I’ll Be the Judge: Predicting the Winner of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search

Shannon Hughes

Age: 23

Hometown: Mesquite, TX

Chances of Winning:Long shot. Shannon is the dark horse of the competition. She seems to be there but for the grace of Founding Swimsuit Editor Jule Campbell, who thought that a finale with her would be more interesting than a finale with Jenna, whom Jule didn’t think would be able to compete successfully with Alicia and Stacy. However, Shannon lists model as her occupation, which means that she does this full-time. As the eldest of the three, she also has had more time to mature and also has more life experience, which may give her an edge over the other two. She may be a dark horse, but she’s definitely still a strong contender.

Odds of Winning: 6:1

Alicia Hall

Age: 19

Hometown: Las Vegas, NV

Chances of Winning Good, if she can learn to follow instructions. Alicia’s story about growing up with dysfunctional parents and moving around in the foster care system is touching, which might garner her some sympathy votes.

Another thing that makes her stand out is her attitude. However, this can be a double-edged sword. We saw Joel Wilkenfeld, president of NEXT Model Management and one of the judges, say that he doesn’t mind that Alicia has attitude because that attitude will come across in her photos, which is a good thing.

The negative side is that her attitude can also come across as that of a diva, making it hard to work with her. She was not eliminated for her diva-like behavior because the judges seem to think she really has something.

Alicia has also received kudos for taking the judges’ critiques to heart and acting on them, but Joel seems insistent that her “flabby ass” is still a problem. Now if she can only learn to smile and not be a “one trick wonder,” as Joel put it.

Odds of Winning: 3:1

Stacy Klimek

Age: 19

Hometown: South Saint Paul, MN

Chances of Winning: Excellent. Stacy seems to be the darling of the judges for several episodes now. In the first episode, Joel called her “unforgettable” and Jule said she was a fan of her “Julia Roberts smile.” Roshumba said in the second episode that Stacy is “pure raw talent.” These kinds of compliments continued throughout the show.

The worst critiques Stacy got were to show more confidence and less of her smile. In fact, Stacy’s main problem throughout the show has been exuding confidence. However, she managed to overcome this problem during Episode 3 where she felt right at home taking photos on the ice. In Episode 4, Stacy was once again complimented by Jule and told that she exudes confidence.

Stacy also had the unique distinction of being the only person in Episode 4 to have every other model rooting for her to be eliminated. Maybe they felt she was too much of a threat.

All of this makes Stacy the one to beat for the title.

Odds of Winning: Even

Remember that you can vote for your favorite model between 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, February 2, and 12 noon ET on Thursday, February 3, regardless of when the episode airs in your area. The winner of the seven-page Sports Illustrated layout and $1 million dollar modeling contract is scheduled to be announced on the show’s finale on February 9.

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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