'Robert Allan Arnold' (
13 August 1982), commonly known as Rob Arnold, is a
postie from
Wellington,
New Zealand, who achieved more than his fair share of fifteen minutes of fame in a New Zealand boy band,
Boyband, as the gay boy. Their debut single, a remake of the classic
Kinks song "
You Really Got Me", debuted at #1 on the New Zealand Music Charts on
9 October,
2006.
Before Boyband, Rob had auditioned for every series of
New Zealand Idol, as well as achieving minor notoriety by auditioning twice on reality show “Showstoppersâ€, the second time in disguise, incurring the anger of judge
Michael Hurst. He also appeared on the ill-fated TV Reality TV Show "The Ultimate Challenge". He has also appeared on
Maori Television's "Te Mika Show" in 2006 and
TVNZ’s "How Normal Are You".
Growing up in
Porirua, Rob is the youngest of five children. He and his older sister Jaime Arnold, who is the current holder of the "Ms Gay Downunder" title and a former columnist for
UP magazine, controversially won the Cutest Couple award at the Glammies (a Wellington gay community award ceremony), in which Rob also took home the "Spunkiest Boy" Award. In the same year he was crowned "Queer Idol", as part of the
UniQ Pride Week celebrations.
He has done numerous modeling jobs, appeared in small roles a number of feature-length films, and appeared on the cover of “Capital Times†as a male cheerleader.
See also
★ www.theedge.co.nz - The Edge Radio station created Boyband
★ http://promo.theedge.co.nz/boyband/#story - Boyband's webpage
★
Brand new kiwi Boyband: Spot the gay one, GayNZ.com, September 24, 2006. Accessed April 20, 2007