Trevor Hyland has gone viral online for his participation in the mullet competition which could see him represent Ireland at European level if he is successful.
Mr Hyland (26), who is actually a native of Shrule in the county, was afforded the moniker by an online commenter, when the publication Ladbible posted a story about his bid.
“I sent it there a couple of days ago to Ladbible and a couple of the big pages, and it just blew up,” said Mr Hyland, who never expected his story to garner so much attention.
The competition seeks to discover the best mullet in Switzerland. Semi-finalists will be offered the chance to take part in a parade in Valais, Switzerland, in October. The winner will then be sent on to further compete in the ‘Euro Mulet 2025’ pageant in France.
“So there’s the public vote, which is all of September until the 26th, and then they’ll announce the winner on the 27th,” said Mr Hyland. He explained that there will also be a panel of judges who will influence the results.
Mr Hyland, who lives in the town of Visp and works in pharmaceuticals manufacturing, said he is excited for the festival, which will feature past competition winners. “They have the mullet king from the 1970s, I’m not joking. He’s this like, ancient fella that still has the mullet, he’s going to be handing down the chalice or whatever.”
The iconic entry picture of Mr Hyland that captured the internet’s attention was taken by his close friend and professional barber, Ciaran Collopy. Mr Hyland had flown to Dublin for his sister’s wedding, where he surprised his family with the radical new trim.
He had sported the mullet for a few months already, and had put his name down for the competition. But he wanted to spruce himself up before submitting a photo, and didn’t trust anyone other than his friend to get it right.
He sat in the barber’s chair for “two or three hours” as Mr Collopy worked his magic. “That was two days before my sister’s wedding,” Mr Hyland said.
His family didn’t discover Mr Hyland’s new haircut until the day before the big event. “Only my brother at this point knew that I had the mullet, and he was laughing away like, in the corner,” he said.
Trevor Hyland with his mullet
In amongst the chaos of the wedding planning, Mr Hyland managed to avoid detection for a while. “They were all panicking sorting out the wedding. No one noticed, I thought great, maybe I’ll sneak under the radar here.”
But his mother realised something was afoot when the family sat down for dinner that night. “She wasn’t happy with it at all,” said Mr Hyland, laughing at the memory.
“It got so much attention then, at the wedding,” he said. “I had people coming up to me every five minutes like, ‘We hear you’re doing a hair competition’ and all this.”
He said the positive attention helped improve the rest of his family’s opinion of the haircut.
“I think when they saw everyone else’s happy reaction, they kind of accepted it,” he said.
To vote for Mr Hyland in the competition, you can follow the link here. But you can’t just vote for one person – you’ll have to pick a total of five favourite entries. “You have to vote for five, and then you enter your email, I think a lot of people don’t know that,” he said.
Mr Hyland joked that the competition has given him the opportunity to better engage in the local culture of Switzerland, where he’s been living for the past year.
He has enjoyed the experience, as he had wanted to emigrate, but still stay close to home. “I didn’t want to go somewhere too far that I can’t fly home,” he said.
And despite not having gone as far as Australia, he couldn’t complain about the weather. “In summer, it’s like the high 30s, like 35 degrees on average. And then in the winter, I’m skiing every weekend,” he said.
Can-do attitude: Trevor bears a striking resemblance to the Mullet Tea character
Prizes for winning the competition include being awarded the Swiss Mullet Cup trophy, and a year’s worth of Mullet Tea, a brand of ‘hard ice tea’ that is the competition’s main sponsor. The winner will also become the face of Mullet Tea.
Mr Hyland has previously joked that he has a special advantage, as he bears a striking resemblance to Mullet Tea’s current mascot.