Modeling

The 2008 Manhunt International World Final

There were more than 40 male models from different countries, who participated in the recent 2008 Manhunt International World Final held on June 2nd at The Circle, Seoul, Korea. They competed for the highly acclaimed Manhunt International title previously held by Jeffrey Zheng, the 2007 winner.



The Manhunt International modeling competition started from the vision of Alex Liu, a pageant director of Metromedia Singapore. He noticed that there were no pageants available for men, only women enjoyed the privilege of joining numerous pageants. Because of this, he staged the first male model contest in Singapore way back in 1987 and called it the 'Manhunt Contest'. Since then the 'Manhunt Contest' grew into the large scale International male model competition we now know of.

Manhunt Internationals' vision and mission is to promote fresh faces for the modeling and fashion industry. Because of this, Manhunt International only caters to men between the ages of 18 and 30 years old, standing at least 1.80 meters with a good physique, photogenic face, a desire to be famous and outstanding personality. Contestants also need to have good command of the English language.

The panel of judges included 15 celebrities from the international scene and Korea. The judges were actors, an artist, Olympic gold medalist, former beauty queen, doctor, fashion magazine editor, talent scouts, and other professionals. The criteria for judging include each model’s runway skills, photogenic ability, physical attributes, and personality. The contestants were carefully judged wearing their national costumes, swimwear, evening wear, and fashion wear.

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The competition was tough and the judges indeed had difficulty judging the wonderful male model contestants. In the end, only one could claim the title 2008 Manhunt International champion. He is none other than Abdelmoumen El Maghraouy from Morocco, a 26 year old model, actor and linguist. He received $5,000 in cash, an exclusively designed diamond ring worth $5,000 and a $30,000 exclusive modeling contract with Myth Models from Beijing, China.

Our favorite and first runner up Egill Arnljots came from Sweden. He received an exclusive diamond ring worth $2,000, a modeling contract with Myth Models worth $15,000, plus a trophy and sash. The second runner was Cesar Vargas of Costa Rica, Lee Jae-Hwan from Korea won third runner up, and Claudio Furtado won fourth runner up. Each of them received an exclusive diamond ring worth $1,000, a modeling contract with Myth Models worth $10,000, a trophy, and sash.

There were other special awards presented to other male models as well. Rikesh Raj Shrestha of Nepal won Mr. Friendship award, China’s Yang Yao won Mr. Physique, Romeo Gates of India garnered the Mr. Internet Popularity award, Marvin Wijangco from the Philippines received the Mr. Personality award, Mingo Lin from Hong Kong won the Best National Costume, while Emre Kizilirmak won the Best Runway Model special award.

The other finalists of the competition include Yang Yao from China, India’s Romeo gates, Brazil’s Thiago Testoni, Hong Kong’s Mingo Lin, Brandon Michael Anderson from USA, England’s Sam Whitman, Panama’s Anthony Warren, Luxembourg’s Koen Van de Voorde, Venezuela’s Orlando Delgado , and last but certainly not the least Marvin Wijangco from the Philippines.

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