Mount Maunganui's John Templeton named CLEO Cruiser Bachelor of the Year!

Fitness trainer John (JT) Templeton has been named New Zealand's sexiest single man.

The 26-year-old from Mount Maunganui was announced the winner of the 2012 CLEO Cruiser Bachelor of the Year at a party in Auckland last night.

CLEO readers have eight weeks to vote for their favourite of 12 finalists at cleo.co.nz. With more than 1200 votes, JT was crowned the winner.

"It feels awesome!" says a happy JT. "[CLEO Cruiser Bachelor of the Year is] a nice title to have. I had no expectations to make the finals, so winning it is pretty epic."

JT was nominated for the competition by a friend and appeared as 'Mr August' in CLEO's much-anticipated annual bachelor calendar (free with CLEO February).

The announcement took place at the Bachelor Reveal Party on Friday night, (the biggest party in bachelor history), featuring a catwalk fashion show, celebrities, and singer Dane Rumble.

CLEO editor Pamela Marker says this year's hype has really revived the bachelor competition in New Zealand. "To encourage voting, we didn't stop at just photographing the bachelors, but allowed readers to 'meet' the guys via video interviews that can be found on both cleo.co.nz and CLEO magazine on facebook". And to bring the whole competition to climax (pun intended) we had THE biggest party of the year, then gave the winner a well-deserved spot on the cover of CLEO!"

CLEO April is on sale now, featuring a half-cover winner reveal, an exclusive interview with JT and much, much more of the 2012 CLEO Cruiser Bachelor of the Year. But the surprises don't stop there... readers can use their smart phones to scan a QR code featured in the magazine to watch the CLEO cover shoot as it happened.

See behind-the-scenes pics from JT's winner's shoot

Find out more about JT and watch his video interview

♥ What does summer involve for you?
"It's all about beer and the beach, and training hard for the CrossFit Games."

♥What is CrossFit?
"It's fitness training — but it's also about life, not just the gym. It's about being around like-minded, motivated people who want a healthier life."

♥ Describe your ideal girl?
"Someone who's easygoing. I don't like people who put image before anything else. I prefer people who'd rather be happy and healthy than materialistic."

♥ How would you describe yourself?
"I used to be all about 'the image', and now I'm about being a good person, having a good attitude and being driven."