A chubby faced man may become the chubby face of Next

AN UNLIKELY INDIVIDUAL is looking like he'll win the high street store Next's search for a model competition, having won the backing of teh internets.

Kindly, smiley-faced Roland Bunce, who lists amongst his interests 'Wrestlemania' and wrestling has shimmied his way to the top of the Next leaderboard thanks to a push for support from various internet sources, including Facebook.

Such is the backing for Roland Bunce that he currently sits at number one in the ranking with 30,000 plus votes of Facebook support.

His closest competitors, including a chap from London and the sort of young blonde that Next might have had in mind when it set up the competition, have around 100 votes. Take that, conventional good lookingness!

Bunce might win most of the online votes, but unfortunately for him the final winner will be decided by a panel of Next judges. It's possible that they will not share the same feelings as his internet supporters and might not propel him to high street stardom.

The interest does not stop there either, as with such a prize at stake the Next Facebook page is awash with people asking for votes themselves in return for votes for others - democracy at work - while other posters are just looking to hate on young Roland, who is 24 years old, apparently just because of his good luck.

Thankfully then, there is the Vote for Roland Facebook page where things are a lot more reasonable, and we dare say, silly. µ