Axle Whitehead (pictured) has been crowned the 22nd annual CLEO Bachelor of the Year. The 28-year-old from Warrnambool in Victoria stood out from a field of sports stars, actors, environmentalists, pilots and winemakers.
Channel [V]’s adorable presenter, Danny Clayton, and So You Think You Can Dance choreographer Nacho Pop were close runners-up for the hotly contested title.
“I’m incredibly excited to announce that Axle Whitehead is the most eligible man in Australia for 2009,” said CLEO editor-in-chief Sarah Oakes. “Axle has the perfect combination of good looks, charm, talent and charisma. The CLEO readers have spoken! And I think they’ve made a fantastic choice.”
A panel of celebrity judges, including Erika Heynatz, Sami Lukis, Lyndsey Rodrigues, Lizzy Lovette, Bianca Dye, and Kathryn Eisman, made the final call on the winner after taking into consideration the number of votes Bachelors received through online polling by CLEO readers.
Danny Clayton was awarded 2nd prize and Nacho Pop took out 3rd prize. The CLEO hearts prize, which is voted by CLEO staff, was awarded to Bondi Rescue’s Tom Bunting.
Aside from the prestige that has seen past winners go on to date supermodels (Andy Lee, 2007) and star in Hollywood blockbusters (Eric Bana, 1996), the CLEO Bachelor of the Year winner also takes home $10,000 in cash with the runners-up walking away with over $2,000 in prizes.
For more information about the bachelors visit www.cleo.com.au