You can catch his eye with a simple smile, but if you want to stand out from all the other single ladies vying for his attention, put on a miniskirt and a tight top.
That’s what Derek Lovely, Maine’s hottest bachelor, tells Cosmopolitan magazine in the issue hitting newsstands today, which features the country’s most eligible guys from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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Today, Lovely and the other bachelors are in New York City, where they started a day of media appearances on NBC’s “Today” show and will wrap it up tonight at the District 36 Nightclub for the annual Bachelor Party, where the Bachelor of the Year will be selected.
Despite his tall, dark and handsome looks, Lovely, 27, said “it was an absolute shock” when he found out he had been selected to represent Maine.
His agent, Caron Bryan of Port City Models & Talent, submitted Lovely’s photo and stats to the Cosmo editors. Two of her models were selected for last year’s list, and the editors approached her again this year for candidates.
“They like to pick someone who’s not an established model,” Bryan said. “Derek is healthy. He works out all the time. He’s kind of quiet and he’s good with people. He’s a positive person.”
Bryan, who’s based in Portland, also represents this year’s hot bachelor from New Jersey, Billy Walsh.
Lovely manages a Port Resources group home for developmentally disabled adults. He grew up in Oxford and graduated from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School and the University of Southern Maine. He played basketball for both schools and continues to play in a local men’s league.
He now lives in Portland; his parents, Kurt and Pam Lovely, still live in Oxford.
With only a $500 stipend from Cosmopolitan magazine for travel and lodging expenses, Bryan said most of the bachelors “are scrimping and rooming together.”
Lovely got a boost from Scott Sanfino, owner of the VTEC Training Center in South Portland, which sponsors Lovely’s basketball team. Sanfino paid Lovely’s airfare and is putting him up at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.
In return, Lovely made sure that Sanfino was on the guest list for tonight’s invitation-only Bachelor Party.
For men who hope to advance an acting or modeling career, the selection can be just the break they need.
“It can be huge exposure for their careers,” Bryan said. “I got a call from the ‘Bachelor’ TV show last year to see if one of my bachelors wanted to audition.”
Since his e-mail address has been posted on Cosmo’s website, Lovely said, he has “gotten a bunch of e-mails from girls from all over.”
“They send pics and a little bio,” Lovely said. “One woman is trying to hook me up with her daughter. I don’t see myself flying out to California to meet a girl, but if someone’s from Maine, I might consider it.”
Staff Writer Avery Yale Kamila can be contacted at 791-6297 or at: akamila@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
