The first contenders arrived early and at this time there was a definite panic in the air...  Even the floweriness of the mass ranks of Hawaiian shirts did little to dispel a great sense of foreboding for the forthcoming fray.  The rear area of the pub was cunningly laid out to present a cat-walk for the contenders to parade along, allowing the judges and innocent bystanders to gather along the sides and end to watch:

The judging commenced promptly at 9pm (slightly later than advertised and we apologise to the international Television audience).  The contenders where removed to the preparation area (allowing them to discover exactly how cold and crisp the night was...).  It was difficult to know whether the frantic last minute six-pack exercises were to address the vain hope that there was still a chance or just to keep warm.

The renowned 'Swedish Porn star', Jenny, dignified the event by performing another service that involved long periods of opening her mouth very wide and did a fantastic job of compeering:

The first contender up was Treacy, undaunted by analogies made by the commentators to "lamb's" and "slaughter", he strode purposefully to the podium.  Some would say that he had the benefit of first bite - whatever he did would be new, others would say that first out, soonest forgotten, at this stage of the contest it was difficult to know which would be true.  Treacy hoped that his weeks training in Barbados would be good preparation for the competition and as he ripped of his shirt to present a bronzed torso to the judges it looked like this may be true.  A final clench of his hardened Abs and he left the stage to the next of the "lamb's":

Jeab followed Treacy to the stage, and a roar from the crowd greeted his entrance as he made his way up to the display area and put on a performance to wow the judges.  It was clear that a great deal of effort had gone into reducing the near-15st weigh-in weight to the lithe gazelle parading on the table. 

The judges made their notes, and with little ado requested the next victim, Dom.  But lo, who was this Adonis who strode into the room?  Surely not the 12st weakling who had entered the competition so few months before?  But no, the rumours were true - going to the Gym three times a day really makes a difference !  He had to do no more than stand there to prove his right to be in the competition:

As Dom exited stage left, the crowd listened for the thud of footsteps as the giant of the competition made his entrance.  Weighing in at an entry level of 15st, Gobby had a lot to loose...  But again another miracle !  Hardly the sound of a footfall in the snow preluded his entrance, the crowd hushed as he walked to the scales and a pin dropping would have been heard in the pause before the beautiful judge - Sally-Ann - announced a final weight of 13st 4lbs.  A staggering reduction of 1st 10lbs ! 

A frisson of fear ran through the contender preparation area as it became clear that some of the top prizes may already have been snatched away.  But, there was little time to dwell on this as no sooner had the judges finished with Gobby, than Buffy, a flower amongst the thorns, stepped up to the stage.  Shirking the bluff and bravado of her male competitors, Buffy produced a demure performance that belied the belief that six pack competitioning is all about brawn.  Buffy left the competition area with her dignity intact, something that can be said for few of the rest of the contenders:

As Buffy stepped away from the judging area, Spenny slid into the room.  Having not greased the palms of the judges he tried to do so now with a truly slick performance.   Was he setting a standard that would be too slippery for the other contestants to catch?  Half a bottle of Extra-Virgin Cooking Oil certainly helped:

As Spenny slipped away through the crowd an expectant ripple ran like a Mexican wave through the assembled throng.  The name of the next contender was spreading like a bad case of Chinese whispers from lip to lip  - Todge, Richie, Reggie...  The man who put the 'low' in clown was about to appear, what treat did he have in store ?  A man more fit for starring in the kind of movies you normally get from a mates mate in a brown paper bag stepped in - who had stolen the fan's favourite??  Where was Reggie??!!  All was quickly revealed as not wanting to over-weigh on the scales, Reggie quickly removed his disguise and stepped up for the weigh-in - another hush descended on the crowd - as the enmity between the Reggie and the other super-heavyweight in the competition was legendary - who would snatch the most weight loss crown?  The beautiful judge - Sally-Ann - read off the weight "12st 10lbs", the crowd hissed "hiss" - a mere 1st 4lbs loss, 6lbs less than Gobby and even less than both Jeab and Dom - living testament to other potential six packers - unemployment = comfort eating = losing.  But the veteran hell-raiser knew there were other prizes at stake and proceeded to  produce a show for the crowd the like of which had not been seen before:

As Reggie was led away for tests the judges conferred:

The next contestant, Mat, was called.  As the penultimate contestant, panic was setting in, what was left that the other contestants hadn't already done that could amaze the judges.  Mat gave up on ingenuity and just tried everything - a strip was followed by a brief exercise routine and topped of with 'one for the ladies' - the liberal smearing of baby oil across a barely visible six-pack:

After the cleaning team had removed the mess, the final contender of the night was brought to the fray.  The man known as Rat-boy proved that his mind at least is in the sewer, with a salacious performance ending with the baring of parts of the body that most people would rather they never saw:

And so concluded the judging for the six pack competition final 2001.  Or so everybody thought, the judges though had other ideas and requested back some of the contenders for a second appraisal.  The continued judging included some further exercise demonstrations by the remaining contenders including Press-ups, sit-ups, boxing and even swimming !!

Some of the winner were then award their prizes:

Most Weight Loss:  Gobby

Best Improver:  Jeab

Best Show on the night:  Reggie

The other contenders where eliminated leaving just the winner and another loser left.  Further parading was requested by the Judges and the final two contenders where asked to show-off together:

After this brief display the Blue-Riband prize was award and the 2001 Six Pack Competition Winner, Dom, was presented with the much coveted silver six pack man, the loser didn't get much at all:

Finally the six pack contenders gathered in a show of unity to demonstrate that the only winner was the six pack competition itself :

See you in 2002 !!

To view the rest of the photographs from this legendary occasion, go to http://www.awardthemyth.com/pictures/pictures.htm and follow the link for the Six Pack Competition Final at the bottom of the list.