Remember Roland, the unlikely contestant for a £2,000 shopping spree, photo shoot, and modeling agency intro? Well, he won. By a lot—he was almost 66,000 votes ahead of his second place competition. We did it!


Roland should be an inspiration—dare I say a model?—for us all, and is a testament to the internet's ability to screw up contests in the name of... something. Laughs, I suppose. Or maybe we all just liked boosting an underdog? Probably some combination of that and gleeful subversion. But at any rate, we have a new champion—sort of.


Unfortunately, Roland says he won't be taking claiming the fruits of his victory. Taking to Facebook, he said the following:

thx for all the kind words and i really appreciate it but i wont be changing my mind. And cant go into all the reasons but jst know that the decision wasnt taken lightly and i can handle some insults but when ppl ring ur house and email ur work then its to far.

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I can understand this. Roland was probably just a normal dude who found himself in the center of an internet prank. But nonetheless, we love you, man, and wish you the best. If there are any other internet contests you'd like some assistance in rigging, just drop us a line. [The Sun via Daily What]