A British GP will shave off his prize-winning locks and send them in an urn to Australia after taking the Mullet of the Year title.
Dr Alistair Bush has said he wants to ignite an Ashes-style rivalry for the prize which he won after putting his name forward at a pub while visiting Kurri Kurri in New South Wales.
The Chelmsford Hotel has been hosting the competition since 2018 but the 45-year-old British medic came and conquered. As to whether a British pub will now take turns hosting an annual competition remains to be seen. But Dr Bush, soon to be seen with a haircut you can set your watch to, remains game.
“There’s something quite funny, I think, about an Englishman coming to Australia and winning a mullet competition,” he told the Newcastle Herald on Saturday.
“It’s like the Ashes in reverse. You guys came out and beat us, and there was such rancour from us in 1882 that these guys could come from the other side of the world and beat us at cricket. We burnt the bails.
“If I win this thing, I will burn my mullet and send the ashes back to them in a cup.”
And win he did. British Army medic Dr Bush had always sported a short back and sides but was prepared to let his hair down during the pandemic and has kept up the look. The hairstyle was once considered a relic of the 1980s but made a comeback in 2020, and two versions of the mullet were considered among the hairstyles of the summer. There have been various mullet competitions around the world, including this one in the USA for children.
The Chelmsford Hotel turned to advertising the mullet competition in 2018 when it was in need of a source of revenue having been threatened with closure. It has become more and more popular every year since, with thousands visiting Kurri Kurri - a village of just 6,000, west of Australian city Newcastle.
“The soldiers are mainly in their 20s and find the mullet funny,” Dr Bush said of his decision to keep the hairdo, which he described as “business at the front and party at the back”.
