Winning Mr elite 2012
We are all aware that life comes with many ups and downs and going through these situations moulds us into who we are. We can choose to learn and move forward or become a victim of circumstance.
After my olympic torch relay campaign fell at the last hurdle and after numerous complications over trying to get documentaries commissioned I felt like what I was doing was old spiel and had nobody interested anymore.
Clearly publicity is a must with what I am aiming to do with my life, For a while I was tempted to hit everything on the head and focus elsewhere and completely drive myself into my training.
After 6 long months of no progress a local gym announced they were holding a competition for best torso and the winner would become MR ELITE.
Entries were anonymous with no head shot allowed which was a good idea considering small towns can be very cliquey.
I was in offseason at the time and was bulking up but still had a visible six pack so entered on the fact I had nothing to lose.
There was some stiff competition and a couple of entries had lower bodyfat than I did at the time and were very worthy of winning.
The competition was held over 4 weeks and only female votes were counted,I recieved just under 200 votes with almost 50 more votes than second place.
The prize was £100 worth of supplements and the coveted title of MR ELITE 2012.
Winning this has been alot to take in on so many levels, Levels I never thought I would ever see let alone achieve.
A few years ago just being able to pass as normal was a dream, I wanted acceptance.
Such a fickle and superficial world brought out a very vain side of me.
Judged on looking frail and sick all the time before people knew what was on the inside.The inside of me has always contained the fight and passion of any MR OLYMPIA.
I always felt everybody was only nice to me because I was not a threat and had no significance in society.If you are going nowhere people want nothing from you.
Times like PE and getting changed in the locker rooms were a big challenge for me, even taking my shirt off on holiday was something I could not bring myself to do due to scars and how emaciated I looked.
I developed a lot later than most males do and that was very tough for me to deal with.
No girl ever looked at me, guys picked on me as an easy target, people thought I was 12 at the age of 18. I was socially retarded.
So to go from that to winning a physique competition and hold my own against what I class as ‘normal’ people is one of the proudest moments in my life.
Appearing flaunting my physique on TV and national newspapers and all over the net is making up for lost time. Things have transpired so much.
After winning I bagged 8 interviews in the space of 3 weeks, 2 of those for a new proposed documentary.(sigh haha)
Again my own success has luckily proved an amazing bonus for CF awareness in a positive light.
To celebrate I went to see the man who has made the soundtrack to my life over the past few years~ DRAKE! It was an exciting day as I had seen my story on every newstand in the county
....the perfect prelude to a night of soulful inspiration and celebration.
I featured in The News and Star, The Sunday Sun and Daily Mail respectively and these articles generated 2 photo shoots and awesome feedback from around the world.
I have been re-ignited and feel I have put myself back on the map, All I needed was self belief.
I have Total Warrior, A skydive AND Mr Universe qualifier coming up in the next 6 months, My first victory has spurred me on with a good second wind.
I will achieve all I set out to do and my name will go down in history, it is just a matter of time. This is confidence not arrogance.
I would like to thank all 8000 of you supporting me and would also like to say FU to all the haters and doubters.
NEVER GIVE UP ON YOURSELF, NEVER SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST AND NEVER EVER STOP BEING TRUE TO WHO YOU REALLY ARE!
We can ALL make it happen. I am no exception but simply a dude living his life to the full because I can.
Sky is the limit and the Only way is up.
Much Love
Jonny