Is Jim from The Office really the sexiest man in the world?

Name: John Krasinski.

Age: 45.

Appearance: Sexiest man alive.

Who says? People magazine.

Nothing personal, but I don’t think he meets some of the key criteria required to hold that title. Such as?

For a start, I should have heard of him. You know who he is, you just don’t know you know.

Do I? He played Jim in the US version of The Office.

Oh, maybe. Yes, his face rings a bell. In fact, he appeared in every single one of the sitcom’s 201 episodes, and also directed a number of them.

Of course! I recognise him now. It’s Jim! He’s also been in dozens of films and TV shows, including the action series Jack Ryan, as Jack Ryan.

And now he’s the sexiest man alive. Who could have known? It’s been a long time coming: he appeared on People’s longlist of sexiest men in 2006, 2009, 2018 and 2019.

Again, nothing personal, but isn’t he a bit, erm, hangdog to be considered the sexiest man alive? The choice was not greeted with universal approval. Reactions on social media ranged from “Hmmmm, I’m not sure” to “I’m so disappointed it’s not even funny”.

Now I feel bad. He’s perfectly nice looking. Some people even compared his triumph to the, er, controversial inclusion of Benny Blanco in the same list.

Who on earth is Benny Blanco? We don’t have time for that.

Anyway, well done to John Krasinski for his stunning – if counterintuitive – victory. If it helps him get a few dates, it will have been worth it. He’s been married to Emily Blunt since 2010. They have two kids.

Wow! John’s a bit of a dark horse, isn’t he? No, he isn’t. He’s a consistently successful comic actor, action star, director, writer and producer with four Emmy nominations under his belt.

In that case, maybe they should have conferred the title on someone who could have leveraged it a bit. Like Benny Blanco?

Maybe, but you’d really have to give me an idea of who exactly he … I’m sorry, I’ve told you we can’t get into that right now.

Do you mean Benny Blanco from the Bronx? No, that’s a minor character from the 1993 film Carlito’s Way. This Benny Blanco is a highly successful music producer and songwriter who goes out with Selena Gomez.

And let me guess: the internet didn’t like that either? Bingo.

It’s almost like these “sexiest man alive” polls are extremely old fashioned, objectifying, and add nothing to the culture except to annoy people. Almost!

Do say: “Cheer up, John! It may never happen!”

Don’t say: “You weren’t even the sexiest man in The Office.”