I guess we should talk about Alexis Ren.
She won Rookie of the Year last year. Where has she gone?
For the eight previous officially designated Rookies of the Year, we assumed that the title was a guarantee we'd see the girl again. Whether you came back just once (Sara Sampaio/Kelly Rohrbach/Bianca Balti) or continue to return to this very day (Kate Bock/Barbara Palvin), a ROTY title was always a return ticket.
Alexis Ren is the first ROTY/one-hit wonder.
I don’t know much about her except that she arrived with a full contingent of fans and Insta fame, which she rode to the title.
I think she’s hot. A little straightforward for my tastes, maybe, but you can’t deny that she looks fantastic in a bikini. And she exudes a fun and happy personality that’s great to see.
I wonder what happened. I’m sure at some point the plan was to bring her back. It looked like a mutually beneficial relationship. Scheduling issues? Feud of some sort?
So, who should have won last year?
Raven Lyn gets my retroactive vote. Assuming she’s not coming back after a skipped year or two, I must add her to my ever-growing list of “shoulda-beens.”
Robin Holzken would also make my shortlist, and as a bonus, she actually came back in 2019.
And my dearly mourned Chase Carter rounds out my threesome. I think she had a lot more swimsuit to give.
This week, I plan to rewrite SI swimsuit history with a ROTY retrospective.
Until then, let us say farewell to Alexis.
Can't say I mind Alexis not coming back. Figured she only won because of her insta following, especially since the voting ended before the issue was even released IIRC. Chase not coming back on the other hand surprised me and bummed me out. She seemed like she'd be a steady presence in SI for a few years.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, I think I remember the voting taking place before the issue came out, which is dumb. Yeah, the girl with a billion followers ogling her on Instagram is going to win in that situation.
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