Sexy 2009!

ANOTHER PARIS VIDEO SCANDAL!
LINDSEY BACK IN REHAB!
BRITNEY GOES NUTS…AGAIN!

Can we have an honest moment? Headlines like these are like a horrible car accident. Even though we know that it’s useless junk, we simply can’t look away. Every week at the grocery store and every day on afternoon television we just can’t deny that tiny surge of adrenaline that comes from knowing who’s in rehab or who has cellulite. We watch American Idol and hate ourselves for it…but keep right on watching. It’s a countrywide epidemic: we just seem to live for the latest juicy nugget from Us Magazine, perezhilton.com and Entertainment Tonight. ‘Serious’ and ‘valid’ media outlets aren’t above taking the sleazy, tabloid ride either. Tom Cruise gets wacky on Oprah’s couch and it’s playing hourly on CNN Headline News.

Smoking Bans and Decrepit Coliseums? Who cares? We want to know where Brangelina is this week, and, if in some blissful utopia, we could see a photo of Brangelina together with TomKat, our lives would finally be worth living. These are the headlines that Americans care about.

The tipping point for me—when I decided to investigate this nationwide phenomenon at a local level— was last year’s People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue (Matt Damon ‘won’ last year by the way...his precedessor for 2009? Hugh Jackman). As a student of what Corpus Christi is all about, I immediately asked myself, “Where do Corpus Christians turn for a local celebrity fix? Who are the people that always turn heads when they walk into a room (even if there are not paparazzi hiding in the plants to get a candid shot of them)?” In short, “WHO ARE CORPUS CHRISTI’S SEXIEST PEOPLE?”

Using the show and internet-based voting, I set out on a two month journey to find the answers to these questions realizing I was on the right track when I immediately received over 100 nominees. I quickly learned that even here in the Sparkling City by the Sea, we’re not immune to the instant celebrity provided by reality shows and tabloid exposes: everyone wants to be a celebrity. People nominated themselves. People asked friends to nominate them without taking the nomination request off the bottom of the email. People sent in Glamour Shots from 1997. I knew then it was going to be a very crazy ride.

In addition to sexy, though, I was curious about celebrity so I used a simple criterion for all nominees: Would most people know them by name or face if they were in this contest? If so, they were indeed a ‘celebrity’ and could advance into the contest.

According to the online voters and nominators, there are tons of local Britney Spears and George Clooneys and they all began to fit into general, broad categories. Leading the pack were our local news reporters and anchors, which makes sense since they are true television figures that we choose to bring into our homes day after day. Joe Gazin vs. Lee Sausley vs. Eric Von Wade. Bianca Castro vs. Crystal George vs. Katia Uriarte. Sure you trust them to bring you the latest local news, but had you ever asked yourself: which is sexiest? If you could cozy up to Katia Uriarte or Barbi Leo in the KIII newsroom, which would you pick?

Our locally-based elected officials also scored big. I didn’t realize people went to city council meetings to gaze into the eyes of Mike Hummell, John Marez and Mike McCutcheon (all nominated). Both of our State Representatives were nominated. Can Juan Garcia and Solomon Ortiz, Jr., effectively introduce legislation to their fellow representatives when their audience is swooning from their picture-perfect hairstyles?

Prominent local business leaders also took center stage including Freddie Records VP Freddie Martinez, Jr., House of Rock co-owner Casey Lain, and Carol Scott, Co-owner (owner?) of Kailo Communications.

It took five rounds of American Idol-style weekly eliminations to parse the field from 70 to the top 3 finalists. There were ties. There were upsets. There were twists and surprises. There were newsroom catfights across the city, but 7000+ votes later with 30,000 website visits we have a very thorough and democratically-produced answer. I don’t know if the paparazzi will begin huddling in Barbi Leo’s landscaping hoping to snap a photo of her taking out the trash or if we’ll see an FYI headline someday that says ERIC VON WADE PLASTIC SURGERY SHOCKER, but it’s comforting to know that we don’t have to rely on Hollywood for local Hollywood-caliber celebrity and great looks.

For the full story go to keysweekendmagazine.com

2008's Winners:
SEXIEST MAN - RUBEN BONILLA
SEXIEST WOMAN - BARBI LEO
SEXIEST ANCHORMAN - ERIC VON WADE, KZTV
SEXIEST WEATHERMAN - DAVE MAZZA, KZTV
SEXIEST WEATHERWOMAN - NADIA TORRES, KORO
SEXIEST MOUSTACHE - ANGEL COVARRUBIAS, KORO
SEXIEST CITY COUNCILMAN - MIKE HUMMELL
SEXIEST SPORTSCASTER - SEAN HOREJS, KRIS
SEXIEST RAY - NICK LINDBERG
SEXIEST HOOK - TWIST! NOT A PLAYER! MANAGEMENT! JJ GOTTSCH
SEXIEST REPORTER - LAUREN WILLIAMSON, KRIS
SEXIEST DISC JOCKEY - GINO FLORES, Z95
SEXIEST LOCAL MUSICIAN - MATT HOLE, MATT HOLE AND THE HOT ROD GANG