List of Manhunt International Winners

 

In this blog we will cover Manhunt International the last of our four grand slam international male pageants. We will tell you how and where it started and we’ll go thru the list of winners. We will display the results in a bar chart after to show which countries rank highest and how other winning countries compare.

Manhunt is an international male beauty pageant which began in 1993 though the roots of the pageant go back a few years more to 1998 when one single national preliminary was held in Singapore. Alex Liu, pageant director of Metromedia Singapore decided to stage the first male model contest in Singapore announcing a “Manhunt.” The project was conceived by Metromedia Singapre and Procon Leisure International. 

 

It was established as Manhunt International in 1993, when Rosko Dickinson of Australia and Alex Liu of Singapore joined forces with a dream to offer the men of the world a platform to show case their talent. The first ever Manhunt International World Final was held in Australia in 1993. In 1994, the pageant remained in Australia’s Gold Coast. Rosko Dickinson and Alex Liu remained co-owners and equal partners of Manhunt International for twenty five years until Alex Liu sadly passed away in January 2018.

Manhunt International is the world’s first and recognized as the most prestigious of all pageants and competitions for men. Besides being the longest running international male pageant, it is known as the worldwide search for the best male model from each country.

Manhunt International is organized to promote new faces for the male modeling and fashion industry. The men that enter Manhunt International are also encouraged to become role models and good corporate citizens for younger people to look up to.

The contest organized in a macho way with outdoor activities, thrilling events, public presentations, talent fun routines and even a chance to meet and impress the ladies. When  it began in 1993, Manhunt International had a unique feature, it had an all-woman panel of jury, who represent women from all walks of life, appreciating the qualities in men. With the changing times, in 2001 the rules changed to also include some male judges. This also gives the men their chance to voice their views on what makes the best male model. For the male models, it brings unity promoting spontaneity and builds a kind of brotherhood among them.

The Manhunt competition is staged in two rounds, preliminary and final. During the preliminary round, the contestants are judged in national costume, swimwear, evening wear and fashion wear. The contestants with highest scores are named as Top 16 finalists, from which the judges determine the winner and the runners up. 

During the pageant final, several other awards also given beside the ultimate title of Manhunt International. These are Best in National Costume, Best Runway Model, Mister Photogenic, Mister Friendship, Mister Personality, Mister Physique and Mister Popularity. Mister Popularity is a special award voted by the public via social media. The other much sought after awards are Best Runway Model, Best Commercial Model and Best Fashion Model.

Contestants are judged on their Catwalk and Runway Skills, Photogenic Ability, Physical Attributes and Personality.

Catwalk and Runway Skills, is where they display their ability to carry clothes they wear on stage, their style, their stage presence and self-confidence.

Photogenic Ability, is where they present themselves in front of top photographers and pose for cameras. They should be agile, versatile and comfortable in front of the camera. They should be able to project their personality in front of the cameras for magazines' fashion pages and press advertisements.

Physical Attributes is how they should have a well-proportioned body. This is not a search for a body builder with a big physique or muscle man. A lean, well-toned and healthy body is what this pageant looks for.

Personality, is just how  they should have an excellent disposition with positive attitudes, polite, good communication skills and friendly in nature, as all Manhunt International winners will also become good role models and ambassadors of their countries and for Manhunt International.

We are about to begin with our winner’s list, but please take note that in this listing, we are only taking into account the pageant year, the pageant winner, the country of origin, the continent the country belongs to, the place the contest was held, and the number of countries who participated that year. No ranking was given for runner-up placements.  

We begin with 1993. Thomas Sasse, a German model from Berlin was the first winner of Manhunt International. The pageant was hosted in Gold Coast Australia and twenty four countries participated.

The next year, Nikos Papadakis, a Greek Model and television presenter from the island of Crete was voted Manhunt International 1994. The pageant was held in Gold Coast, Australiam the second time and twenty four countries competed.

In 1995,  Albe Geldenhuys from South Africa stole the judges hearts when the contest was held in Singapore with thirty five competing countries.

