$26m man turns down interviews, ladies'offers

Trevor took his parents, Kevin and Shirley, with him to the NZ Lotteries office in Wellington yesterday when he handed over his winning ticket and claimed his $26,598,265. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's newest multimillionaire was still in hiding yesterday after winning a $26 million fortune, but there is no shortage of people trying to get close to him.

Trev, as he wants to be known, hasn't been seen since he outed himself on Tuesday as the winner of the Powerball draw on Saturday.

Yesterday, Lotteries spokeswoman Karen Jones said he was still taking time for himself.

"He's taken a few days to get out of town and is turning down subsequent media interviews, women's magazine requests ... emails from ladies."

She said she couldn't talk in detail about the offers he'd had but there had been a lot of "chatter online and on the radio with ladies saying they would love to be able to meet him".

However, NZ Lotteries hadn't been approached directly by wannabe partners. As far as she was aware, the only unwanted approaches Trev had had were a few people asking for money and he was "happy and taking a few days for things to settle down".

His Facebook page has disappeared this week as he tries to keep a low profile, and he is taking financial advice, according to the Lotteries spokeswoman. Meanwhile, a caller to Kerre Woodham's Newstalk ZB programme on Tuesday said he once won just over $1 million - just a day after he finalised his divorce.

"I think he should run - I won just a million ... It changes people. You've got to understand most of us [who win Lotto] didn't earn it so don't know how to manipulate it and manage it."

His advice for Trev was to leave Te Kauwhata, probably forever. "I feel for him, unfortunately he's going to have to leave town [or like another winner] get out of the country for six months."