The Dad Offering $440K for Someone to Marry His Daughter Wants People to Stop Calling

Last weekend, a guy from Thailand named Anont Rotthong posted a Facebook ad offering $440K and a durian empire to anyone who’d marry his 26-year-old daughter. After the post was covered by dozens of media outlets, including VICE, the propositions started flooding in.

Channel News Asia reports that over 10,000 people applied for the position, prompting Anont to dial up the screening process, announcing that contenders would have to pass an additional three-month test, working on one of his durian farms. Suitors wouldn't get paid, he said, describing the free labour camp as a "tournament."

“Bring lots of clothes, you will be working for three months. If more than two suitors remain after that, you’ll work for three more months until only one man is left. That’s the partner I want for my daughter,” he wrote on Facebook, according to a translation by Coconuts Bangkok.

But now he’s rescinded on that part of the challenge, saying that the whole thing has got completely out of hand. “Interested sons-in-law, please stop calling me. I’m dying because my phone has been ringing off the hook for 24 hours a day. Let me rest and sleep,” he wrote on Facebook and deleted his previous post about the "tournament."

His daughter, Kansita, also commented that she'd initially found her dad's post amusing, but the level of attention she'd received was intimidating.

As far as we know the initial part of the challenge still stands, but not the farm work. So any potential son in law still needs to be a non-gambling man between the ages of 26 and 40 with a deep understanding of durian cultivation so they can take over the farms. Most importantly though, they will need to love Kansita. Then, if a match is found, the winner will receive 10 million baht (about $444,000 AUD), two vehicles, a house, two durian markets, and the aforementioned young woman's hand in marriage.

So if you want a bunch of money and you’re interested in growing some disturbingly smelly fruits—and you’re not too hung up on, you know, ethics—you can still apply.