 Jason Erceg of New Zealand was crowned Manhunt International 1997 winner. The contest was likewise held in Singapore with thirty eight participating countries.

Peter Eriksen won the Manhunt International 1998 title for Sweden. The contest was held in Gold Coast, Australia the third time and thirty four countries joined that year.

In 1999, Ernesto Calzadilla from Caracas, Venezuela became the sixth Manhunt International winner, the first from Latin America. The pageant was held in Manila, Philippines, forty three countries participated.

Brett Wilson of Melbourne, Australia wooed the judges to win the title of Manhunt International 2000. Thirty three countries competed in that year in Singapore.

In 2001, Rajeev Singh finally brought home the prestigious title of Mahunt International for India. The pageant was held in Beijing, China and forty three countries competed.

In 2002, the judges picked Fabrice Wattez of France for the title of Manhunt Internationanl. The pageant was held in Shanghai, China and forty six countries battled for the title in that year.

In 2005, Tolgahan Sayisman from Istanbul, Turkey is the second Manhunt International from the Mediterranean region. He won the crown in busan, South Korea, among forty eight contenders.

Jaime Augusto Mayol from the United States is the Manhunt International 2006 winner. The pageant was held in Jinjiang, China with fifty three contestants.

In 2007 Jeffrey Zheng Yu Guang from China  became the first Manhunt International winner from the Far East. The contest was hosted in Gangwon, South Korea and forty eight countries took part.

In 2008 Abdelmoumen El Maghraouy of Morocco  became the second African Manhunt International winner and the first Arab winner in the contest’s history. The pageant was held in Seoul, South Korea with forty seven countries in competition.

In 2010, Peter Menky of Slovak Republic is our Manhunt International winner. The contest was held in Taichung, Taiwan with fifty official candidates.

In 2011, Chen Jian Feng claimed the distinction of being the second winner from China to be Manhunt International. China is the first country to win the Manhunt International competition twice. The first Chinese was Jeffrey Zheng in 2007. The competition was held in Seoul, South Korea with forty eight entrants.

2012 was the year June Macasaet clinched the title which long eluded the pageant loving  country of the Philippines. The show took place in Bangkok, Thailand with fity three participants. He also has the distinction of being the longest reigning titleholder as the next pageant was held only after four years.

After a lapse of four years, Patrik Sjoo of Sweden was proclaimed Manhunt International 2016 winner. Held in Shenzhen, China, forty three countries came to compete.

The following year, Vietnam's Tinh Ngoc Truong emerged as the winner of the 2017 Manhunt International Competition held in Bangkok, Thailand. Thirty seven countries joined the competition that year.

In 2018, Vicent Llorach of Spain, became the 19th winner of Manhunt International that was held in the beautiful Gold Coast, Australia—the birthplace of Manhunt International. Twenty eight countries came for the competition.

Paul Luzineau of the Netherlands is the reigning Manhunt International 2020. The contest returned to the Philippines for the second time with thirty six international contestants.

As is customary, we crunched the numbers, and we present the results in a bar chart for visualization and ease of understanding.  Now, let’s see what those data revealed.

As of 2020, the Manhunt International title has been awarded twenty times since its inception in 1993. Two countries have received the title more than once. China and Sweden won the title twice.

We have divided the countries into five continents namely Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Using the data set from 1993 to 2020, it appears that all winners are represented from these continents. Among the four grand slam male pageants which include Mister World, Mister International and Men Universe Model, Manhunt International is the only one with winners coming from all five continents. Of the twenty winners, eight are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Americas, two from Africa and two from Oceania.

This chart illustrates that the Manhunt International pageant, has the most number of winners among the grand slam pageants, it being the first and longest running male pageant. Unlike the other three grand slam pageants, where the results are skewed toward the continent where the pageant originated from, Manhunt International has widespread roster of winners where all five continents represented.

That rounds up our Grand Slam Mister Pageants Winners List. If you haven't read the other three pageants winners list, you can catch them on the posts immediately before this.