Meet Bartłomiej “Bartek” Struss, Mr. Bear Poland 2025

Get to know the charming and handsome gentle giant himself, Bartłomiej Struss, the new Mr. Bear Poland 2025.

BWM: Can you tell us a bit about your background?

Bartek: Hi, my name is Bartek (short for Bartłomiej), I was born and live currently in Warsaw with my boyfriend, Paweł. I’m 32 years old and I am a Service Desk agent in my everyday life. After work, I’m mostly a gaymer and a Pokemon fan. I enjoy learning foreign languages and history.

BWM: What drew you to the bear community?

Bartek: Basically, I was looking for my place within the LGBT+ community in Poland. Back in 2022 I was at the Warsaw pride with my boyfriend and it was the first time I was parading alongside the bears. That felt… well, nice. I felt like I wasn’t different from the rest, that I could fit in. Although I love the presence of all parts of the LGBT+ spectrum, I couldn’t fit any particular niche, until I found the bears. However, I didn’t join in with them until New Years Eve 2023/2024, when a now former Vice Mr Bear Poland, Krzysiek – a friend of mine – invited me to  a party with the bears, where I met the current Mr. Bear Europe, Marcin Jablonkowski, and a lot of other guys. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed as I am rather introverted in nature, but over time I felt really good among them. Eventually, I decided to continue meeting them. The first bigger venue I did that was at the Bear and Fetish Camp 2024, where I had an opportunity to meet a lot of bears from all over Poland and from abroad – I met my good friends from Czechia there. And it just snowballed from there on, up until the elections in Poznań. 

BWM: Tell us about your local bear scene and some of your favorite places or organizations whose events you enjoy.

Bartek: I am still fairly new to the community, so I am still discovering the scene. So far, I really enjoyed AmBears – an event organized by the bears from Gdańsk. We had a lovely time there, good beer and food, we had lots of time spent on a nude beach, I got to socialise more with a lot of folks during the whole event. Also, the Bear and Fetish Camp, this was a highlight of the year for me. The Bears of Poland association did a really good job selecting a wonderful place by the lake and organizing multiple events to entertain us. We had multiple interesting activities from swimming in the lake, to charades to the Mr. Wet t-shirt contest! Now, I am looking forward to going other places in Poland and exploring the events that are going to happen in 2025. 

BWM: How was your experience competing? What was the process like? What was your favorite part?

Bartek: For me competing was first and foremost a way to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted also to get in touch with the community. I was really stressed, but it was easier, each time I crossed the line.

First we had to put our application forms in with a filled questionnaire and provide some photos. Then, after the contestants had been announced, we started our online campaign on social media.

In the meantime, the Bears of Poland organized a live event to introduce the candidates and talk a bit with us. For the main event in Poland, we had to prepare a performance, around 2-3 minutes long. I went for a lipsync of Disney’s Vaiana song “You’re Welcome” (from Moana) but in Polish, since I really loved the translation of the song sung originally by Dwayne Johnson. You can see one of the photos from the performance.

Apart from the individual performances, we had to prepare one additional short performance that we would do together – we came up with the choreo within like 45 minutes and I think it turned out really nice. We danced to “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” by Abba and I love some good old disco! There was also a part where we had to introduce ourselves to the public and answer some funny questions picked by Vice Mr Bear Poland 2024, Krzysztof. 

My favorite part was the individual performance of course, I prepared for it for two weeks. I came up with the choreography with my boyfriend, Paweł. I prepared my costume, bought a wig, and sewed the plastic Hawaiian skirt to a pair of my underwear. I am really happy that the people liked it!

BWM: Tell us about your platform. What was the issue you campaigned on or addressed during the competition?

Bartek: During my campaign, I wanted to bring the community together as a whole. I talked about those smaller events that are being organized locally which I think are really important, since the main events are being organized in the major Polish cities.

In my opinion, we need to emphasize the fact that gays don’t live only in the major cities and that they also deserve and need to be seen and recognized. Plus, it’s a great way to explore our beautiful country! I also addressed my health condition a little bit, how I live with ADHD and depression. We definitely need to be addressing that in public, because there’s a great stigma around mental illnesses. I think I am a good example that you can have a mental illness but with professional help, you can live your life to the fullest and simply be happy. 

BWM: What are the responsibilities associated with your title?

Bartek: We don’t get any strict responsibilities when receiving the title. However, I feel that being Mr. Bear Poland is about bringing the people together in the community and fighting against any form of oppression, so that people feel seen and welcomed in the bear community. It is also important to represent this community abroad and outside the bear events, to show other people that we exist and thrive.

BWM: What are your goals for your title year? Where will you be appearing?

Bartek: I have a couple goals that I would like to achieve, we can get back to this question in a year and see what I managed to accomplish haha!

I would like to appear in most of the Polish events around the country, including some of those local events that I mentioned earlier. I would like to make the bear community visible at other LGBT+ events. And it would be nice to attract some chasers to the community because I feel most of them are afraid that they don’t belong here, while they obviously do!

In regards to my international trips, I would like to visit Vienna, Austria. I also got an invite for Oslo, Norway. The most important trip for me will be Prague in Czechia, as the Polish and Czech community are really close and I would like to maintain the cordial relationship that connects us. I also have other events in my mind but we’re gonna find out how it will go for me! Either way I am very excited to be given the opportunity to travel abroad and see other lovely bears and chasers!

BWM: What do you want people to know about the Polish bear scene?

Bartek: I’m still learning about the Polish bear scene myself but so far I can say that we are really open to other nations, we love to spend time with each other and have fun. I already found a lot of help and support from other guys in the community, even before I started the competition, so I think the Polish bears are the people that will always try to give you a hand in need. I would like to live up to these words myself too. 

Be sure to follow Bartek, Mr. Bear Poland 2025 on Instagram.