By IAN YEE
alltherage@thestar.com.my

IF you’re going to sign yourself up for a reality TV series, you’ve gotta expect to get trolled, right? That’s just the way the Internet works.

All you’re left to do, says Asia’s Next Top Model (ANTM) finalist Melissa Th’ng (pic), is learn to deal with it.

“It’s a real cliche – ‘don’t worry what other people think about you’ – but that’s really what you have to do,” she said.

“It’s hard, but I just focus on the positive. If someone tells me I’m not tall enough to be a model, but I’m a nice person, that’s cool. We can be friends.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t often the case when Th’ng was on ANTM. When she initially auditioned on a friend’s recommendation, she didn’t really think she’d get too far. Next thing you know, she’s on the show getting a rough deal by – of all people – the Malaysian audience.

“They were saying I wasn’t pretty enough, I wasn’t skinny enough, I wasn’t tall enough. They were saying ‘oh my god, I can’t believe she’s representing Malaysia’.

“And that’s just based on their first impression! They didn’t know the real me, or how hard I worked. I had the least experience out of all the girls – I literally had zero modelling experience – and I still made it to the top seven,” said the 22-year-old mass communications student.

Despite the negativity towards her on the Internet, Th’ng resolved to “extend the definition of beauty” beyond the typical model look.

“I wanted girls out there to think ‘if she can be considered pretty, then so can I’,” said Th’ng.

Some of her critics on the Internet would probably say the same thing, but with a more sarcastic inflection.

“I once posted a vlog about what it really takes to be pretty, and on the comments of that video itself, there were people talking about how I wasn’t pretty at all!” said Th’ng with a laugh. “That’s how mean people can be on social media.”

But it really doesn’t matter whether you’re getting trolled because you’re a finalist on a reality series, or because you’re you and some people just don’t like it.

Bullying is bullying, and after her experience with it while on ANTM, Th’ng’s advice for victims is to learn to love yourself.

“You can’t control what people say, especially with social media these days. All you can do is change how you feel about it.

“I used to try to prove all these people wrong, but after a while, it just didn’t make sense, because you can’t keep doing it all the time. It’s just too draining. You just have to accept and be comfortable with the way you are.”

If you’ve been a victim of bullying, go to RAGEAgainstBullying.com for support and resources. R.AGE Against Bullying is supported by UNICEF, Befrienders, Childline Malaysia, Help International School, StarRFM and Churp Churp. YES is the telco sponsor.