Is it possible to pity Sorrayuth?

Eyes turn green with envy when they fall upon TV news-talk host Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda, and not just because Praew magazine set him up with 12 beautiful actresses for its latest edition. In terms of finances, Sorrayuth’s two firms – Raisom and Chadtoi Chadkam – recorded a combined net profit of Bt274 million last year, which was Bt90 million more than they banked the year previous.
Apparently that little matter of embezzlement allegations filed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission have had no effect whatever on Raisom’s profits. Sorrayuth vows in Praew to fight the outstanding charges and prove that neither he nor anyone in his employ rigged advertising earnings, as alleged.
He acknowledges that a lot of cynics wanted him to withdraw from public view while the case is pending, but “I’d like to stay and prove them wrong. They may have put a lot of pressure on me, but I can withstand the pressure. There’s no problem about that.”
Does he foresee the day he calls it quits on the TV show? Sorrayuth reckons he’ll get bored and retire someday – and it could be in the near future because he has everything he wants, but right now working is a way of life for him, and without it he’d feel “lifeless”.
The stats back him up: Sorrayuth has taken just one day off in his 11 years on free TV. “I didn’t work on the day of the coup in 2006. Even after Channel 3 was set on fire [during a red-shirt protest], I still recorded my programme from home every day,” he says. The boss bugs him to take leave, but he worries that show’s quality would suffer. “It’s difficult doing a three-hour morning show, and I have no idea how long it would take someone to prepare to take over.”
The man who was once proudly called himself kammakorn kaow (journalist worker) doesn’t deny he’s become ridiculously wealthy at it. “It’d be unusual to say I’m not rich with my programmes getting such good ratings.” But he doesn’t work for the money anymore. “I just enjoy working – otherwise I wouldn’t do it. If I were crazy about money, I would have invested in the stock market and gold, but I don’t want that.”
Anyway, Sorrayuth says, people shouldn’t judge him on the basis of his wealth, because he’s been through “a lot” – not counting his punishing schedule. Five days a week he wakes up at 3am, goes to the station and spends 10 minutes in makeup for the morning show.
At 11am after his news-talk show he’s meeting any guests who might have popped in and then has a snooze until 3pm before prepping for the afternoon show. His evenings at home are usually spent reading or playing with his dogs. And he goes to bed at 1am – for a mere two hours’ kip.
Maybe people will be a little less envious after reading that, even if he is his own boss and rolling in dough.