‘Swimsuit Model Search’ to be Pre-Empted as Reality Intrudes on Reality TV in Several Markets

As if Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search didn’t share enough of its format in common with NBC’s summer ratings dud Next Action Star, now the Sports Illustrated show is following in Star’s footsteps by having some network affiliates tinker with the scheduling of the show’s penultimate episode.

Several markets will pre-empt the fifth of the show’s six episodes, according to the NBC website. In this episode, the remaining model trio — Alicia Hall, Shannon Hughes, and Stacy Klimek — are flown to the show’s much-touted “exotic locale” of Bora Bora where they will take part in a photoshoot, and where one final contestant will be eliminated before voting opens for the public to decide the winner. However, all viewers — even those who don’t get to see the episode in time — will still be able to vote for their favorites according to their respective time zones.

“They can still vote beforehand; they just won’t have the benefit of seeing that episode,” said Adam Giagni, press manager for NBC Entertainment Publicity and the show’s publicist, of those viewers who will be affected by the preemptions. “I think the thought process is that they’ve seen the show for so long, they know who they want to vote for,” he said.

According to Giagni, the reason for the pre-emption is that the stations affected will be carrying the President’s State of the Union address instead.

In the Eastern Time Zone — which includes all of Indiana, except Evansville — viewers will be able to catch their favorite bikini-clad models in their regular time slot of 8–9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 2.

Those in the Central Time Zone — including Evansville, IN, and all of Texas, except for El Paso — can see the episode from 7–8 p.m. CT on Wednesday, February 2. Those in Peoria, IL, won’t be as lucky. They’ll have to wait an extra six hours until 1:05 a.m. on Thursday, February 3 in order to catch this episode.

Viewers in the Mountain Time Zone — which includes El Paso, TX, and all of Arizona — can see this episode from 9–10 p.m. MT on Wednesday February 2.

Still in the Mountain Time Zone, pity the poor viewers in Salt Lake City, UT. While they will see the show in its regular timeslot of Saturday at 9 p.m., they will have to vote several days before seeing this episode if they want their votes to count.

Fans in both the Pacific and Alaska Time Zones will get see the show from 8–9 p.m. on Wednesday, February 2, while Hawaiian viewers can tune in from 7–8 p.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time on the same Wednesday night.

Regardless of when viewers get to see this episode, voting will take place both online and via text messaging (for Verizon Wireless customers) between 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 2, and noon ET on Thursday, February 3. More voting details are available on the show’s website under “Voting Rules.”

Gil Sery is a freelance writer and founder of the newest journalism job search website, My NetClips. He welcomes your feedback at movieman26@hotmail.com.

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