KSTP-TV meteorologist Ken Barlow is now an official contestant in the unofficial shirtless Twin Cities anchors photo contest.
Barlow is wearing long shorts and hauling a backpack in the photo he posted on Instagram. This one, he noted to me, "my wife approved."
That was not the case a few weeks ago when Barlow was inspired to post a photo after seeing another pecs-and-biceps-revealing snap on social media from his former meteorological student, KARE 11's Sven Sundgaard.
I couldn't find that photo and Barlow laughed very hard before admitting, "I took it right back down. My wife would have kicked my ass if she had known it was there. It was up for about three hours. Somebody said I should put that up there and show Sven who's boss. You probably saw the photo of Sven and his partner [Robert] kissing on Valentine's Day? Somebody said, 'That's nothing, show him what you've got.' And I said, 'OK,' like an idiot."
With that photo Barlow wrote something along the lines of: I might not be Sven, but I am 20 years older, so give me a break.
"Sven saw it [posted an LOL] and 'Work It,' " said Barlow. "I thought, OK, I've got to take this down."
Barlow looks fit but not as beefy as Sundgaard. "No. I'm 54. But he said I looked good so I take that as a compliment," said Barlow, who is not yet 54. "Stop laughing, I'll be 54 in April."
I told Barlow I didn't want to get him in trouble with his wife, Theresa, by writing about the photo she did not approve: "It's OK if she reads it as long as she didn't see it."