Mr Gay World

Last updated

Mr Gay World
Formation2009
FounderEric Butter
Type Beauty pageant
Location
  • Worldwide
Membership
18+
Official language
English
OwnerWayne Renzo
Website www.mrgayworld.com

Mr. Gay World is a registered, trademarked annual international competition for gay men, established in 2009. On September 4, 2024, Eric Butter officially announced that Mr. Wayne Renzo from the Philippines has acquired the Mr. Gay World Organization. With this historic transition, Wayne Renzo is now the new owner, ushering in a new chapter for the globally celebrated brand.

Contents

The 2024 Mr Gay World Competition was held in Durham & Tyneside & Northumberland, United Kingdom on August 26, 2024. The reigning Mr Gay World is Paul Carruthers who represented Great Britain.

History

Before there was Mr Gay World, there was IMG Mr Gay International. Brian Merriman (owner of Mr Gay Ireland) and Tore Aasheim (co-owner of Mr Gay Europe) attended the competition with the European delegation. Merriman and Aasheim decided to create their own international competition.[ citation needed ]

Brian Merriman invited Tore Aasheim, Morten Ruda (owner of Mr Gay Norway and co-owner of Mr Gay Europe) and Dean Nelson (owner of Mr Gay Canada) to Dublin, Ireland to plan a brand new international competition. They invited Eric Butter (who is the current President and co-founder of Mr Gay World and Noemi Alberto (owner of Mr Gay Philippines) to what was to become Mr Gay World.

Merriman and Ruda bowed out due to other commitments, and the ownership was divided equally between Aasheim, Nelson and Butter. Both Merriman and Ruda stayed involved in the competition as Directors responsible for finding delegates in Europe and Africa to attend the competitions.[ citation needed ]

After a while Nelson left the competition and left his shares of Mr Gay World to Eric Butter, and later Eric Butter and Tore Aasheim exchanged their shares in Mr Gay Europe and Mr Gay World respectively, making Eric Butter the President and co-founder of Mr Gay World and Tore Aasheim the sole owner of Mr Gay Europe.[ citation needed ]

Media coverage

The event explicitly seeks to highlight discrimination against LGBTI people and provide select positive role models. A number of contestants from a number of countries has faced sanctions for their selection or competition, including Nolan Lewis from India, [1] [2] Taurai Zhanje from Zimbabwe, Robel Hailu from Ethiopia, former Olympian Chavdar Arsov from Bulgaria, Wendelinus Hamutenya from Namibia and Xiao Dai from China. [3] [4]

Mr Gay World is defined as an annual contest for gay men, seeking to establish ambassadors for LGBTQIA+ and human rights, with winners of national contests competing as delegates in a variety of categories. Mr Gay World not a beauty contest and there is no age limit. In an all-inclusive move, Mr Gay World has amended its policy to encompass the male-identifying spectrum within the LGBTQ+ community,” said the organisation in a statement on Tuesday, June 15, 2021*. [5]

Controversy

In 2014, Mr Gay New Zealand, Mr Gay Australia and a sponsoring skincare company all pulled out of the competition claiming 'bullying, poor living conditions, and inappropriate pressure to hook up with other contestants'. Mr Gay World replied claiming that the two contestants had been removed for alcohol abuse and rule breaking. [6]

In 2015, the winner of the competition, Mr Gay Germany Klaus Burkart, stepped down seven months later citing “personal changes,” and was replaced by Mr Gay Hong Kong. [6]

In 2018, Mr Gay World announced that the 2019 competition will move to South Africa from Hong Kong due to prohibition from local authorities. [7]

In November 2021, Mr. Gay World South Africa 2021 Louw Breytenbach resigned; the title was given to South African Runner-up Bonginkosi Ndima, who then resigned in March 2022, [8] [9] and then Mr. Gay World Philippines 2021 Joel Rey Carcasona took over the title Mr. Gay World 2021.

