Will’s youthful secret

He’s a role model for many young gay men and was the grooming expert on the short-lived Australian version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

But Will Fennell wasn’t prepared to let his television career live and die by one show. After a lot of blood, sweat and tears, he has a hit on his hands thanks to Channel 7’s Ten Years Younger in Ten Days.
You may recall seeing his beautifully sculptured body, masculine chest hair and firm butt on the cover of a recent copy of DNA magazine.

Fennell has never gone under the knife (or the syringe) and is a 100 percent natural beauty, something he likes to help others uncover in themselves.

[Cosmetic surgery] wasn’t me, Fennell told Sydney Star Observer.

You are who you are. I’ve always worked on -˜natural is best for me’, not boxtoxing yourself so you can barely smile.

And men shouldn’t be wearing lipstick or base or powders ­-” that’s my belief. For men, a natural ruggedness is far sexier.

I’m not interested in the stardom or being some celebrity therapist. It’s far more pleasing having an understanding of your clients, regardless if they’re famous or not. I’m a realist -” I understand fame is easy come, easy go.

Grooming experts are normally asked to heighten their camp and feminine qualities for television, but Fennell said he doesn’t need to act like a certain stereotype to get the message across, and would rather be himself.

I’m just myself on the show and that’s why I think I was cast, but my mother was happy that I had my clothes on for once, he said, referring to some recent photo shoots.

Even when I was auditioning for Queer Eye, people were trying to be the next Carson Kressley … but that’s not me. I think being comfortable in your own skin and not trying to fit a certain mould is far more appealing.

More than 1.3 million people watched the debut of Ten Years Younger in Ten Days. Its popularity possibly comes from the fact that it is a makeover show that doesn’t rely on cosmetic surgery.

I believe an obsession with youth can be a dangerous and slippery slope; so you need to find balance and understand a nip, a tuck and an acid peel are not going to shear a day off your biological age, Fennell said.

I know of too many people who have had so much lifting work done their arses are too tight to fart; but it hasn’t made them any happier on the inside and really that is what matters most.

As well as dazzling us on the small screen, Fennell is working on his own product line. In the meantime he is happy developing his salon in Bondi Junction and inspiring the nation with his natural and non-surgical approach to beauty.

info: Ten Years Younger in Ten Days screens 9.30pm Tuesdays Channel 7. Visit Will Fennell’s salon at willandpeta.com.