From the moment you meet Travis Fimmel it is clear that he is not your average male model. This 22-year-old Australian farm boy is more concerned with getting a six-pack of beer than the other kind. It shows, but in his attitude, not his gut.

Fimmel's distinctly unaverage qualities first came to light when he appeared on a giant billboard at the corner of Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. The advert, for Calvin Klein underwear, caused traffic congestion, and prompted complaints that it was "indecent, sexually suggestive, and demeaning". But most British women weren't complaining, they were gasping. My, how he filled those briefs.

Calvin Klein knew what he was doing when he chose Fimmel to be his new "face". He knew the chiseled perfection of many male models can be a turn-off. Fimmel, by contrast, doesn't have a trace of Zoolander about him. He is alternately nonchalant and embarrassed about his status as the "man of the golden bulge", and winces as his latest Calvin Klein advert is produced (this one is for Crave, the new men's fragrance). It shows him leaning back moodily, jeans undone just enough to reveal the top of his briefs. I ask if he likes it better than the underwear campaign. "Yeah. I never said I liked the other one, did I?" he says.

This is a boy who clearly prefers larking about to glowering. At the apartment complex where the photo shoot took place, he performs a perfect somersault into the pool. "Travis! Its way too shallow!" admonishes a minder. "Oh, sorry," he says sheepishly. He was in his element charming two older ladies who had been rounded up to play cards with him. "Come on, ladies, don't be bashful!" he exhorts, when the photographer asks them to squeeze in closer.

But an hour later it is Fimmel who is bashful, staring into his beer when the subject of his sex-symbol status comes up. "It’s all just a laugh," he says, obviously hoping the topic will go away. Was he embarrassed during the underwear shoot? "All the time. How can you not be embarrassed? It was weird."

There are compensations of course. Besides the six-figure salary, he is rumored to have 500 pairs of free underpants. "I've got four pair," he corrects. "I do get free ones, but everybody takes them." ("Everybody" is the stream of mates who pass through the Hollywood house he shares with Callum Best, the son of George.)

"I was disappointed today when they said they didn't have any for the shoot," he continues, and is then informed by a minder that there are some waiting for him. "Oh, awesome!" he responds, genuinely happy- there is nothing like free stuff to keep a young male happy.

Fimmel, you might say, is the uber young male. It is his job to be just like other guys his age- only more so. The son of a cattle farmer and a nurse, he spent his childhood milking cows, wakeboarding, and dirt-biking. No wonder he dug in his heels at the prospect of hot wax. The only beauty product he succumbed to was eye drops. "That has been my main problem- bloodshot eyes."

He wanted to be an actor not a model, but it is part of the Fimmel legend that he arrived in Los Angeles from London with only $60 in his pocket. After first heading to the pub (the Coach & Horses on Sunset Boulevard), he walked into a modeling agency with his trainers slung over his shoulder, and was signed on the spot.

He made a bit of money appearing in "very cheesy" music videos for Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez, and had a very strict order of priority on how he spent his new-found cash. "I had two TVs before I had a couch," he beams.

Most of the rest of his money was sent home to his parents, who bought a house by the river. "It was such a good feeling to be able to go: "Here, Mum, do whatever you want." His brow furrows for a moment. "I might need to ask for some money back- I'm in trouble at this moment..."

This streak of benign hopelessness adds credence to his claim that he is an average guy. And just because it has been used to full effect by Calvin Klein marketing men doesn't mean that it isn't true.

"What is the difference between a fragrance and an aftershave?" he asks, then admits that he never used to wear either. "But I get sent Crave, and its good, so I wear it. I also use the deodorant now. Its a good way to get laid," he says, ad-libbing from the campaign spiel.

Women might not be so impressed by the state of his pad, however. His house is "minimalist"- a useful term for the absence of furniture- and, from the sound of it, none too clean because he and Best refuse to employ help. A few months ago, he was reported to have dined with Meg Ryan at Nobu in New York. "That is just one of the many bullcrap stories- even my dad still doesn't believe I wasn't with her." In fact, he says he hasn't had a girlfriend for two years; not since he dated Nicole Appleton , the All Saints singer. I had read that the relationship ended because he found her "boring". "No, she dumped me," Fimmel says. "I was a bit of an immature person. I liked Nicole. She was cool." Before that, his girlfriend was the manager of a bar in Melbourne. She used to cut his hair very short, and says he only grew it long after they split, because he couldn't be bothered to go to a barber.

He had moved to Melbourne, four hours from his parents' farm, to study sports management at university and play Australian football- "the best game in the world". He had hoped to play professionally, but an injury ended Fimmel's hopes of a sporting career and he decided to travel instead. A move to London saw him become a first-rate ligger on the party circuit. "I went to the places where I knew there would be free drinks," he says candidly. "I had a good time. I'm happiest in a bar with my mates."

It perhaps comes as no surprise that he can't be bothered with dating rituals, and he is most wary of women who lack humor: “I love a girl with resistance. Someone who can stick up for herself. I’m more than happy to be told where to go.”

But does he make a good boyfriend? “I think so. Its about not being selfish. Its so nice to meet somebody and be the person who takes care of them. I love having somebody appreciate what I do for them.” Well, women the world over are appreciating him right now, but still, those ads must be something to live up to. Fimmel says they’re computer enhanced: the Calvin Klein people say not.

The interview is over, and Fimmel, much relieved, slips out for a cigarette. But there is one lingering question that I must clear up. He says he hasn’t had a girlfriend in two years, and he doesn’t date. Surely he hasn’t been celibate? “Er, no,” he says, reddening. “But I don’t sleep around.” Perish the thought.