15. Matthew Mitcham
Rank last year:
N/A
Arriving at #15 on our countdown
with nary a splash is cutie Matthew Mitcham, who won Olympic
Gold in Beijing last year with the highest diving score in Olympic history.
But before he won the medal, he won our hearts when he casually came
out to the world in a newspaper interview three months before the Games.
What makes Matthew hot isn’t
his amazing abs or his occupational hazard of running around in a Speedo
all the time,
although those certainly don’t hurt. What makes him hot is his obvious
joy in living life and assuredness of who he is.
While American swimmers celebrated
victory by screaming and pumping the air with their fists, Matthew came
out of the pool after his winning dive, grinned at the camera, and gave
a little wave. It was endearing, just like everything else about him.
As if that wasn’t enough, once his score was announced, he ran to
the stands and hugged his partner, Lachlan.
At the games, Matthew was 1
in 10,000 – the only openly gay athlete among the thousands competing,
and while he says he’s staying focused on his diving for the London
Games in 2012, he understands what his newfound status means. According
to him, “As soon as anybody looks up to you, you automatically become
a role model whether you choose to be or not, and you can either embrace
it or not. I choose to embrace it and try to be the best role model
I can be.”
Matthew, we’re all looking
up to you.
14. Gareth David-Lloyd 
Gareth David-Lloyd may actually
have the best job on earth. And it’s a job that even allows him to
stay on earth, most days. As the droll Ianto Jones on Torchwood,
he plays the straight man to John Barrowman’s double entendres as
well as the not-so-straight man to Capt. Jack Harkness after he saves
the world. Ianto can make the perfect cup of tea, stop an alien invasion,
knows creative uses for a stopwatch, plus all the rules for naked hide-and-seek.
Gareth doesn’t seem to take
life too seriously though, and it’s his general zest for life that
just adds to his sexiness. On Torchwood, Ianto's suit is always Seville
Row, but on the weekends you’ll find Gareth in jeans and a t-shirt, fronting
his heavy blues band Blue Gillespie.
The cast of Torchwood
is a notoriously cheeky group, and you’ve got to have a sense of humor
to get by. Recently appearing on a panel about the show, Gareth somehow
got goaded into taking off his pants. We can report he remains just
as hot in a pair of black boxer briefs as he does in a snazzy suit.
That’s our kind of man.
13. Anderson Cooper
Rank last year:
9
He’s known as the Silver
Fox by some. Others refer to him as Gloria Vanderbilt’s son, while
one prominent blogger refers to him as Mah Boo. By whatever name, there’s
something about this smart news guy that inspires you to listen to what
he’s saying, whether he’s wading through a devastated New Orleans
or reporting on the latest world crisis.
While we’re not going to
discount the piercing blue eyes hypnotizing us, his huge appeal is likely
because he does something unique in this day and age: he reports actual
news and talks to us like grownups.
That’s not to say Anderson
doesn’t have a lighter, even – dare we say – snarky side. He just
doesn’t display it on his news broadcast where he is the consummate
pro. But sitting next to Kelly Ripa, he can display an encyclopedic
knowledge of trashy reality TV, from Living Lohan
to Real Housewives. He might not understand himself why he watches,
but he never seems to miss an episode of his favorite reality shows. He even
passes notes a ten-year-old might write to the Insult Comic
Dog while at the Democratic National Convention.
He’s smart. He’s handsome.
He likes reality TV and foul-mouthed puppets. Yes, he’s unconventional,
but that’s much of what makes him so undeniably hot.
12. Jared Padalecki 
Jared Padalecki is living proof
that things are bigger – and hotter – in Texas. Clocking in at 6’4”,
this San Antonio native looms over his equally hot co-star, Jensen Ackles,
as the brooding Sam Winchester on Supernatural.
This mop-headed demon hunter
brings a thoughtful element to the show that inspired the concept of
Wincest. While his TV brother was into heavy metal and chasing girls,
Sam was headed to Stanford before getting sucked into the world of angels
and demons. Now he’s the brother who always has the answers, often
quoted from a third century Greek poet.
Padalecki’s first major gig
was setting teenage girls’ hearts aflutter on Gilmore Girls
at the tender age of 18, but since then his roles have taken a decidedly
darker turn, whether dashing around the Midwest every week trying to
save us from the coming Apocalypse, or starring in the latest Friday
the 13th movie.
Obviously, Jared likes things
dark and scary, which is fine with us, as long as he’s there to hold
us when the monsters come at night.