Titleholders

YearCountry/TerritoryMr Gay WorldLocationEntrantsRef.
2009 Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland Max Krzyzanowski Whistler, Canada19
2010 Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa Charl Van Den Berg Oslo, Norway23 [10]
2011 Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa Francois Nel Manila, Philippines23
2012 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Andreas Derleth Johannesburg, South Africa22
2013 Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand Christopher Michael Olwage Antwerp, Belgium25
2014 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom Stuart Hatton Rome, Italy32 [11] [12]
2015 Flag of Germany.svg  Germany Klaus Burkart (Resigned) Knysna, South Africa21 [13] [14]
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong Mass Luciano (Assumed)
2016 Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Roger Gosalbez St. Julian's, Malta24 [15] [16]
2017 Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines John Raspado Madrid & Maspalomas, Spain21 [17] [18]
2018 Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Jordan Paul Bruno Knysna, South Africa21 [19] [20]
2019 Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines John Jeffrey Carlos (Completed) [a] Cape Town, South Africa24 [21] [22]
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Francisco Alvarado (Assumed) [a] [23]
2020 Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Leonard Kodie MacayanSouth Africa | Virtual contest9 [24] [25]
2021 Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa Louw Breytenbach (Resigned)10 [26] [27]
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines Joel Rey Carcasona (Assumed) [28] [29]
2022 Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico José López DuvontCape Town, South Africa8
2023 Flag of Guam.svg  Guam Troy Michael Smith11
2024 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain Paul Carruthers Durham & Tyneside & Northumberland, United Kingdom 11

Country/territory by number of wins

In an extraordinary move, the 2020 finale will be held alongside the 2021 finale, creating an Epic Finale in which two winners will be crowned.

Country/TerritoryTitlesYear
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines 42017, 2019 [a] , 2020, 2021 [b]
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa 32010, 2011, 2021 [c]
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain 22016, 2019 [a]
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2012, 2013
Flag of Guam.svg  Guam 12023
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 2018
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany 2015 [c]
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 2015 [b]
Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico 2022
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 2014
Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland 2009
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain 2024
  1. 1 2 3 4 Originally crowned 1st Runner-Up. Took over the title after the original winner completed his reign.
  2. 1 2 Originally crowned 1st Runner-Up. Took over the title after the original winner resigned.
  3. 1 2 Resigned

Runner-up

Year1st Runner-Up2nd Runner-Up3rd Runner-Up4th Runner-Up5th Runner-Up
2009 Alexis Cespedes
Flag of Paraguay.svg  Paraguay
Pico Velasco Michel
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
Ben Edwards
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Reece Karena
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Darren Bruce
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
2010 Byron Adu
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Rick Dean Twombley
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong
Xindai Muyi
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
Sergio Lara
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Not awarded
2011 Michael Kevin Holtz
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Israel Acevedo
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Leigh Charles
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Aaron Comis
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
2012 Lance Weyer
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
Remy Frejaville
Flag of France.svg  France
Kevin Scott Power
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Thom Goderie
Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
2013 Benjie Vasquez Caraig
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong
Matthew Simmons
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Not awardedNot awarded
2014 Kiriakos Spanos
Flag of Cyprus.svg  Cyprus
Robbie Lawlor
Flag of Ireland.svg  Ireland
Luis Vento
Flag of Venezuela.svg  Venezuela
Bridge Hudson
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong
2015Mass Luciano (Assumed)
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong
Tomi Lappi
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Not awardedNot awarded
2016Chris Krauel
Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
Christian Reyes Lacsamana
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines
Kyle Patrick
Flag of Sint Maarten.svg  Sint Maarten
Rafael Fagundes
Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
2017 Cándido Arteaga
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Raf Van Puymbroeck
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
Marco Tornese
Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland
Alexander Steyn
Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
2018Ricky Devine-White
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Samarpan Maiti
Flag of India.svg  India
Chen Po-Hung
Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Taiwan
João Pedro Carvalho Gonçalves de Oliveira
Flag of Portugal.svg  Portugal
2019Francisco Alvarado
Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
Oliver Pusztai
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
Cjayudhom Samiat
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand
Nick Van Vooren
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
2020Marek Piekarczyk
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland
Vicente Miron
Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
Not awardedNot awarded
2021Joel Rey Carcasona (Former)
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines
Joshuan Aponte
Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico
2022Tony Ardolino
Flag of the United States.svg  United States
Max Appenroth
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
2023David Allwood
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Dion Alexander
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
2024John Bench Ortiz
Flag of the Philippines.svg  Philippines
Poosit Changkaewmanee
Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand

See also

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References

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