HE sits in the hosting seat of one of the most popular news and current affairs shows in the country, but Waleed Aly doesn’t think of himself as a celebrity.

The Project co-host, who has co-anchored the show fulltime since Australia Day this year, was last night awarded GQ’s Media Personality of The Year, despite his reluctance to acknowledge just how popular he really is.

“I don’t think of myself in terms of celebrity status, that’s like you’re describing someone else,” he told news.com.au, “so I don’t think of it that way.

“I’m not denying that the chair that I sit in lends itself to celebrity, but to me it’s not the point of what I’m doing. If it happens, it happens, and I’ll be determined to remain focused on what I do and remain grounded. I’m not here to become a celebrity. A ‘bi-product’ — is probably the best way to put it — because I don’t even see it as a bonus.”

Aly remains possibly one of the most grounded and down to earth celebrities currently on Aussie screens.

He is one of the few Australian media personalities who refuses to interact on social media and has spoken of how passionate he is about not being on it.

He says he isn’t dismissive of celebrity culture, it’s just not what he thinks about when he does his job.

“The thing about celebrity as an idea is it’s not the kind of thing you want to get lost in. I’m happy with whatever status you want to attribute on me, but I won’t get lost in it.”

The 37-year-old said he was honoured to receive the award and walk the black carpet, even if it wasn’t his natural territory.

“To me it was a real shock,” he said of the GQ accolade, “but a lovely surprise because it still does mean something, and that is, when you move into a job like this you are stepping into a realm that is a bit more pop culture, even though I’m coming from a news position, that’s still what I’m in and so part of the way you measure whether you’re vaguely doing the right thing is whether you’re being received in that spirit and into pop culture and I think an award like this gives you that little signal, which is really lovely.”

Lisa Wilkinson, who presented the frequent commentator on politics, international affairs and Islam with the award, spoke of her admiration for him.

“He offers fearless opinion that always invites greater, deeper questioning of an issue by his audience,” the Today co-host said of Aly. “He never feeds ill-informed prejudice, he always challenges it.”

Aly said he felt humbled to have been recognised for his work and accepted into the mainstream television world.

“I’m kind of staggered to be here because it was less than a year ago that I was at the ABC on radio and not really in this world at all and when you make a shift like this, it’s always a real feeling of risk that you’re taking, that you’re going to end up in a world that doesn’t really want you there and every now and again you feel like you shouldn’t be there and that most people think that you shouldn’t be there, but sometimes you get a symbol that tells you actually, you’re being accepted within the culture and that’s about as powerful a sentiment as I think it’s possible to receive as a human being, so thank you to GQ for giving me that sentiment.”