ANTONIO PEDRO ALMIJES. Ο MR GAY EUROPE 2008

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Antonio from Spain is Mr. Gay Europe 2008!
Budapest: It was Antonio Pedro Almijes (19) from Spain who Saturday evening took home the crown of Mr. Gay Europe 2008.
The Mr. Gay Europe competition was supposed to have taken place at The Copacabana beach on the lovely Margit Island in the river Danube, but due to security reasons, the local producers took no chances and relocated the event to a secret venue in Budapest. The Grande finale was hosted the main sponsor; Desiré Dubounet.
20 Delegates from The Canary Islands in the south to Norway and Sweden in the north were all in the battle for the crown. From the 20 Delegates, they were narrowed down to 11 semi finalists: Mr Gay Swim Wear: Kai Thomas Ryen Larsen (Norway) and the online voted The People’s Choice: Barry Meegan from Ireland, The No. 1 Talent was selected by the audience and the award went to Graeme R. Williamson from Northern Ireland. “The Challenge” voted by stylists and photographers to be Mr. Photogenic became Stefan Onland from The Netherlands.
The judges then selected Deyan Kolev (Bulgaria), Dempsey (Gran Canaria), Tomás Gáspás (Hungary) Tom Jones (The United Kingdom), Steve Grech (Malta), Matthew Jones (Wales) and finally as a wild card for best performance in the Grande Finale show the jury chose Antonio Pedro Almijes (Spain). Malta, Bulgaria and Spain went on to a super final, where Spain took home the crown!
The judges were: Dean Nelson, the organizer of Mr Gay Canada and Whistler Winter Pride, Matthias Hilse, advertising and art director representing Germany, Joseph Cselényi, an investment broker representing Hungary, the current Miss Gay Hungary Szilvia Freire, the editor of Cosmopolitan Hungary Patrícia Szabó, Ava Costca, topmodel - New York, and also the TV host Barbara Orosz from Cool TV.
The presenters were Adam Webb and Patricia Piringer and among the show numbers were a samba show by Masquenada and a Hungarian modern folk dance troupe and a magic act by “Ginger”. Performing the official Mr. Gay Europe song “Good Evening Europe” was Birgitte Einarsen and joining in were all the cheerful finalists dancing!
The Delegates themselves chose Lev from Slovenia, Barry from Ireland and Stefan from The Netherlands as Mr Congeniality or as the most sympathetic among the candidates themselves in a rose ceremony. A three way tie like this has never happened at MGE before.
Antonio or Tony as he likes to be called is 19 years old and lives in Madrid. He is a lifeguard, swimming teacher, professional swimmer, model, actor and dancer and enjoys travelling, making friends around the world, going to the cinema, reading, photography and walking through big green landscapes.
When asked why he wanted to be in the Mr. Gay Europe Competition he had this to say:
“I would like to take part in this contest because I love the modelling world, photography, make contacts, meet people and make friends around the world, and I think this contest will open doors for my careers and studies. And over all to give a good viewpoint and show how the gay society is.
I want to be take part because I think I can honestly manage quite well and will be proud to represent my country, as I am a young, hard working, a born fighter, and I get going until I reach my goals and everything I want to do. And I want to be take part to show the gay society a young sporty boy, hard worker and with very clear ideas, with a healthy body and mind and over all, a fighter for the things I want to have in my life!”
After the competition Saturday evening Antonio was congratulated by his fellow competitors. He reflected on the fact that he did not only win the title, but also 19 new friends from all over Europe.
“Winning Mr. Gay Europe is a bit overwhelming, but I am excited and I look forward to do my best in supporting not only my home community, but hopefully I can help other young guys in Europe and making them feel that it is okay to come out of the closet and be gay!”