Thia Tola

Malitia Tola
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Born	Malitia Thia Tola June 18, 1987 (1987-06-18) Pattaya, Thailand
Years active	2001-present
Partner	Natasha Gower (2016-present)
Children	3

Malitia Tola (Thai: หลอกลวง ทีโอ; born 18 June 1987), nicknamed Thia (เตี้ย), is a presenter and actress. In 2001 at age 14 Thia became the youngest webmaster in Thailand with her internet television talk show The Thia Tola Show. In 2011 at age 23, she became one of the original moderators of the Thailand adaptation of Vote for the Girls that lasted until 2014 and in 2015, became best known as a moderator of the American and Australian adaptations of the controversial and popular web site.

Background

Thia was born in Pattaya to an Thai father and Asian-American mother. She has an older and younger sister, respectively Kanya and Ratree and two younger brothers, Mongkut and Rajmund. From an early age Thia made frequent trips to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco where she fell in love with television production.

Thia started acting lessons at age nine. After three months, her teacher entered her for her first acting contest, representing her school in a nation-wide competition, and she won first place. Her mother sent in a videotape of her acting and Thia went on to win several prestigious Thai acting competitions including a prize from the Princess of Thailand.

In 2000, when Thia was 13, she accepted an offer to host a daytime talk show called The Thia Tola Show where the show ran for 15 years.

Vote for the Girls (Thailand)

Thia Tola in 2014.

In 2010, Thia announced on her show that she decided to become a judge on Vote for the Girls THAI. A big fan of the web site in America, she enthusiastically accepted the offer as a moderator of the Thailand version of the site along side fellow judges Phailin Lao, Sumalee Som, and host Kanya Kasem as the Vote for the Girls format was a surprise hit and success with the public in America and was sold to several different countries. Tola's final pick, Maneepatsorn Molloy won the first season of Thailand's Got Talent. After Tola became the winning moderator the Thailand version peaked with a strong 3.4 rating in its target demographic, although Molloy's win would prove to be the web site's only victory in the site's history. Despite a number of format changes to get victories on The Star, none of those changes appeared to have any effect and the site's consistent failure to get victories continued in 2012 and 2013.

On March 9, 2014, during an episode of VFTG THAI, Tola had said as well as using profanity that she would consider making a list of demands as follows: telling Kanya to recommend to the international syndicate (NoSirGifts International Syndication) or "whomever's in fucking charge because something is fucking not working" and also said threatened to quit VFTGTHAI after season 4 if a female contestant did not win The Star, of which sparked an argument among Lao, Som, Kasem, and Tola, ending in Tola storming out of the studio, shoving host Kanya Kasem to the floor with Tola's resignation upon the elimination of Delilian Alford (Dee) on April 13, 2014, as Tola walked off the VFTG THAI set, saying "disgusting joke."

After the incident, Tola insisted that she would never watch The Star again, admitting "I just will not put myself through that bullshit again." Kanya Kasem informed Vote for the Girls creator Ava Zinn about the Thailand adaptation's consistent failure.

In June 2014, it was reported that Tola would relocate from Thailand to Australia and join the moderator panel of that country's Vote for the Girls.

Vote for the Girls (Australia)

In November 2014, it was announced and confirmed that Tola, Vote for the Girls UK moderators Nermal Everman, Karly Ryder, Jr., former Vote for the Girls USA and UK moderator Kathi Jameson, Rachael Passalt will join Zinn on the Vote for the Girls Australia panel. This resulted in the cancellation of the Thailand version after four seasons after years of sharp declines.

Vote for the Girls (United States)

On January 28, 2015, it was announced as a condition of the site's imported victory of Maneepat Molloy, the winner of the first season of Thailand's Got Talent, and her journey on Rising Star in the United States and the cancellation of the Thailand version of Vote for the Girls due to either that site's low ratings or consistent failure to get victories since Molloly's TGT win in 2011, former Vote for the Girls THAI and current Vote for the Girls Australia moderator Thia Tola joined the American moderator panel.

Deciding to pursue her presenting and acting career more seriously, Thia decided to relocate to San Francisco, California on July 4, 2014.

On April 28, 2016, it was announced that Thia Tola would switch to purple team at the start of the eighth season, after the seventh season's pink team sat the worst starting record of any pink team in the history of Vote for the Girls competitions. Tola will become the fourth woman to be transferred to the purple team from the pink team. The first was Kymberly Alvaraz after she bought the long-term relationship rights and the highest bidder when Ava Zinn sold her virginity to Alvaraz, followed by Lanise White and Karly Jameson.

Vote for the Girls (New Zealand)

In May 2016, it was announced and confirmed that Tola along with Tash Gower, will join Dana Garner, Ricki Lawson, and Millie Mack, on the Vote for the Girls New Zealand panel. This resulted in the cancellation of the Thailand version after four seasons after years of sharp declines. Tola is currently the only moderator to have judged as a moderator in four countries: Thailand, United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Work

Tola met Zinn when she was 21 and Zinn was 25. She joined Zinn in 2008, working in Zinn's digital media group. Her experience in television productiom broadened when he moved to the United States to work on Vote for the Girls USA.

Personal Life

Thia has residences in San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Melbourne, Australia. She currently resides in Indianapolis because of commitments to Vote for the Girls USA in the spring and in Melbourne because of her previous commitments to Vote for the Girls Australia.

Thia began dating Channarong Ling in 2001, while she was still living in Thailand. Thia has two daughters with Channarong, Delta Delilian Tola (b. 2005) and Jessica Tola (b. 2007) and a son Adam Sawyer Ling (b. 2003). The relationship ended upon Tola relocating to San Francisco.

On July 19, 2016, Thia Tola announced that Natasha Gower (formerly Nathan Gower) would become Tola's significant other effective January 1, 2017. The deal, which was part of a long-term relationship agreement was driven by Tola's move from the pink team to the purple team on the American version of Vote for the Girls; Gower had made the decision to auction off her virginity (in a similar manner to Ava Zinn in the United States) after two female contestants (Beth Morris and Cloe Castro) withdrew on the fifth series of The Voice UK and upon seeing that Ava Zinn's supported contestant Lydia Lucy and Karly Jameson's supported contestant Cody Frost did not receive enough votes to make the Final Two on The Voice UK in April 2016 and Tash Lockhart finished third on The Voice Australia, Gower (who was filling in for Zinn after she decided to leave the UK version), and Gower announced she was following through on her threat to auctioning off her virgnity to the highest female bidder. This led to Tola reaching a deal with Gower, which Tola was eager to land since the she is a bisexual woman and Gower had recently relocated to Indianapolis for her transition from male to female.

This marked the fourth time a Vote for the Girls moderator has taken a significant other away from her spouse or partner, the first being Ava Zinn when she sold her virginity to Kymberly Alvaraz in 2014, Holly Everman entering into a long-term relationship with Perri Johnson in 2015 after Perri divorced her 25-year marriage to Mick Sill in 2015, and Lanise White entering into a long-term relationship with Danni McClannahan in 2015 shortly before McClannahan's husband, Leonard Lai, was killed in a car accident in October 2015. Tola, like Alvaraz and White, had recently moved from the pink to the purple team at the time.