If you think Roland Bruce is not model material, think again. The 24-year-old is currently holding the top spot in a competition by UK clothing retailer Next to find Britain’s new model.

Bruce skyrocketed to the first place of Make Me the Next Model 2011 after users of Football365.com and Reddit.com posted links to his entry’s page as a prank.

Since then, his popularity has grown exponentially, securing him over 27,000 ‘Likes’ on Facebook and 3,713 Tweets (at the time this article was written).

Even though the number of votes each contestant has received is not displayed on Next’s website, the closest competitors all have under 600 ‘Likes’ on Facebook.

“Thanks for all for the support and thanks to the person who started the group, I’m overwhelmed,” Bruce wrote on his Facebook fan page.

With only a few weeks left for voting, fashion magazine Grazia, which has been championing the competition from the beginning, is less than impressed with Bruce's sudden popularity.

“It is with a slightly heavy heart that we ask fashion fans everywhere to redress the balance on Next's website and help the fashion label promote some genuine future talent for the industry,” the magazine posted on their official website.

If Roland were to win the competition, he would receive a $3000 shopping spree at Next, the chance to star in a photo-shoot for the retailer and a special introduction to model agency Storm.

“Next is delighted for absolutely anyone to enter this competition as long as they’re aged 18 or over,” a spokesman said.

“The level of interest has been phenomenal and there’s an astonishing amount of comment and coverage on all the social networking sites.”