Last week we told you rumors were swirling that Channing Tatum was set to become the 2012 Sexiest Man Alive -- and it looks like those rumors were true.

PEOPLE made its big (if expected) announcement on Wednesday with an issue showing the 'Magic Mike' star in a white tank on the cover.

Upon learning he'd been chosen for the honor, the Alabama-born Tatum said his first thought was "y'all are messing with me." And he told his wife of three years, actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum, the news "after we'd been in the bathtub washing our dogs because they'd gotten skunked."

Man, no wonder he's wearing a wifebeater in the photo. He sounds about one can of Skoal away from a monster truck rally.

But we'll cut him some slack on that since he's supposedly a true Renaissance man who spends his free time sculpting, quoting Edgar Allan Poe and giving Jenna massages.

"People know him to be fun and sexy, but they don't know how emotionally deep and spiritually open he is," she told the magazine about her 32-year-old husband. "He is such an open-hearted person; what you see is what you get."

He's also ready for them to start their family, but while he'd like a whole gaggle of kids, he understands he's not the one who has to carry and birth them -- so he's dialed down the enthusiasm a bit. "The first number that pops into my head is three," he said, "but I just want one to be healthy and then we'll see where we go after that."

Up next? He'll play an Olympic athlete in the 2013 film 'Foxcatcher.' But in the meantime, get the 'Magic Mike' DVD, invite your girls and best gays over, and celebrate Tatum's new title as God intended: with a raucous evening of unabashed objectification.

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