Jon Jonsson’s 2 Month Singapore Stint

Freshly coiffured and styled he was, but surfer dude Jon Jonsson looked spaced-out last Saturday at the office of Ave. Management modelling agency.
“I have been sleeping loads but I’m still pretty jet-lagged since arriving in Singapore three days ago, “said the 22-year-old Icelandic-Thai winner of Manhunt: The Search For America’s Most Gorgeous Male Model.
The eight-part reality TV series premiered in the United States on the Bravo TV network last October and is now airing in Asia on Star World.
With his wavy tresses and exotic good looks, Jonsson walked away with a four-year US$100,000 contract with the prestigious New York-based IMG. He was also offered a two-month overseas stint in a city of his choice.
“I chose Singapore, I love the heat, I love the humidity,” he said. His distaste for New York’s cold weather has been well-documented on his personal blog previously.
“It’s so near to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, with all their rainforests and beaches – I may never leave this region,” added Jonsson, whose only other trip to Asia had been to Songkhla, Thailand, 17 years ago, to visit his Thai mother’s relatives.

His mum teaches Thai at the Defense Language Institue in Monterey, California, while his Dad is an atmospheric research scientist at the Naval Post-graduate School in Monterey.
Thanks to his genes, perhaps, it seems Jonsson is no himbo, as he’s pursuing an astrophysics degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Born in Iceland, the resident of Carmel, California, is the second of three sons. His family moved to New York and then Colorado before settling in California in 1994.
Turning serious, Jonsson rued that Manhunt’s producers “tended to blow up the drama a little too much”. For example, the 1.8m-tall hunk says, “if someone cried a little, they would make it out to be a real big deal”.
“The producers kind of forced things upon us which were not in the terms of our contracts with Bravo TV – like the nude shoot they asked me and Rob to do,” he said, referring to the series’ finale where he and law undergraduate Rob Williams were asked to bare all before the camera.
Also Jonsson learnt later that he had been secretly selected as the winner two episodes earlier. All that might explain why he does not relish taking part in another reality TV show.
Shortly after filming for the show ended last August, he broke up with his art student girlfriend Jilian Kunysz – primarily because he had to leave for New York for his contractual obligations while she wanted to stay put in California.

So, despite winning the Manhunt title, Jonsson said what he really longs for is a meaningful relationship.
“You may be a hot model and all, but beyond that, it’s really important to have someone to share your life with.”
Given his newly minted celebrity status, he is surely in prime position to romance and be romanced. As he put it: “I take to female attention very kindly.”