Will Ferrell jokes that he turned down Sexiest Man Alive title given to Paul Rudd

Will Ferrell has joked that he was supposed to be crowned Sexiest Man Alive by People this year, but turned down the title, which was subsequently awarded to Paul Rudd.

Ferrell and Rudd appeared together on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in order to promote their new miniseries The Shrink Next Door.

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Talk inevitably turned to Rudd's recent crowning as the sexiest man on the planet, succeeding other recent winners including Michael B. Jordan and John Legend.

"I'm totally cool with it because I turned it down," Ferrell told Fallon with a completely straight face. "I called Paul. I go: 'Paul, I can't do it but something's coming your way'."

Reacting to being crowned Sexiest Man Alive earlier this month, Rudd told People: "I'm going to lean into it hard. I'm going to own this. I'm not going to try to be like 'Oh, I'm so modest.' I'm getting business cards made.

"But all of my friends will destroy me and I expect them to. And that's why they're my friends."

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Rudd also revealed in a separate interview that even his wife — the only other person who knew in advance that he was going to win — probably wouldn't have chosen him.

"She would have voted for Keanu Reeves. Come on, he’s Keanu, I’d vote for him, " he told Extra.

The Shrink Next Door features Rudd in the role of a real-life psychiatrist who inserted himself into the life of a patient — played by Ferrell — in order to manipulate and exploit him.

The eight-part psychological drama series is based on a 2019 podcast series from Wondery which explored the case in detail.

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Rudd, meanwhile, is currently appearing on the big screen as one of the lead characters in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which brings back the surviving stars of the 80s franchise.

The Shrink Next Door is currently available to stream weekly on Apple TV+.

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