The High Street chain launched the ‘Next Model’ competition to find a future catwalk star and invited members of the public to vote for their favourite contestant. But online pranksters noticed the unlikely bid of Roland Bunce, 24, a chubby computer engineer from Belfast.
An internet campaign to support his bid went ‘viral’ and Roland beat 5,000 other contestants to the top spot. He notched up a staggering 66,000 Facebook ‘Likes’ – compared to just 89 for the stunning blonde in second place.
Roland is now through to the final round of the competition, where an expert judging panel will select a winner from the top 250 entrants. The winner of the competition will be awarded £2,000 Next vouchers, a photoshoot and an introduction to a modelling agency.
4 comments:
I understand that he has pulled out of the competition. He was getting some horrible abuse and even death threats. He said it just wasn't worth it.
Here's the link:
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/woman/fashion-beauty/roland-bunce-quits-model-race-after-abuse-16020006.html
The only decent thing Next can do now, in my opinion, is to cancel the competition. Nobody should benefit from the fact the winner favourite was bullied and threatened into quitting.
Thanks for the info, Steve.
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