Mr Gay UK to represent Europe at Mr Gay World

Mr Gay UK, Stuart Hatton, has been chosen to represent Europe at this year’s Mr Gay World competition.

Hatton, 28, a model and dance teacher from South Shields, was crowned Mr Gay UK last year, and came third in the Mr Gay Europe competition last month (July).

The upcoming Mr Gay World competition will take place in Rome from August 24 to September 1, and will put contestants from 32 different countries through a series of challenges, including modelling rounds, an art task and a test on their gay rights and equality knowledge.

Explaining why he was chosen to represent Europe despite missing out on victory at the Mr Gay Europe competition, Hatton told his local newspaper The Shields Gazette: “I was contacted the day after I returned from Mr Gay Europe by the people who organise Mr Gay World. It’s a different organisation altogether, and it chooses delegates to represent the different countries.”

“They said they’d been really impressed with me at Europe, and I think it’s because, even though I didn’t win overall, I won the most individual challenges,” Hatton continued.

“Winning would be absolutely amazing, but I can’t even get my head around the idea just yet. Being chosen to represent not only my country, but the whole of Europe is such a huge achievement, and I just can’t believe it’s happening.”

Voting for the competition is open to the public here.

Meanwhile, at the start of this year, the readers of a French online gay magazine voted Tom Daley the sexiest man of 2013 – click here to find out more.

Photograph of Stuart Hatton courtesy of Darren Irwin www.darrenirwin.com.