Ireland’s Answer To The Fifty Shades Fiend: Will The Real Christian Grey Please Stand Up?

We thought the Fifty Shades mania was over, swept under the bookshelves, something we’d all look back on in a few years with a glass of wine, a good giggle and a small sense of shame.

But that’s where we’re wrong.

The Fifty Shades phenomenon must still be going strong, to say that there is now a real-life Irish Christian Grey. That’s his name, don’t get it wrong.

Christian, formerly known as Gary Crawford, is a young Antrim man who was so taken by the raunchy S&M blockbuster that he changed his name to the steamy novel’s main character.

The 22-year-old barman switched his identity by Deed Poll for €40.

Gary, excuse us, Christian has put his new full name on his identification badge at work.

But it seems you can’t put a price on pulling women…

The young man had to change it to just his new first name when too many women came on too strong.

He said: “I always said I didn’t like my name and thought I’d love to change it.

“I was sitting with mates one night and I told them I was going to change it.

“They asked what to and I said something which people would find funny. I suddenly thought of the name Christian Grey.

“As soon as it entered my head that was it. I went straight home and filled in a form on the Deed Poll website. Another form came out by post and I signed it and that was it.”

Well now, we see nothing wrong with Gary Crawford…

Ireland's answer to Christian Grey...

The Fifty Shades trilogy follows the sexual adventures of billionaire businessman Christian and innocent student Anastasia Steele. Dubbed ‘mummy porn’, it captured the imagination of millions the world over with its steamy bondage scenes.

Despite adopting one of the best-known names on the planet, Christian said he wasn’t impressed by the book which documents the red-hot exploits of his namesake.

He told The Irish Sun: “This will sound strange but I found it very repetitive and from my point of view poorly written.

“But my new name has got a lot of people talking.

“When women in work see my name, for example a hen party, they say, ‘Your second name isn’t Grey is it?’

“I say that now you’ve mentioned it, it actually is.

“I had Christian Grey on my name badge for a couple of weeks but I was getting far too many looks from people, but I love it.”

We say you do Gary, eh-hem, apologies, Christian…