South African beauty Candice Boucher has already stripped for Playboy’s US edition. But she is not willing to show it all to a local audience.
The 27-year-old Durban supermodel, who lives in New York, featured as cover girl in the April edition of Playboy America where she posed semi-nude in a photo shoot taken in the South African bushveld.
Having opted for a local theme, Playboy SA was hoping to use Boucher’s previous shoot from the Playboy America edition for their August issue.
But the editors of the magazine were surprised to be rejected by the supermodel.
Playboy SA sent Boucher’s agent a copy of a conservative cover idea, which showed only her face, along with a photo essay featuring the spread.
However her agent declined, saying they believed publishing the images in South Africa would not suit her image here.
Undeterred, Playboy SA opted instead for international model Lizzy Jagger, the daughter of rock legend Mick, as the cover girl for the August edition, which hits the shelves on Monday.
“Since Playboy is an international brand and we all work together, we are allowed to use different photo shoots from Playboy magazines around the world,” said Playboy SA’s editor-in-chief Charl du Plessis.
“We had decided out of common courtesy to first ask Candice and her agent if they were okay with it,” he said
“We did not want her waking up one morning and than getting the surprise of her life that she is in the Playboy SA magazine.”
Du Plessis added that it was only right to respect Boucher’s wishes and use Jagger instead, on the cover of the magazine.
“Of course we really wanted Candice, she was our first choice, but if she feels that it will not portray her in the right light in South Africa, we respect her wishes,” he said.
“Our decision to put Lizzy on the cover was backed by all our readers who were really keen on seeing an international face as the cover girl of the magazine.”
The August edition will be the first under Du Plessis’s editorship after the surprise resignation of launch editor Piers Peigl and publisher Jeremy Lawrence last month.
Du Plessis conceded though, that the Boucher shoot, done last year, was in high demand from readers.
“The shoot that was done by Playboy America was very beautiful and tasteful.
“The pictures have been on the internet for a long time now, and I’m sure readers would have loved to have seen her in the upcoming edition,” he said.
Despite this setback, Du Plessis said South Africans would have a lot to look to forward to in the August edition of Playboy, including August Playmate Mpho Tsila
“A playmate is best described as the girl next door and that’s exactly what Mpho is,” said Du Plessis.
“She is a beautiful girl from Welkom who is fast rising to success in South Africa.
“She was the perfect choice,” he said.
In addition, the edition will feature a comparison story about President Jacob Zuma versus Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, to decide who is king in the world of polygamy.
There’ll also be an Interview with Dr Ian Player – South Africa’s father of conservation.
The August issue is also a world first in the history of Playboy as it is trilingual, with articles appearing in English, isiZulu, and Afrikaans. - Saturday Star