Craig Dunlop is not like that, he doesn’t shoot pigs.

But he does have a reputation for turning women to lesbianism and being a man who is very, very in touch with his feelings — too in touch with his feelings.

Dunlop wasn’t born in the Territory, few are.

He came, like most, because he’d squandered his opportunities in the “real” world, so went north. People either run to hide in Coober Pedy, Christmas Island or Darwin.

And Darwin is where you go if your life is redeemable.

Dunlop is among 30 of the country’s hottest blokes in Cosmopolitan magazine’s Bachelor of the Year competition, which has taken over from Cleo’s annual hunt for eligible men after the magazine folded in January.

He was nominated as a joke, but seemingly the magazine didn’t get the joke — or perhaps they did, it’s hard to find meaning and reason here.

“A mate nominated me as a feeble attempt at being funny, needless to say it blew up in his face,” Dunlop said.

“I know my mum has voted for me a few times. I don’t know what sort of message she’s trying to send me. I’m pretty sure she wants me to find a nice girl who reads teenage lifestyle magazines.”

Dunlop said he would contact an ex-girlfriend for this article, who came out as a lesbian after the relationship ended, but with the warning “she’s pretty successful and she might not want to be named for fear of public association with me”.

Fellow NT News journalist Jill Poulsen — who shot to world attention earlier in the year when she was named the world’s first croc and UFO reporter — has worked with Dunlop for a few years and sees him being a finalist as a win, of sorts.

“Was I surprised Craig made it as a finalist in Cosmo bachelor of the year?” she said.

“Yeah, sure I was, and I don’t mean in a mean way, but the bloke has never once worn an ironed shirt to work and carries around a little yellow bag with birds on it.

“I guess it’s a bit of a win for mediocre men everywhere.”

Another woman from his past — who did not want to be named, but said she knew him intimately — revealed Dunlop had a talent for being able to blur the gender lines in a relationship.

“And as a woman who has slept with him, I did consider batting for the other team afterwards,” she said.

“He’s a gentle lover, like a lady, but if I want to sleep with a lady, I want boobs attached.

“He’s also literally the hairiest man I have ever seen. It’s like he was dunked in Regaine as a child.”

ALTHOUGH he is the paper’s main court reporter, Dunlop found infamy, like all decent NT News journos, by writing stories that would be “career killers” for your more, staid, self-important scribes who operate “down south”.

“I like Darwin and storytelling is the most fundamental cultural activity humans engage in,” Dunlop said. “Also, you can buy mangoes here for $2 per kilogram.

“I once wrote a story about a kangaroo humping a pig.

“I broke the internet that day, kind of like that Kardashian chick, but without balancing a champagne flute on my behind.”

Under the front page headline “I’ve got roo, babe” with a photo of a kangaroo and a pig caught mid-copulation, Dunlop gets lyrical about the illicit macropod-swine love:

A KANGAROO and a pig have struck up an intense romantic relationship in the tiny wayside town of Aileron.

The animals’ owner Greg Dick said tourists were often taken aback at the sight of the kangaroo — named F**k It — mounting Apples the pig by the side of the road.

But he says he’s powerless to intervene in the outback love affair.

“It’s quite an unusual thing,” he said. “I tried to take the pig away the other day and the kangaroo nearly tore the fence down.”

But despite being a gentle lover, he said F**k It was sometimes unfaithful. “He’ll try to (get on to) anything, it’s a wonder he hasn’t had a go at the geese,” he said.

There’s also the yarn about the homeless man and Lord Mayoral candidate known as The Rubbish Warrior stripping naked in court; the “furious masturbator” at Royal Darwin Hospital; the investigation into why Darwin council installed solar panels ... in the shade; and how the receptionist from the NT Opposition leader’s office drunkenly assaulted a charity boss on a plane.

COSMOPOLITAN did not respond to questions about how Dunlop had become a finalist and what characteristics made him among the most appealing bachelors in Australia.

Or even what went wrong with the processes that allowed him in.

This year the nominations were done through Tinder and the 300 men with the most “right swipes” from women “voting” for them were presented to the judging panel.

Former winners include Eric Bana, Jason Dundas, Andy Lee and Andy G (now known as Osher Gunsberg, host of, funnily enough, The Bachelor).

But there is hope — the original blue Wiggle, Anthony Field, is also a previous winner.

The winner of the present competition will be announced in February.

Another female journalist who works with Dunlop, Tamara Howie, said his success was slightly unexpected.

“Craig’s an unlikely finalist, mainly because of the idea of being part of a competition implies a tiny shred of attainability for the desperate chicks jelling off to the photos,” she said.

“But anyone close to Craig knows there’s no room in his life for anyone else because of his ego.

“And it’s lucky he’s good looking so you can stare into those dreamy blue eyes for hours while he stutters out a sentence.

“Despite the Cosmo photos of him looking schmick in a suit, he has never worn anything similar to work and usually comes to work dressed like a lawyer with a heroin habit who hasn’t been caught yet.”

ANOTHER female colleague, Hayley Sorensen, said he was the complete package ... in a way.

“He smells terrible sometimes,” she said. “And he’s on a cadet wage. And he has the most befuddling fashion sense.”

But among Dunlop’s host of chick-melting qualities is his self-deprecating humour, essential for a hack at the bearded lady of Australian newspapers.

“I once did a bit of manscaping for a date and trimmed my chest hair, but then ran out of patience and still had the back hair going on in its full, natural beauty,” Dunlop said.

“It was like a body mullet.

“Much to my disappointment they (Cosmo) didn’t go for an underwear shot. They only seemed to do that with the guys who have been to the gym. I felt kind of body shamed.”

Dunlop drives a 1986 Mitsubishi Sigma, which is “actually one of the best cars ever made in Australia, if not the best”.

“I purchased it off a woman called Thelma,” he said.

“There was no mention of a Louise, but I like to think that at some stage it’s been on a feminist journey of self discovery, ending with being driven off a cliff.

“We’ve had plenty of adventures. There was that time I broke down near Wagga.

“Then there was the time I broke down in Tenant Creek. And the time I broke down in Ouyen.

“By adventures, I mean breakdowns.

“Let’s just say that I get my value for money out of premium roadside assistance.”

Dunlop was asked on the official competition website why people should vote for him. His answer? “Sometimes average blokes deserve to win.”