Last fall, Playboy descended on Evanston seeking Northwestern hotties for its October 2008 “Girls of the Big ‘10′” issue. Of the 25 students who auditioned, two eager ‘Cats were invited to flash their stuff in the magazine’s special edition.One of those bunnies is a blonde Communication sophomore who goes by the self-selected moniker of Maxine Christine. After reading a Daily article about the auditions, she scrambled to get a slot before Playboy reps left town the following day. “That same day I went and auditioned, then the next day was the photo shoot,” Christine says. “And now I’m on page 102.”Without prior modeling experience, Christine thought posing would be a fun way to get exposure. “I love to be in front of the camera,” she says. “But I’m too short to model and get an agent.”Although Christine was initially uneasy on-set, her reservations soon went the way of her bra. “I was nervous in the beginning but after five minutes I felt completely comfortable,” Christine says. “The photographer and makeup artists made me feel like a supermodel.”Though she appears topless in the mag, don’t expect any disrobing from Christine in the near future. “Right now, I’m focusing on completing school,” she says. Christine’s extracurriculars, aside from posing in Playboy, include Boomshaka and Graffiti dancers.The issue, which hit newsstands Sept 26, features 48 coeds in various states of undress – and campus buzz on the spread is far from dead. Last week, Christine was chosen as “the hottest girl on campus” in an online Playboy U poll pitting the Big Ten pinups against one another.According to Playboy production coordinator Cynthia Kaye, the models were paid up to $1,000, depending on how much clothing they shedded. Christine’s Playboy Enterprises PR agent, Jared Albert, couldn’t confirm her exact sum, but says “she was taken care of.”By now, most of campus has seen the models’ assets in the flesh, but that doesn’t mean they are ready to reveal everything. While Christine has created a flurry of online pages on playboyu.com and Facebook to flaunt her goods, fellow NU Playmate-in-training opted not to pose and tell. Featured in the spread as Maria Vargas, the sophomore has kept a low profile and declined to comment about her Playboy experience.As a result of her appearance in the gentlemen’s book, Christine hopes to help NU rid its “all brains, no beauty” stereotype. “Northwestern is a great school academically,” Christine says, “so obviously it’s a little bit on the nerdy side. I wanted to go out there and represent Northwestern. Not everyone at NU is ugly.”And on the home front, the pictorial was well received. “Everyone has been extremely supportive,” Christine says. “My parents are proud of me.” After all, she got it from her mama.
What If: Brains or Bust
October 8, 2008
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