an album in 2014 that featured covers from many different AF10 contestants, Nan and Hongyok appeared together in at least one music video. For Nan's rendition of the love song "Let it Be True," the mv featured a surprise love interest which was revealed to be a woman, not a man: Hongyok (guys, you seriously can't make this up)

Unfortunately, however, their momentum as a couple wouldn't last- going into the next few years, it quieted down and wasn't as strong.

Post Yes or No 2.5 Work

Nan and Hongyok at a reunion event in 2018

Because they were signed to different companies, after Yes or No 2.5 Nan and Hongyok gradually went in different directions. They each released songs and appeared in a few different dramas (including ones associated with True4U/TrueID, such as The Miracle [2020] and Wela Nai Kued Kaew [2015]). In 2016, Hongyok also served as a screenwriter for the drama Happiness.

It seems like as they moved on to solo work and had less direct interactions, the CP fanbase kind of shrunk. In addition, because they only worked together on one project, and because some aspects of AF made it harder to access (lack of official subs, etc), I think to a certain extent (at least in the English-speaking community) their ship has kind of faded into obscurity.

From what I've seen, though, I don't think they're on bad terms at all. In 2018, they reunited to perform together at an AF reunion event, much to the delight of old fans, and in 2022, Hongyok went to support Nan at one of her concerts.

In May, Hongyok also posted on Twitter to celebrate the anniversary of Yes or No 2.5, which turns ten years old this year.

Lastly, earlier this month, after a nine year hiatus, TrueVisions officially announced they're bringing AF back in 2026, and (for better or for worse) are planning on producing another season. While I have no idea how it'll go, there's a non-zero chance that another queer ship/CP might form on the show (the nature of history always repeating itself demands it).

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Thank you so much for reading! As always, let me know if anyone notices any mistakes or inaccuracies- I'm hopeful that there still might be some people hanging out on Tumblr who were around back when Nan and Hongyok were a thing :)

In terms of the translations that were used, I made some minor edits to fix spelling/grammar, but nothing major that would change the meaning of what was said.

Speaking of translations, I'm eternally grateful to the youtube channel Mantaray17 for translating so many different clips- it's not an understatement to say that this post wouldn't have be possible without them. Not only did they provide subs for so many moments that happened on the show, but they also translated interviews that Nan and Hongyok had with different reporters. In addition, they also organized all the clips into playlists that were super helpful/easy to access. All in all, I can't shout them out enough- if you're interested in Nan and Hongyok or AF at all, I would totally recommend giving some of their videos a watch.

I also wanted to give a quick shoutout to Ashley Norton's video on The Glee Project, which I watched while taking a break from working on this post. The Glee Project was also a reality show that cast contestants who were either teens or young adults, so her video prompted me go back and think through Nan and Hongyok's situation differently- especially compared to the way that I approached it before.

More posts about the Yes or No films/what was going on in the early-to-mid 2010s: evolutions in Thai GL from 2010 to 2024, Yes or No and marriage equality, & early Thai GL fan culture

More about the history of sapphic representation: Mhom Ped Sawan, director Claire Jirassaya, Club Friday Season 6: Changed, & The Root