Victoria Silvstedt

Karen Victoria Silvstedt (born September 19, 1974 in Skelleftehamn, Sweden) is a Swedish fashion model and actress and sex symbol. Silvstedt was a member of the Swedish National Ski Team, ranking as high as fourth among her Olympic teammates in the Super-Giant Slalom. Silvstedt claims that when she was 16, she competed in a Best Fake Orgasm contest at a local bar. The contestants were Silvstedt and 10 guys, and the winner got a brand-new TV. When she came home, she told her mother she won it at a game of Bingo.

Silvstedt claims as a sports person she was a bit of a tom-boy who supposedly had never worn high heels, but after a shoulder injury ended her skiing career at 16, her mother and sister secretly entered her into the 1993 Miss Sweden Beauty Pageant. Silvstedt was the first runner-up in Miss Sweden, and went on to represent Sweden in the Miss World contest in South Africa, reaching the final eight contestants. She was then signed by a Parisian modeling agent and began a career in high fashion, working for various companies including Chanel, Christian Dior, Loris Azzaro, Givenchy, Valentino, and Giorgio Armani.

After being approached by Hugh Hefner, she appeared as a centerfold in the December 1996 issue of Playboy and was subsequently named Playmate of the Year in 1997. As a European, not being aware of the wider distribution and publicity effect of Playboy, she suddenly broke into the North American market. She has been featured in countless magazines, including GQ, Maxim, FHM, Gear and Nuts, where in 2005 she came second to actress Jennifer Ellison in a competition to find the Sexiest Blonde in the World.