The Mr Gay Germany 2020 finale, took place this December in the beautiful city of Cologne.
Both myself and the MGG contestants were accommodated at a beautiful hotel, not far away from the center of the city.
From over 200 initial applicants, 6 contestants reached the finale, outperforming the other contestants in the initial challenges for the title, such as a written test, social media and a campaign presentation.
Unfortunately, one of the finalists was not able to attend and compete, so it was down to five boys at the finale. Before the show, I managed to have a chat with the candidates, where they told me about their campaigns and why their chosen topic was important to them.
The campaigns ranged from increased visibility in society of rainbow families, to increasing unity within the LGBT community, to creating a pride in smaller town, to tackling homophobia in sports.
The finale was a runway show where the contestants had to walk in four categories; casual, sport, socks and formal.
The judiciary panel consisted of Mr Gay Europe and Mr Gay Germany title holders, ILGA representatives, business owners, organizers, TV personalities and local drag entertainers.
The judges got to introduce themselves and talk about what they do in-between the acts, interviewed by the hilarious drag performer and host Pam Pengco.
After introducing myself on the stage and talking about MGE, on my way down I missed a step and twisted my ankle, kind of limping through the whole night. Darn you Glühwein!
During their runway walks, most of the contestants were surprisingly timid and minimal, completely contrasting to their off-stage personas. After all the contestants walked in the categories, and the scores were tallied up, Benjamin Nässler had won. Benjamin is 30 years old, married, and he is from Frankfurt.
His three stage campaign for tackling homophobia in soccer was the most fleshed and thought out of all the campaigns.
2nd place went to Maurice Schmitz, while 3rd place was awarded to Joel Schiliro.
Both of the runner ups had campaigns aiming to increase the visibility of Rainbow families in mainstream media and society as a whole.
The finale afterparty was at club Exile, where catered food and drinks were provided. We got happy on Kölsch and gin, and we danced the night away.
The next day, it was off for a fun photo-shoot for the winners at the Supercandy Pop-up museum.
Photo by @gleichlaut/Facebook
