The Famous Actor Josh Duhamel Once Beat In A Modeling Competition

Actors are always in competition with one another when they are trying to land the same role for a film. Josh Duhamel has had his fair share of competing for roles and recalled in a May 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly that he was competing with "three to four other guys" for his role in "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton." Since then, Duhamel has gone on to be involved in blockbuster films including "Life as We Know It" and "Safe Haven." However, before competing to land various roles in films, Duhamel was also participating in other competitions that involved a more fashionable prize.

Now, famous runway models that may come to mind from the '90s probably include Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, but Duhamel also had his fair share on the runway. In a 2021 interview on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," the actor revealed that he had participated in a modeling competition in New York City back in the '90s. But, what made Duhamel's time on the runway even more memorable was the fact that he had competed and beaten another famous actor for the top title.

Josh Duhamel reflected on the time he beat Ashton Kutcher for a runway title when he was interviewed on the "Late Night with Seth Meyers" show. The actor shared that he traveled to New York for the first time in 1997, and participated in the runway show for Male Model of the Year. Duhamel joked, "It was probably the most pivotal moment in my life — beating Ashton Kutcher."

Duhamel told Meyers about the anticipation that had built up after talks about him and a "kid from Cedar Rapids," aka Kutcher, were in talks to win the top spot. The actor shared how the competition went one by one announcing the runner-ups. Eventually, they announced Kutcher as the first runner-up, making Duhamel the winner.

Duhamel shared his excitement from winning the competition saying, "I might have won Mrs. Universe." The actor joked, "They lifted me up, I had the sash, the crown, tears were flowing." When Meyers asked Duhamel if there was something that gave him an edge in winning the competition, Duhamel shared that his runway walk was "fierce". Duhamel has talked in several interviews about how the two actors feel about it now. He told Yahoo's OMG!, the two actors laugh about what happened and how Kutcher's career only took off from there. Although the two famous actors joke about it, Kutcher has a slightly different version of how that runway show went down.

Ashton Kutcher was not shy about sharing with "The Howard Stern Show" how he got into modeling. Kutcher told Stern how a model scout came up to him in a bar and asked him whether he had considered being a model. Kutcher, whose focus at the time was to become an actor, had really no interest in becoming a model. However, it's no secret that actors have taken on different jobs to pursue their careers in the entertainment industry, Kutcher included. Kutcher shared that after much reassurance from the model scout that this would only help his acting career, he decided to take on some runway gigs.

According to the interview, Kutcher had even won a couple modeling contests before his loss to Josh Duhamel. Despite being runner-up, the actor did acknowledge Duhamel's dashing looks, calling the actor "handsome." Kutcher, however, did share that the loss was tough for him and how he was upset with Duhamel for quite sometime after the competition. 

It was an "overwhelming" experience, as Kutcher recalled in 1997. At the end of the day, though, the "That '70s Show" actor couldn't deny that Duhamel was, in fact, "good-looking" and eventually came to terms with his loss to the actor. Although he came in second, it is safe to say that both Kutcher and Duhamel's careers have only skyrocketed since their time on the runway.