ABOVE: Antoni Porowski, photo via Porowski’s Facebook page.
Antoni Porowski of Netflix’s “Queer Eye” has been voted the “Sexiest Reality Star” by readers of People magazine.
As part of its annual poll, the magazine breaks down contenders into multiple categories, and has been revealing the name of this year’s winners, one a day, for the past week. The final announcement, naming singer John Legend as 2019’s “Sexiest Man,” was made on Tuesday’s episode of “The Voice.” Legend is a celebrity judge on the show.
People has been naming a “Sexiest Man Alive” since 1985, typically including only celebrities as contenders. Mel Gibson was the first winner; subsequent “Sexiest Men” have included Richard Gere, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, George Clooney, and Bradley Cooper, with British actor Idris Elba taking the prize last year.
Of the men so named, only four – John F. Kennedy Jr., Adam Levine, David Beckham and Blake Shelton – have been non-actors, until Legend’s win this year (though the singer has been known to act, most notably in Damien Chazelle’s “La-La Land” and last year’s acclaimed live television production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” for which his performance snagged an Emmy nomination).
The Candian-born Porowski, who prefers not to label his sexuality and says he considers himself “a little more fluid along the spectrum,” is the food and wine expert on “Queer Eye.” He took the top slot in the “Sexiest Reality Star” category over a list of contenders that included “Air Force” Mike Johnson and Tyler Cameron from “The Bachelorette,” and “Vanderpump Rules” star Tom Sandoval.
People’s readers voted on several “sexiest” categories, with other winners including Prince Harry (Sexiest Dad), Trevor Noah (Sexiest Funny Guy), Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors (Sexiest Athlete), and Henry Golding (Sexiest Funky Fashion Sense).
Legend, who is featured on the latest cover of the magazine, posted a Twitter message saying he was ‘perplexed’ to come out on top. The tweet featured a photo of him from 1995 alongside a pic of last year’s winner, Elba.
Legend’s tweet said, “1995 John would be very perplexed to be following 2018 @IdrisElba as #SexiestManAlive. Hell, 2019 John is about as equally perplexed but thank you @People for finding me sexy. I’ll take it.”
Legend’s wife, Chrissy Teigen, has gotten over 150k likes for her tweet,“My secret is out. I have fulfilled my dream of having boned @people’s sexiest man alive!! an honor!!”
Porowski has been low-key in his response to the honor, simply posting a short message as an Instagram “story” thanking readers for voting for him.
