Mr Gay UK

Mr Gay UK is a British annual beauty contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay nightclubs with a grand final usually at a gay venue. The contests is owned and promoted by gay entrepreneur William Melyvn Alt. Notably 2011's Mr Gay UK Sam Mcdonald of Manchester.

It began in 1982 as "Mr Hardware" (named after a fragrance) designed to promote a gay mail order company. The event, held in the Heaven nightclub, was filmed by the BBC as part of a documentary entitled Something For the Ladies.

In 1984, the competition name was changed to Mr Gay UK. Since then, the event has been recorded for video release (1993), featured on a Channel 4 series, Passengers (1994) and the event itself was broadcast on Five in 1998 and 1999.

In 2008 the first winner of the contest, Anthony Morley, was convicted of murder and cannibalism.

Since 2005, the winner has gone on to represent the UK in Mr Gay Europe. No contest was held in 2009, 2010, and 2014.

As with previous years, heats for the 2011 contest were held in various gay venues across the country. Participants could apply in advance directly with the venue, or just turn up on the evening and complete an application form. In total there are 14 finalists from the heats that took place between September and October 2011.

Voting In this year the rules and the feeling of the competition were changed. A public vore was put into place and contestants were expected to campaign for votes in any way they could. Each finalist could receive votes through a premium rate phone and text number, a 'like' on their individual Facebook page and a Twitter and E-mail vote accessible from the main Mr Gay UK website. Voting ended on 29 November 2011 and the five finalists were announced. They were Greg Lumley - Middlesbrough, Charlie Drummond - Bristol, John Wheeldon - Leeds, Nik Chapman - Newcastle and Samuel Kneen - Cardiff, who eventually went on to win the competition

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