Tuesday 5th December 2006
PETE DOHERTY IS VOTED THE
2006 UK ANTI-ICON OF THE YEAR
Arena, the UK’s most stylish men’s magazine, today announces the results of its first ‘Anti-Icons of the Year’ as voted by its readers.
Tumultuously troubled rocker Pete Doherty has taken the top spot as the personality most undeserving of their place in the sun, followed closely by big mouth Russell Brand, business bad boy Syed Ahmed and ‘hug a hoodie’ David Cameron.
Arena’s Editor William Drew said: “In true Arena style, we decided to do something a bit different from the usual end of year polls and asked our readers to pick those people who have consumed the headlines and defined the last year for all the wrong reasons.
“It’s no surprise that Pete Doherty is the favourite 2006 UK Anti-Icon – our readers are very clear on whether the headlines around him and his counterparts are genuinely warranted or just media hype.” Aquarius
Pete Doherty was voted the ‘Anti-Icon of the Year’ by an overwhelming 38% of the vote thanks to his well publicised drug habit which has popularised junkie chic and earned him an almost cult following, despite claims of mediocre music and less than inspiring live performances.
More than a quarter voted Russell Brand as their favourite, for his over-hyped status following the loss of nearly half of 2006 Big Brother’s Big Mouth viewers in its first week. His overly publicised sex and drug addictions are also likely to have helped him earn second place in the Anti-Icon poll.
Syed Ahmed’s four drink-driving convictions, gross exaggerations of salary and status, and failure to organise a ‘fun day’ on a cruise ship for The Apprentice have seen him receive 10% of the vote, making him the third biggest Anti-Icon’ in the UK.
With 6% of the vote is Conservative Leader David Cameron. His attempts to connect with the youth of today via the ‘webcameron’ and his ‘hug a hoodie’ campaign have attracted much ridicule, earning him fourth place in the ‘Anti-Icon’ survey.
The survey was conducted online and attracted more than a thousand responses.
The ‘Anti-Icons Of the Year’ appears as part of Arena's 12-page ‘Alternative Icons Of The Year’ feature in the January issue out now.
The list:
1/ Pete Doherty 38%
2/ Russell Brand 25%
3/ Syed Ahmed 10%
4/ David Cameron 6%
5/ Tom Cruise 6%
6/ Gordon Ramsay 4%
7/ Johnny Borrell of Razorlight 3%
8/ Jimmy Carr 2%
9/ Graham Poll 1.5%
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