Rest easy: Ellen DeGeneres has a new hunk tending to her flowers.
As “The Ellen Show” was in need of a new resident gardener after the previous was cast in the sequel to “Magic Mike,” DeGeneres held a mini-pageant for three contestants on her Tuesday show.
The finalists were culled from video auditions uploaded to Ellentube and the show’s audience were able to choose. It went with Derek Yates, a lean-muscled actor and dancer from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
“I represent the guys with body hair that are so often left out, yet who are just as sexy if not sexier than the guys who are fully shaved,” Yates wrote in an essay accompanying his submission clip.
“And since I am already an actor, model, and singer (who can dance as well), I’d fit right in with helping to entertain not only Ellen herself and her studio audience, but America as well.”
That kind of confidence and a killer upper body nabbed him a golden hoe from the host, with a $1,000 gift card to boot. Runners up received $500 gift cards to the retail chain.
TheWrap had its own pick for the gig, whose video ultimately made it on-air.
Yates’ title, however flattering, is temporary. Full time gardner Bill Reilich was called away from his post to film “Magic Mike XXL.”
Star and writer Channing Tatum surprised Reilich by offering him the part, thanks to those weekly glimpses of his six-pack on the syndicated show. He’ll appear alongside Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Matthew McConaughey and more before returning to DeGeneres.