The quarrels and catfights often seen in reality TV shows got awfully physical in one incident during the fourth season of Asian modelling contest Supermodelme. Eventual winner Katherine Rigby of Hong Kong suffered a punch in the head from China's Liu Ying that left her feeling giddy for days, she says.

Even in a competition that seems to prefer the pan-Asian look, Rigby, 23, always thought of Liu, 26, as a key rival.

"From the start, I was competing with Liu all the time. I was just looking at her and aiming to attack her all the time," the British-Chinese model says with a laugh.

She emerged as winner of Supermodelme: Femme Fatale in the last episode that aired last night on Diva Universal (StarHub TV Channel 522) and walked away with $35,000 in cash.

Now that the competition is over, Liu believes that she might have unintentionally hurt Rigby when they were paired for a challenge in which the models had to appear to fight one another for a photo shoot.

During filming, Liu had dismissed Rigby for exaggerating the extent of her injury.

"When she said she had a concussion during the competition, I was like, 'Whatever, Katherine'," says Liu, who emerged as the second runner-up.

The first runner-up was Sasha Quahe, 20, who was born here to a Chinese-Singaporean father and Australian mother.

Rigby admits she can get extremely competitive.

She says that she entered the competition with a determination to win.

"At the beginning, I was aiming to be the winner. But in the middle, I thought 'You know what, just have fun and I don't care'. I was here to gain experience, I just wanted to build my portfolio. But towards the end, I wanted to win again. Especially when competing with the other girls, you want to win this competition so bad."

She also used to see other professional models as rivals but she has relaxed a little.

"There are a lot of opportunities in Hong Kong, so I don't have to compete every time with the other models. I treat them as my friends and I tell them good luck for their castings," the Hong Kong-based model adds. She also feels that her ability to speak Cantonese and Mandarin is an advantage.

Rigby, who declines to talk about her family, started modelling at the age of 14 and had mainly done commercials. She decided to join the competition to gain more experience and build her portfolio, especially in high fashion photo shoots.

If modelling does not work out for her, she says she would want to put her keen sense of smell to use, by developing perfumes or tasting wines.

While Liu says she would like to be a diving instructor after her modelling days, she sounds like she is a feisty competitor who will not give up easily.

In Supermodelme, not only was she just one of three among the 12 finalists who did not appear pan-Asian, she was also the oldest contestant and is a mother to boot.

"Everyone grows old but you can choose how you grow old. I have a family, I have a child, yet I'm still competing with the others on the same stage. I'm very proud of my courage and experience.

"Everybody has different standards of beauty. I'm proud to be Chinese," says Liu, a Beijing Union University graduate. Her husband, who used to be a fitness model, and their families helped take care of her two-year-old daughter while she took part in the competition.

A model since she was 14, she joined the competition to relaunch her career after a four-year hiatus.

She says the heaviest she was after giving birth was 86kg. She took almost a year to lose the 25kg she had put on after giving birth.

When asked whether she felt beautiful when she weighed 86kg, Liu says: "I didn't think about my size so much at that time because when my baby was born, I was just in love with her.

"I was very focused on myself but when I became a mother, I thought, 'Wow, there's actually something more important in this world than myself and that is my daughter.'"

Now signed to Hong Kong agency Models International, she says she is trying to strike a balance between work and family. But she will not be giving up her career anytime soon.

"I believe I'll be happy doing something I'm passionate about and this is also the best for my daughter. She needs a mother who pursues her dreams to set a good example for her."

The finale of Supermodelme: Femme Fatale airs on Channel 5 tomorrow at 10.30pm.

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