Carlo Guevarra, the sexy coverboy (for the Dress-Impress-Express Challenge of the model search) was declared the first Be Bench Model Search male winner. He, together with Regine Angeles were adjudged the grand winners of the competition staged at Araneta Coliseum last night. The show was hosted by the country’s Queen of Talk, Ms. Kris Aquino and the inseparable twosome of Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby.

The event culminates the 8-week search for the new endorser of the Philippines’ premier lifestlye brand which is now celebrating its 20th year in the business. The search started with 30 semi-finalists (15 male and 15 female) which was trimmed down to 12 (6 male and 6 female) during the initial elimination process.

The final 12 were subjected to a series of modeling tests. And every week one of the twelve is booted out. The strongest among them remained and thus only 6 contenders (3 male and 3 female) were allowed to battle it out in Araneta Coliseum. The 3 male finalists were Carlo Guevarra, Ron Morales and John Uy. (Click here for the Be Bench Final Four Male Contenders).

During the finals night (and during the course of the competition), the candidates were judged based on the scores given by Bench management, ABS-CBN management, the Be Bench Model Search Style Council and Text Votes from the candidates’ supporters. After tallying all the scores, Carlo, as mentioned earlier, emerged as the grand winner.

At the onset, Carlo had apprehensions in joining the competition. He was even quoted as saying: “There were a lot of other guys who were taller than me and had better bodies.” It was a good thing his brother, Paolo Adrian Guevarra, talked him out of backing out from the competition; otherwise, Carlo wouldn’t have known that he could win in a prestigious competition like this.

If you may remember, I posted a personal comment on Carlo’s profile in this site. I made a fearless forecast that Bench has a lot in store for this cutie from Pasay and he will most probably win in the competition. Well, it came true. Despite Carlo’s bad performances during the last few tests, he still beat out the other two. Although, I was also rooting for Ron Morales to be the new image model for Bench, I’m happy with the results of the Be Bench Model Search.

This kid has gone a long way – from starting out as a chubby kid and transforming himself to this boy-next-door we now adore.

Photo Credit: Vince Lopez for some pics in this post.

Final Three Guys

Carlo Guevarra

Ron Morales

John Uy