Adam Levine Reveals How He Pranked ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ Blake Shelton [Watch]
Adam Levine still can't quite get over the fact that his fellow The Voice coach Blake Shelton received People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive accolade. In a new interview, the singing star humorously says "it cheapened it a lot" when Shelton followed in his footsteps.
The Maroon 5 singer and Shelton are actually good friends, but they've kept up a light-hearted war of words ever since they started working together during the first season of The Voice. Levine tells Jimmy Kimmel that when he was crowned Sexiest Man Alive, he wasn't above rubbing it in a little bit.
Levine made a speech on Kimmel's show after receiving the honor in 2013, standing in front of a giant blow-up image of the cover of his People issue.
"I took it, framed it — this is not a cheap practical joke, by the way; it's a lot more expensive than I care to admit — and I sent it to [Shelton's] house in Oklahoma," he reveals.
Don't Forget These Other Sexy Country Men!
"He put it in his barn," he adds to laughter from the audience. "I guess that lit a fire under him, that now he wanted it."
"He's not sexy," Levine laments. "It also made it feel worse that I got it ... 'cause like sexy dudes got it before I did and I was like, 'Yeah, cool, I guess I'm sexy like that,'" he jokes, adding that now that Shelton has won, "I guess I'm not as sexy as I thought I was."
For his part, Shelton was quick to admit that he planned to gloat after the award was announced in November of 2017.
"I can’t wait to shove this up Adam's ass," he told People. "As proud as I am and honored that you guys asked me, that’s really the only thing I care about."
Levine is not the only friend of Shelton's to bust his chops over the honor. Luke Bryan reacted with mock astonishment when he was shown the cover at the taping of the CMA Country Christmas special that night, saying he was "speechless."
"He's taken so many things from me and now this? Who in the hell is choosing this? Am I being punked?" he demanded.
Tim McGraw also ribbed Shelton about the honor, posting an Instagram video of himself singing Mac Davis' "It's Hard to Be Humble" in a tribute to Shelton after he heard the news.
Twitter reacted with a good bit of humor to Shelton's honor, too.
13 Hilarious (and Mean) Reactions to Blake Shelton Being Named Sexiest Man