A CHUBBY red-haired man who entered an online competition to find Britain's next top model has won after receiving a staggering 66,000 votes.

Roland Bunce, 24, entered UK retailer Next’s Make Me The Next Model competition in a bid to win £2000 ($3070), a photo shoot and an introduction to top modelling agency Storm.



But jokers noticed his bid and began voting for him, putting him in first place in the contest, with the second highest contestant attracting a mere 89 votes, The Sun reported.



The computer science student attracted thousands of fans on Facebook, and also a huge Twitter following with voters hoping his victory will break the conventional beauty barrier.



One fan wrote in the lead-up to votes closing: “Get in there Buncy. A victory for the common man.”



On his Facebook fan page, Mr Bunce, from Belfast, wrote: "Thanks for all for the support and thanks to the person who started the group, I'm overwhelmed."



The win puts through to the final round where judges will select a winner from the top 250 contestants.



A spokeswoman for Next said anyone was welcome to enter the online contest.