Mr Gay UK was a British annual beauty contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay nightclubs with a grand final usually at a gay venue. It began in 1982 as "Mr Hardware" (named after a fragrance) designed to promote a gay mail order company. The event, held in the Heaven nightclub, was filmed by the BBC as part of a documentary entitled Something For the Ladies.
In 1984, the competition name was changed to Mr Gay UK.[1][2] Since then, the event has been recorded for video release (1993), featured on a Channel 4 series, Passengers (1994) and the event itself was broadcast on Five in 1998 and 1999.
The competition's website has not been updated since 2014 and no winners are listed after 2013.[3]
- ^ Pidd, Helen (1 September 2007). "Soldiers and a sailor in fight to be Mr Gay UK". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 October 2007.
- ^ Richard Conrad Glover (30 September 1988). "Gay UK Alive And Kicking". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). p. 15.
- ^ "Past Winners". Mr Gay UK. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2023.