MUSHY peas have never looked so good – at least not until hunky Croom farmer, Stephen Fitzgerald, became the ‘Mr Mushy Peas’ face of food giant Batchelor’s new campaign. 31 – year old poultry farmer, Stephen has gone back to basics for the ad campaign which is linked to a Facebook competition in which people are asked to vote for their favourite among three dishy farmers. “It’s a bit of fun and if it makes people smile in these times of gloom and doom, then why not?,” Stephen told the Limerick Post.
He was spotted by the people behind the campaign as one of the farmers who posed for this year’s charity calendar in aid of Bothar.
“They asked us up for auditions and picked three – I’m Mr Mushy Peas and the other lads and Mr Marrowfat and Mr Irish peas”. All three appear in billboard posters with cheeky captions – Stephen’s is “D’ya wanna spoon?” and he the only one of the three to go shirtless.
“I take it as a compliment that they asked me take my shirt off – but I didn’t tell anyone I was doing this, not even family. I keep getting calls from people who tell me they nearly crashed the car when they saw the billboard,” joked Stephen
His friends are having a field day with his new-found notoriety. “They keep going up to girls in the pub and asking if they know who I am. However embarrassed I think I can get, they embarrass me a bit more”.
Stephen is no shrinking violet and is a very active member of Marcra’s drama and debating crew as well as keeping that fit bod by taking part in sports.
“It’s great fun and you make so many friends,” he said.
And Stephen certainly qualifies as the ‘Batchelor’s Man” having no special lady in his life at the moment, “other than my mum, Julie”.
Stephen’s picture is now displayed on 240 billboards across the nation, “and I’m told they also put small posters in ladies bathrooms – I’m not sure how to feel about that”.
Voting in the competition closes on April 26 and the Limerick contender is hoping for lots of support.
Model Georgia Salpa pictured when she threw her support behind the Batchelors Farmer of the Year by asking the public to vote for their favourite. The public can vote for one of the three Irish Farmers on facebook including Limerick’s Stephen Fitzgerald.
