SI Swimsuit Edition Hits Stands

This is a partial transcript of "The Big Story With John Gibson," February 14, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

JOHN GIBSON, HOST: It is the day men have been waiting for all year long. No, not Valentine's Day. It is the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. It hits stands today. There it is. Eight of them. Count them, eight beautiful models grace the cover this year.

Joining us is Diane Smith, editor of the swimsuit edition and one of the models featured in the issue, we of course know her, Rachel Hunter.

So, Rachel, we all want to know, what's new in swimsuits this year?

RACHEL HUNTER, MODEL, APPEARS IN SWIMSUIT EDITION: Well, the bottoms are really good. Not much to the tops. It was amazing. I mean for eight of us to be on the cover and to be shooting down there and we had a great time. And we did singles and doubles. And it was just really laid back and really great.

GIBSON: Where was it that you went to shoot this?

HUNTER: We went to the Bahamas and Harbour Island.

GIBSON: And it was all very warm and wonderful. So Diane.

DIANE SMITH, SI SWIMSUIT EDITION EDITOR: We lucked out. No rain. We were lucky.

GIBSON: I take it that the reason Sports Illustrated keeps doing this is it's, in fact, the biggest issue and it is, in fact, the thing that men look forward to all year long?

SMITH: Men, women, everybody, you know, it's the biggest selling — biggest well-read magazine on this planet Earth. You know, of course we have got to make sure it comes out every year.

GIBSON: I'm looking at the models and I see they are all in the same exact white bikini, well, wait a minute, I guess there is some difference.

SMITH: Well, you are obviously not a fashion person. They are not all exact. There is a little difference on all of them. They are white, though.

HUNTER: How could you not see the G-string? And then there are boy bottoms. And there are frilly ones. Got a ruffle, we've got a buckle, we've got a tie.

GIBSON: OK. I see. Yeah. Well, silly me.

HUNTER: What are you looking at, by the way?

GIBSON: I guess I'm looking deeply into their eyes.

HUNTER: Obviously not the bottoms.

GIBSON: So I guess there is a big variation in swimsuits this year, in fact?

SMITH: Well, yes. I mean, the way we did the cover girl reunion was this all white suits. But there is a lot of differences in the white suits throughout the issue we have got lots of glamour girl, Hollywood sparkles. There is a lot of variety to the suits.

HUNTER: There's a $30 million swimsuit that is not much there but there is $30 million worth of diamonds there. Wouldn't go swimming in it.

GIBSON: So, Rachel, there are a lot of people who think this is an easy job you have got. Is it?

HUNTER: Well, I mean, you know, I'm not going to complain. You know, I mean the hardest part, you know, when you are in that time when I was younger and you are traveling a lot and you are leaving your friends and family and all the rest of it but at the same time it's probably, I mean, it's an amazing job. And I got to have my kids down there and those of us that do have kids took our kids down there and it was just really, really nice. And I mean, like I said, the worst part of it is we had to get up at 3:00 in the morning.

SMITH: Getting up at dark is not always easy. Getting up at 3:00 in the morning and looking for coffee somewhere, that is the hard part.

GIBSON: All right. That's the hard part.

SMITH: It's important to get up early. Got to get that light.

GIBSON: Absolutely. That morning light. That soft morning light.

Diane Smith, editor of the swimsuit edition, thank you. Rachel Hunter thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. We are all looking forward to that issue. We are.

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