When I was Mr. Gay Canada 2019 most people at first assumed it was some sort of beauty pageant, which let’s be honest, wouldn’t likely be something that I would actually win. Not that I don’t feel like I look good, but there are certainly more conventionally attractive gay men out there – guys with better bodies, some with amazing hair and faces… if that was the criteria it would be tough to come out on top with all the good looking options out there! Luckily being Mr. Gay Canada wasn’t mostly about looks though – there was an aspect of taking pride in yourself and taking care of your body, but more focus was on volunteering, activism, presence in the community, public speaking, and so on.
At the Mr. Gay World competition however I did find that some of the other delegates were especially attractive and at the end of it those who I would probably consider to be the three best looking did actually end up as the top three winners, which I doubt was just a coincidence. The fun part though was that everyone got to do some modeling at the finale, which felt like quite the rush to be up in front of a large crowd just doing my best to appear confident in the different things I had to wear, in a portion that really was just about how I looked.
It seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, especially as I had entered my 40’s, but it turned out that it was in a way only the beginning – because this year I actually become an underwear model! 2(X)IST wanted to send me a few pairs of their underwear to wear in some photos, which was quite exciting, but after an unusual year filled with new bad habits that included little exercise and too much junk food I knew I needed to get back on track and fast if I was going to pull this off.
I had one month to get ready so I switched to a keto diet, I started doing cardio in the morning and weights in the afternoon, and I signed up for six Emsculpt sessions at Project Skin MD. That meant going to their clinic and lying down next to a machine that flexed my abs for me… about 20,000 times! My stomach was my main concern with how I was looking so that was a great way to be able to accelerate the progress I’d be able to make in that area in a month.
When it came time to do the photos my efforts had paid off (see the video above) – I had hoped that I might be able to get a six-pack for the first time in my life, but that was a bit too much of a lofty goal for such a short period of time. I did however definitely see a difference in my body and most noticeably in my clothes because I went a notch tighter on my belt and pants/shorts, which had stopped fitting me, were back to being just right.
For the pictures I went to a photo studio owned and operated by photographer Jarrod Mckenna and he took a variety of shots of me in my three favourite pairs of underwear. He really helped bring out my sexy side – which is something that I’ve rarely explored. They made for some great photos which were quite popular with my Instagram followers!
I really felt a great sense of accomplishment after doing this. While I could have just treated being Mr. Gay Canada 2019 and competing in that year’s Mr. Gay World competition as the pinnacle for any modeling aspirations I might have had, I was able to still get the opportunity and put in the work (with some extra help from Project Skin MD) to prove to myself that it’s never too late to go outside of your comfort zone and push yourself to do more than you thought possible for yourself!
Disclaimer: The underwear, Emsculpt treatments, and photographs were all gifted to me by the company owners.