Bermuda's most handsome man is single, but maybe not for long.

Ardon Heyliger says he has gotten "a lot of extra attention" since his nomination in a competition launched on social media last month. On New Year's Eve he was officially crowned Most Handsome Man in Bermuda 2022.

Jeff Baron came in second and Reis Van Putten third. Ardon, 25, beat out nearly 70 nominees for the win.

"My family are loving it! They mention it whenever they can and love calling me 'the most handsome man', especially my mom," he laughed, explaining that he didn’t find out until after the competition that he had been nominated by a family friend.

"I didn’t expect so many votes, I'm grateful to have received them."

He has been told that he gets his looks from both of his parents, Ardena Heyliger and Jay "Braxton" Steede.

"Everyone says I look just like my dad but I have a lot of my mom's features and personality."

While people have often described him as handsome, he never expected to win anything because of it.

"It came as a surprise. I knew a lot of the nominees, especially all the ones out of the east," said Ardon.

He relies on his football training to keep him in shape and is proud to play for St George's Colts, as the parish has given him so much.

"I’m a St George’s boy. I grew up down in the east; my roots are deep down here. It’s a really tight-knit community and we do for each other without even asking. It’s just the way it is down there [and so] anything I can do to help in any way possible – especially with the next generation coming up – I’ll lend a helping hand."

Although he has a full-time job as a retail agent at Digicel, the New Year's Eve win has him considering modelling as a side gig.

"I think I’m gonna give it a shot," he said. "I’d love to work locally, with Bermuda brands. I don’t know too much about it, so I just want to get my foot in the door locally. Hopefully an overseas agent will come next."

The win netted him the title and a sash, some champagne and an unexpected visit from Jeff.

"I’d never met him before so it was really cool when he came to my job to congratulate me," he said.

Jeff, 45, didn’t know he had been nominated until he was tagged on social media.

"I was of course, flattered, but you can't take these things too seriously," said the former politician, who didn’t canvass or vote for himself.

"You sort of let these things play out how they should and Ardon, I think he earned the win. Given everything going on in Bermuda I think it was meant to be a light-hearted, fun thing."

Although he didn’t keep track of the votes, friends who did let him know how he was doing.

"It was one of those things where I didn’t want to check in but, Bermuda being small, it was hard – people would give me frequent updates. I actually didn’t expect to win. I just thought it was a fun thing to be thrown in there at my age. But I enjoyed and was amused by it.

"It's not the first time I've been subjected to votes," he laughed. "It was amusing, really, to see the couple weeks of banter – all the back and forth. I joke with Ardon that even my mom voted for him.“

He decided to create a video conceding his loss to Ardon, to "add to the fun".

"I found the whole process was amusing and I wanted to add to that. It was just something cool to be a part of: congratulations on your cheekbones."

He thought it "neat" that he was a part of the competition but acknowledged that there were many other men who were equally as handsome.

"The whole point of beauty or attractiveness and all that is it is very 'eye of the beholder'. I think Bermuda has very intelligent, attractive and handsome people and that was proof of that. There's so many people out there; it was by no means a slam dunk. There are a lot of people who were nominated and a lot of people who weren’t nominated who could have easily been nominated."

Fatherhood, work and life all keep him busy; Jeff takes a holistic approach to health.

"I want to feel healthy and a lot of times that impacts how you look," he said. "There are benefits to exercise and eating well and all that but I don’t have any specific routines. My overall physical health is really important to me and when I began taking that really seriously other things sort of manifested. But I don’t have a secret skincare routine – and if I did I wouldn’t give it away."

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