Friday, 29 April 2005

France’s hottest sex symbol is Binoche? Zidane? Olivier Martinez? Actually, it’s Lewis Wingrove.

The English-born Casanova is better known to the French as Nick, a serial seducer who has blogged a year of sexploits in graphic detail using Meetic, a French dating site. Wingrove’s blog was originally named « Je nique sur Meetic » (« I shag on Meetic ») but it recently changed into J.N.S.M. It has been visited 2.87 million times since its creation in January.

Libération called Wingrove « the most famous shagger on the web, » and added, « The writing is lively, the tone is naughty but never too vulgar as he savours every date all the way from the bistro to bed. » Nick — a play on nique, meaning « shag » — is negotiating a book deal on his « unforgettable socio-erotic experiment ».

Who is Wingrove? And what’s his secret? Well, he’s a 44-year-old resident of Lyons, where he works as an advertising copywriter and web designer. Astonishingly, he talked 52 women into going out with him between August 2003 and August 2004. Of those, 27 went to bed with him, a third of them on their first date. Of those 27 nanas (babes), three quarters made the first move.

As well as blogging his adventures « sous la couette » (« between the sheets »), he reprints his pick-up lines with Sylvie, Florence, Sonia, Solene, Béatrice and the other 27 conquests, whose average age was 40. All are given stars for « physique, figure, looks, breasts, bottom, charm/charisma, wit/complicity, tenderness/feeling ». Sylvie, 38, a blonde gets just two stars for charm and one for looks. She’s a banker. « I am screwing a banker! Usually it is the other way around, » he writes.

Meetic, one of the few European web ventures which is an international success, will go public in October. If Wingrove didn’t exist, one could well imagine that he’d been created by the company to drum up publicity. After all, France has already given the world  The Sexual Life of Catherine M and the web has given us  Belle de jour. Just sayin’, like.

Originaly published here (dead link): http://www.eamonn.com/archives/2005_04.html