Stuart Hutton, 28, of South Shields, has been crowned Mr Gay UK 2013 at a ceremony in Leeds.

The competition, which has been running for almost 20 years, started with a social media popularity contest, in which everyone who entered had to post pictures and write a little about themselves. Whoever got the most tweets and likes won that round.

The celebrity judging panel chose the winner from a shortlist of nine.

Dancer Stuart – who describes himself as Geordie boy, model, businessman, undercover spy, wannabe astronaut and Jim Henson’s lovechild – commented: ‘It feels amazing to be Mr Gay UK and I’m very proud to bring the title to the north east for the first time. I hope I can be a role model for the gay community throughout the UK.’

Mr Gay UK 2013 project manager Thomas Wales said he was bringing the contest into the 21st Century by giving the public the power to choose their finalists instead of having the live national heats: ‘Stuart is a prime example of the diversity of giving the public the power to choose their Mr Gay UK finalists. He’s hot, intelligent, caring and an all-round genuine guy.’

We grabbed some photos from his Instagram to save you the trouble!