X Factor contestant Duane AJ doll collection in Cornwall

Former X Factor contestant Duane AJ, 34, spends lots of his spare cash on his hobby - including buying mini Jimmy Choo shoes for some of the dolls.

He started collecting at the age of five - for which he says he was bullied during his childhood.

But singer Duane, from Truro, Cornwall, says he now wants to speak out, to break the stereotype - saying men can collect dolls too.

He said: "It's an expensive hobby - I have to make sure all my bills are paid each month before I buy any dolls.

"I don't know why I love them so much, but I do. I believe I was born to collect dolls.

"I just want to raise awareness for guys who collect dolls. It's fine to do what you enjoy, whoever you are."

Duane with some of his favourite dolls (Image: Daniel Dayment)

Duane - who made it to the 'boot camp' stage of X Factor in 2006 - got his first doll at a car boot sale.

His grandma offered to buy him something he liked and he picked his first ever doll - and became "obsessed".

From there it grew - and for every birthday and Christmas family would buy him different types of dolls.

But when he began taking them to school he was picked on by classmates for his hobby.

He said: "Growing up my family always fully supported my hobby - they never made me feel like it was wrong.

"But at school the boys would take the mick and call me gay - it got the better of me and in the end I stopped taking them."

Duane has roughly 200 dolls (Image: Daniel Dayment)

From there, Duane continued collecting dolls in secret - even as he moved into adulthood.

He began to stop being ashamed and embrace his passion.

After paying his bills each month, all of his leftover money would go on purchasing new dolls for his collection.

He has everything from £20 Barbies through to Japanese Smart Dolls which set him back up to £600 due to having to also pay to import them.

The costs incurred aren't only from buying Smart Dolls but accessorising them - including with £70 genuine Jimmy Choo shoes.

Duane's enormous collection of dolls is worth thousands of pounds - and occupies an entire room in his house where he lives with his husband.

His favourite doll is currently a limited edition Alice in Wonderland doll which he got on eBay before Disney even released them in the UK, costing around £100.

He said: "That was such a good deal at the time because there's only 500 of her in the world.

"She's such a rare diamond."

Duane playing with dolls as a child (Image: Daniel Dayment)

Part of doll collecting is meeting up with other doll collectors to discuss their latest purchases.

A far cry from hiding them away to avoid bullies, these days Duane loves to film and take pictures of the dolls to show off on social media to his 38,000 followers.

He said: "It's only since I have got to adult life that I stopped caring what people think "I look at it as you’re not here for a long time, so you just have to live your life."

Duane won't rule out selling some dolls in the future as a "retirement fund".

But, for now, he has no plans to stop growing his collection.

Trolls on social media attack him for his hobby and say "dolls are for children and girls" - but that won't stop Duane.

He wants to destigmatise men and boys collecting dolls - so other little boys aren't bullied as he was.

And he says husband Nick, 35, is fully supportive.

Duane said: "I couldn't have married someone who wasn't - he just lets me get on with my dolls.

"We live in a three-bed house - one is our bedroom, one is his office and one is my doll room!"

Duane added: "You’ll get hate whatever you do - people could hate you for collecting stamps.

"You have to just embrace what you love.

"Collecting dolls doesn't make you any less of a man."