Even though photos from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition have been circulating on social media for more than a week, the cover reveal is always a big deal and reserved for the day before the magazine is released. Jimmy Kimmel Live again got the honors this year, and of course he had to have some fun with it before showing the actual cover Tuesday night.
With the real cover model, Kate Upton, sitting right next to him, Kimmel broke out a fake SI cover showing very little of Upton and very too much of show sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez.
There were three real covers, all featuring Upton, and mostly noteworthy due to the model’s reluctance to wear an actual swimsuit.
The 2017 SI Swimsuit Covers have been revealed. Welcome back, @KateUpton! Follow the link for more photos and video https://t.co/4cszjybbVp pic.twitter.com/y7TguJdPVD
— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) February 15, 2017
Kate Upton lands 2017 "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit issue cover https://t.co/4zyDSIfeWv pic.twitter.com/6cBQLUiIrA
— CNN (@CNN) February 15, 2017
Last week there had been rumors that other models would share the SI cover duties — among them 63-year-old Christie Brinkley and her two daughters. Then the New York Post reported that Upton was making obnoxious diva demands, one of them being that if she didn’t get the cover, she wouldn’t be in the magazine at all.
So if the NY Post report is true, it looks like SI caved and Upton got her third solo SI Swimsuit cover (tied for first all-time). Oh well, it could have been worse … a lot worse, as the lead photo above proves.
HQ | Barbara for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2017. (5-8) pic.twitter.com/j6V0WXrlCR
— Barbara Palvin FR (@PalvinNewsFR) February 15, 2017
Bouchard, Wozniacki and Serena featured on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Ah, tennis pic.twitter.com/2DZGoDBIrG
— José Morais (@ZezeAM) February 15, 2017
Every cover of the SI Swimsuit Edition.