Woody can be merciless in inflicting his self-styled “60-day Challenge” on the chubby. Chalermpon “Jack Fan Chan” Thikampornteerawong, his sidekick on the morning chat show “Tuen Mah Kui” (“Wake Up and Talk”), was his first victim – and quite reluctant, since he owed his fame to his girth. A decade earlier Jack had been the bulbous child bully in the hit movie “Fan Chan” (“My Girl”).

He wasn’t “Fan Chan” anymore, Woody insisted – he was just plain fat. So, under threat of losing his job if he didn’t accept the challenge, Jack went to work on his high cholesterol and high blood pressure and a passion for sweets that had rendered him diabetic. His exercise regime was torture for him and torture to watch, but he managed to drop from 126 kilograms to just under 100.

With Jack skeletonised, Woody turned his attention to actor-singer Pisanu “Boy” Nimsakul, who was actually quite svelte but wanted to get those six-pack abs that make the girls swoon. Woody’s “victims” were soon volunteering for the treatment. TV host Surivipa “Mam” Kultangwattana, politely referred to as “jolly”, dragged along her husband, Robert Poonpipat.

The latest recruit undergoing the challenge is Panadda “Boom” Wongphudee, who’s put on 20kg since she was Miss Thailand, the result of her metabolism-wrecking workaholic lifestyle and poor eating habits. Boom is no dummy being talked into a weight-loss spectacle – she has a PhD from Rangsit University and works as a lecturer.

She says she doesn’t care about people calling fat because her 100kg husband still loves her, and he used to be a personal fitness trainer. He once assured her she didn’t need to work out, saying if he wants to touch a well-muscled arm, he’s got two of his own. And anyway, Boom points out, her brain makes up for whatever she might lack in trim beauty.

Boom says slimming clinics often ask her to be their presenter – looking for those “before and after” pictures, no doubt – but she only became interested in slimming after seeing how happy Jack and Mam Surivipa were when they successfully completed Woody’s challenge. “I want to be able to smile like they do,” she says.

Rubbing his hands with glee, Woody has vowed to get Boom back into beauty-queen shape in no time. She currently weighs 77kg and Woody has given her to goal of dropping 10kg in 60 days, coached by his own on-air trainer. Boom notes that she actually weighed 62 or 63kg when she was a beauty queen, but the trainer reckons that’s not doable within two months, at least not in a healthy way.

Woody has “capped” the challenge by ordering Boom not to wear her Miss Thailand crown until she’s finished, which adds incentive, since she’ll have to turn down paid public appearances where the crown is required.

And finally, you are hereby warned: Woody says that, once Boom completes her mission, he’ll be going after “non-celebrities”.