Gwen Stefani convinced boyfriend to play along with Sexiest Man Alive title

Pop star Gwen Stefani was the driving force behind boyfriend Blake Shelton's new Sexiest Man Alive title after convincing the country star it was a good idea to take on the role.

People magazine bosses picked the singer as their 2017 Sexiest Man Alive earlier this month (Nov17), and now Blake is making the most of the tag, but girlfriend Gwen insists he was reluctant at first.

"That is not his thing at all," she said during a Tuesday night (21Nov17) appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "I feel responsible a little bit because he called me and was like, ‘I gotta talk to you about something. They want me to do this, and I hate doing photo shoots. I'm not gonna do it'.

"I was like, 'Why would you not do it? Your record just came out. You’re gonna look back, and you’re gonna regret it. Come on, just live in the moment. Everybody wants to see you do a photo shoot. I wanna see you do a photo shoot!'

"I kind of convinced him."

Blake has since embraced the title, even though trolls online have hammered People magazine editors for handing their Sexiest Man Alive title to someone they feel is undeserving.

Shortly after he was named the successor to 2016's Sexiest Man Alive Dwayne Johnson, Blake said, "I've been ugly my whole life. If I can be sexy for a year, I'm taking it...! It's going to be used in every conversation.

"I'm not going to treat this like Hugh Jackman or one of those guys who's humble about it. People are going to hate me over this."

And Gwen pretended to be shocked when she heard the news, adding, "What? Oh my God! Well, they got that right! Wow, I knew I was on to something. Wow, I'm gonna look really good, huh? I already had scored but now I really scored."