Rubber-faced Tommy Mattinson won the World Gurning Championship for a record 19th time — and vowed: “I want to win 30.”
Tommy, 52, beat off stiff competition to take the men’s crown, while Claire Lister, 37, won the women’s category for the eighth time in a row.
Claire’s daughter Kendal was crowned champion in the junior category of the wacky competition, held each year in Egremont, Cumbria.
The judges crown the winning contestant based on whoever exhibits the sharpest transformation between their normal face and their loud face.
Tommy, whose father was a reigning champion, said: “It’s great, I’m so pleased to win it again. I didn’t expect it, I never expected it, but there was some tough opposition tonight.
“When I pull the face, I go into my zone and I don’t hear the crowd and I don’t feel anything.
“I’ll be back. I want 30. I think if you’re a champion, you’ve got to come back and defend it. As long as I’m alive and kicking, I’ll be back and support him.
“People think ‘oh haven’t you earned enough?’ but I like winning, I like it.
“I do a lot of TV and I meet a lot of stars, I’ve done some Saturday night TV and children’s TV and I love that whole aspect.
“I remember winning the juniors for the first time. I started screaming when I was little, trying to copy my dad, who was a world champion.
“My mom said I always drew faces as a kid.”
Dozens of hopefuls took part in the event, which is part of the Egremont Crab Fair, which also sees wheelbarrow races and bugle races.
Attendees try to pull the most grotesque face possible while wearing a large horse collar.
Their face contortion efforts are then judged by a panel of five judges, who are looking for the “biggest facial transformation”.
The fair is thought to date back to 1267 – when crab apples were given to the townspeople by the Lord of the Manor.
Hometown hero Claire Lister, who has won the women’s race for the eighth time in a row, said: “I started screaming when I was a junior, I would come second and third.
“As you get older, you become a teenager and it becomes a bit embarrassing. But I entered in 2013 when I was 26 and that’s when I won for the first time.
“I missed 2014 because I had a baby, but since then I’ve won back-to-back.
“At Lockdown, we’ve entered a competition in Japan via Zoom and we’ve been on TV with him, it’s really cool.”
Discussing the competition, chairman Callum Scott said: “People come from all over the country to take part.
“I think it appeals to a lot of people because it’s so unique – and because of the tradition.
“We’re one of the oldest fairs in the world and the stoning is believed to have started in 1267. It’s just an iconic part of the city.”
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