EastEnders star Jake Wood has said he is in need of a “lie down” after being named the nation’s “weirdest crush” for a third year in a row.
He beat the likes of Alan Carr, Ricky Gervais and Eamonn Holmes to the top of the Heat magazine list, which includes recent reality show favourites Ed Balls and James Cosmo.
Jake, who plays London bad boy Max Branning in the BBC soap, joked that he had already started working on his campaign to hold the position for a fourth year.
After knocking comedian Matt Richardson from the throne in 2015, he said: “To win one was amazing, two was unbelievable, and I think I’m going to have to go have a lie down for a bit with this one.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be topped by anyone ever again… I’m definitely not resting on my laurels, though.”
Jake, 44, is followed in the 25-strong list by EastEnders’ Ben Champniss in second place and singer Ed Sheeran holding third position for another year.
Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan dropped three places to the bottom of the list.
Heat editor Suzy Cox said that the award, which has previously been won by celebrity illusionist Derren Brown, Karl Pilkington and Jeremy Clarkson, celebrates “unconventional objects of affection” and champions “cheeky eye twinkles and receding hairlines” as much as “well-crafted physiques”.
The full list of Heat’s weird crushes for 2017 includes:
1. Jake Wood
2. Ben Champniss
3. Ed Sheeran
4. Phillip Schofield
5. Rylan Neal-Clark
6. Julien Baptiste (The Missing)
7. Romesh Ranganathan
8. Michael Whitehall
9. Martin Compston
10. K-2SO (Star Wars)
11. Ed Balls
12. Diags (Towie)
13. Phil Lester (Youtube star)
14. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things)
15. Simon Cowell
16. Dean Gaffney
17. Alan Carr
18. Ricky Gervais
19. Aziz Ansari
20. Eamonn Holmes
21. James Cosmo (Celebrity Big Brother)
22. Chief Bogo (Zootopia)
23. Russell Howard
24. Hodor (Game Of Thrones)
25. Piers Morgan