People Magazine may think Paul Rudd is the sexist man alive, but the 52-year-old reckons some people would be surprised by that.
"I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I'd been picked for this, they would say, ‘What?'" he said.
Of course, it's impossible to say who the sexiest man alive actually is because it's very subjective.
But People Magazine's official Sexiest Man Alive isn't just an opinion, it's an institution.
So how do they pick?
There are polls
People Magazine runs a reader's choice competition, which had 20 categories this year.
Here are the winners:
- Sexiest TV star: Jensen Ackles (he's the one from Supernatural who wasn't also on Gilmore Girls)
- Sexiest vaccine selfie: Hugh Jackman
- Sexiest smile: Michael B Jordan (who won Sexiest Man Alive last year)
- Sexiest eyes: Chris Hemsworth
- Sexiest House(wives) Husband: Mauricio Umansky (he's married to Kyle Richards from Real Housewives of Beverley Hills)
- Sexiest song of the summer: Justin Bieber's Peaches
- Sexiest teen-soap dream: Jacob Elordi from Euphoria
- Sexiest accent: Sam Heughan from Outlander (which is very, very Scottish)
- Sexiest Olympian: Swimmer Caeleb Dressel
- Sexiest internet boyfriend: Keanu Reeves
- Sexiest Marvel hottie: Chris Evans
- Sexiest newly single guy: Simon Baker
- Sexiest newlywed: Justin Hartley
- Sexiest first-time dad: Henry Golding
- Sexiest Peloton instructor: Alex (apparently no last name is required when you're an instructor for an online stationary cycling class)
- Sexiest 2001 throwback hottie: George Clooney
- Sexiest real estate king: Drew Scott (he's one of the brothers from Property Brothers, which is about two male siblings who renovate peoples' houses)
- Sexiest silver thirst trap: Mark Walhberg
- Sexiest TikTok star: William White
- Sexiest top chef: Antoni Porowski (from Queer Eye)
But you'll notice Paul Rudd isn't there.
It's People's choice, not a people's choice
When explaining why John Legend took the title in 2019, People editor-in-chief Dan Wakeford said his team did give polls serious consideration.
But it's not as simple as a vote.
In 2012, People Magazine's Julie Jordan told USA Today "we pay attention to comments on People.com".
"And we also ask female celebrities — we ask them who their vote would be for sexiest man alive," she said.
The magazine also consults focus groups, which inform discussions among higher-ups in the magazine.
Last year, Wakeford told CNN picking the man for the cover was a "very conscious choice" made by editorial staff.
It's not a competition, it's an editorial decision.
Former People writer Michelle Green, who kicked the whole thing off with her article about Mel Gibson in 1985, put quite very bluntly in a 2014 interview with Slate Magazine.
“The very idea of a 'sexiest man alive' is such a false concept… it's not 'do I want to f*** this guy?'" she told Slate.
"It's a very calculated feature that’s all about selling magazines."
And it's not just about looks
Wakeford said Michael B. Jordan's appearance didn't hurt, but looks alone didn't make him the "universal choice" for last year's title.
"Every year we look at what is the spirit of the year — what does the Zeitgeist want at the moment?," he told CNN.
"After a difficult year, we wanted to find somebody who provides that balance of escapism and comfort and inspiration."
Wakeford said Jordan fit the bill because of his activism in the Black Lives Matter movement, his belief in empowering women and that he was a general "force for good".
In 2010, People's Larry Hackett told US broadcaster ABC News it wasn't just about "raw animal appeal".
"Sexy certainly has to do with someone being good-looking, and has to do with a certain kind of romantic, flirtatiousness physical appeal that may be beyond just academic appreciation of the way they look," he said.
How much has the man got to do with it?
Considering the past few years have seen the winner do a photoshoot and interview with People Magazine along with a few other appearances, you'd have to assume the winner would be on board with the franchise.
And as you can see with this bit with Steven Colbert on The Late Show, Rudd is very much in on the joke about the bizarreness of declaring someone as the sexiest man alive:
In a 2014 deep dive on the Sexiest Man Alive, Slate Magazine said "enthusiasm about promoting the magazine goes a long way", as well as citing a "recent former staffer" from People who gave a bit of insight into the way it was decided.
"Unlike TIME’s Person of the Year, which is bestowed, Sexiest Man has to be accepted," they told Slate.
And then there's this from another "former People person":
"Any time everyone wonders why they didn't pick the obvious choice… it's because that guy didn't want to do it."
But that wasn't always the way.
Back in 1988, John F. Kennedy Jr was named People's Sexiest Man Alive, but the accompanying article was a write-around instead of the kind of interview Rudd gave.
Slate reported People "painstakingly extracted minor revelations from his 'third-tier friends'" for its cover story, including quotes from one of Kennedy's cousins, who later wrote an angry letter to the magazine about the article.
Nowadays, it appears people who don't want to participate are left out.
According to a 2014 report from The Wrap, actor Ryan Gosling "repeatedly" turned down the title.
Citing "an individual close to the cover negotiations", The Wrap said efforts by People Magazine to make Gosling its Sexiest Man Alive were shot down by his team.
"The consensus was he's too serious for it," the source said.
Is it weird that this is still a thing?
The Sexiest Man Alive started back in 1985, when People Magazine put Gibson on the cover.
The phrase actually came from the last line of Green's feature about Gibson, which was written while he was filming Mad Max:
"And then the sexiest man alive slouches away, alone."
People Magazine took that line, printed it on the cover and the rest was history.
The magazine has now made the declaration 35 times — with "winners" including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Adam Levine, Hugh Jackman and Denzel Washington — and, in 1993, it called Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford the Sexiest Couple Alive.
As society started turning away from the tabloid culture of sexualising celebrities and criticising their looks, the title began to lose its shine.
“I don't know that this is a title that many men want anymore," entertainment writer Elaine Lui told Slate in 2014.
But the Sexiest Man Alive seems to have undergone a rebranding.
"Idris Elba's reign certainly helped," Lui wrote this week.
"[Michael B Jordan] made a big contribution to the rescue effort last year when he was crowned Sexiest Man Alive.
"In the same year, he was also on the TIME 100 Most Influential list and was named one of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century by the New York Times, proving that the [Sexiest Man Alive] doesn't have to take away from an actor's gravitas, which has been one of the worries for some actors who'd previously declined the title."
