Vegetarian women rejoice. There's a hunka hunka spinach-eating love out there for you - and he's from Connecticut.
PETA announced Wednesday that Craig Kelly, 32, of Ellington, is one of 16 male finalists in the annual Sexiest Vegetarian Alive contest. It's the first time PETA's gone looking for the sexiest boy and girl next door.
In order to win his vegetarian-approved crown, Craig has to go head-to-head against the other hunks. We pictured that it would involve thumb wrestling and a cook-off with leaves. But it's voted on by you on this World Wide Web thing.
If Craig is picked, he'll win a trip for two to Maui.
Let's talk a little bit about Craig:
He's a part-time high school track coach and full-time acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist. He also speaks Mandarin.
Here's the thing about Craig. He's actually a cool dude. A manly man, even. Rooted in meat.
"I was born and raised hunting, I did it from the time I was 11," he said. "If you had asked me at any point if I would change my lifestyle, I probably would have laughed at you."
But he did change – for the most part. He still eats eggs, shopping at local farms and buying free-range. Ok, so a man who will still make an omelet (even if it's lacking cheese) still maintains some man-points.
For Craig, it started as a challenge, and then became more about health.
"When I was in college, I had a kid on my floor who was Vegan and he was kind of making fun of me for always eating meat. He got me into trying it for a week and I did. I made it through the week, and when I went back to eating meat, I felt tired and fatigued."
His health got even better when he cut out dairy.
“I had a really persistent post-nasal drip since middle school. I read sometimes dairy has an effect on that. I also had a problem with my skin breaking out. I cut it out for a week and my nasal and skin cleared instantaneously.”
PETA tells us Craig has a reputation for stopping his car to rescue turtles stranded on the highway.
He's also the first person his neighbors call when they come upon a lost cat or dog (perhaps because they know he won't eat them?).
We’d better lay off the guy a little. He’s trained in martial arts and lifts more than Hulk Hogan. The guy weighs in at about 215 pounds of pure muscle. He builds muscle by packing his diet with rice, pea, and powdered egg proteins. In other words, he could kick us from here to Agawam.
And ladies: He’s on the market.
“I’m a busy guy, I work lots of hours, but I guess you could say I’m single again,” he said.
Ok, we’ve got to give him some more man-points here. He tells us he has no problem cooking you a steak – as long as you don’t expect him to be the guinea pig and taste it first.
