(Blogmensgo, gay blog August 19, 2017) Matt Rood, aged 37, from England was elected the new Mister Gay Europe 2017 in Stockholm on August 5, 2017 during Stockholm Pride. He succeeds Raf Van Puymbroeck from Belgium who had won the title in 2016.

Matt Rood won the title before Stephen Lehane (24) from Ireland, Steven Whyte (39) from Scotland and Ben Brown from Wales.

Matt Rood, Mister Gay Europe 2017: Charming and convincing. ©mrgayeurope.com

Victory: Somewhat surprising

Out of a theoretical maximum of 1200 points, Matt scored 815 although the Internet voters, whose votes counted for 20%, had placed him on rank 4 only. They had ranked Steven Whyte from Scotland first.

In the following presentation video, Matt explains that he advocates adoption rights for same-sex couples and foster families, particularly because England is lacking about 9000 spots for children in foster families.

Brawn and brains

He does not hesitate to use his own money for the good causes he supports, which particularly impressed Tore Aasheim, president of Mister Gay Europe.

Matt won in the My Project and Social Media categories and came in second in the photo shooting and the sports competition. Actually, the German candidate won the two latter competitions.

Only 11 competitors participated in the competition this year. Several countries, such as Spain, Hungary and France, were not present this year.

Mister Gay Europe 2018 in Poland

This year, Kacper Sobieralski, aged 26, the current Mister Gay Poland 2017 represented Poland, and next year’s edition of the Mister Gay Europe competition will be held in Poland from August 4 to 12.

Currently, we do not know the city of next year’s competition yet but this information is supposed to be spread soon.

Claiming rights

Why not in a more gay-friendly country than Poland? Simply because there is so much progress still to be made in countries like Poland before same-sex couples and families will be recognized there. Based on a press release, solidarity with these countries is exactly the reason for this decision.

In any case: Congratulations to Matt Rood for his victory – and for his big heart, too.

Frank-S / MensGo
Main source: Mister Gay Europe, August 5, 2017.