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Ryan Reynolds jokes about Paul Rudd as 'Sexiest Man Alive': 'This opportunity will be wasted on him'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated Nov 10, 2021 7:29 PM ET

Ryan Reynolds held People 's coveted annual "Sexiest Man Alive" title in 2010, so he reacted to Paul Rudd's 2021 crown with a heavy dose of hindsight.

"I think that this opportunity will be wasted on him, like so many before him," Reynolds joked on TODAY, where he was promoting his new Netflix movie Red Notice. "He's gonna play it shy. He's gonna play it bashful, humble. If I'd known what I knew now, I wouldn't do that. You gotta seize this opportunity."

"If I got it now, I'm not saying I would leave my family, but they would need to go on without me," the 45-year-old actor and filmmaker continued. "I would roam the world clutching my dog-eared People magazine, going from town to town. Sewing my wild oats like some sort of nude, magical gardener. It would be amazing."

Reynolds was correct in his assumption that Rudd would play it off.

"I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I'd be picked for this, they would say, 'What?'" Rudd told People for this week's cover story. "This is not false humility. There are so many people that should get this before me."

Rudd was officially unveiled as the new "Sexiest Man Alive" on last night's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Watch below.

Megan Armstrong

Megan Armstrong (@megankarmstrong) is a writer whose work has appeared in places such as Billboard, GQ, Esquire, Bleacher Report, Uproxx, and others. Megan has also produced various podcasts and hosted a daily radio show at Mizzou. She grew up obsessed with sports — impressing adults by memorizing NFL statistics as a kindergartner — and grew into an obsession with music

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