Oh, Meiers: Cimarron grad graces September’s Playboy magazine

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002 | 8:23 a.m.

Shallan Meiers was finishing her waitress shift at Spago restaurant in February when a casting director for a new reality television show "Girl Next Door: The Search for a Playboy Centerfold" approached Meiers and told her that her body was ideal for the show.

Perspiring and busy counting her tips, Meiers said she thought the proposition was a joke or that the woman had been drinking.

"I didn't believe her," Meiers said. "Then she gave me one of her cards."

Within days Meiers, 20, quit her job at the restaurant in the Forum Shops at Caesars and moved into the plush guest house at the Playboy Mansion West in Holmby Hills, Calif. There, she competed on camera against a group of women for a chance to become a Playboy centerfold.

There was just one problem facing the Cimarron-Memorial High School graduate: She would have to take off her clothes.

"It kind of freaked me out," Meiers said recently from a phone in the Playboy Mansion.

"I was in a house filled with girls who talked about how sexy they felt posing naked and I was scared," she said. "I was definitely a few steps behind the other girls."

However, Meiers added, "I'm not one to quit."

Thus began the shy girl's ascent to the center pages of Playboy magazine, which features the tall curly blonde as Miss September.

Meiers was one of three finalists to be featured as centerfolds.

Her title as Miss September is a leap from the days when she reigned as Miss Las Vegas 1999, a title she assumed after the original Miss Las Vegas, Gina Giacinto, became Miss Nevada. As a contestant, then winner, Meiers spoke out against physically abused and mentally disabled children, and performed charity work.

In high school there was nothing about Meiers' personality that suggested she was headed for centerfold stardom. The member of the dance squad was known as a quiet and reserved person. "There are times I look at my bunny necklace and say, Nah. This isn't me,'" Meiers said.

"I never thought I could do something like Playboy," she added. "I was kind of a shy person." Looking at her photos, one can hardly tell.

In addition to spending two weeks on camera with nude or barely clad women for the reality show, which aired May 10 on Fox, Meiers can be seen in the September Playboy sudsing herself, and inviting readers to indulge themselves in her provocative poses.

She leaves little to the imagination.

By baring her body, Meiers joins the thousands of "girls next door," athletes, celebrities and short-term celebrities including the recent edition featuring the women of Enron who have posed for the men's magazine since it first appeared on newsstands in December 1953.

Because it sprouted from a reality show designed to pick a playmate, Meiers' journey to the centerfold pages was unique, Bill Farley, senior director for Playboy Enterprises, said.

Usually the magazine receives submissions from prospective models, Farley said.

The show was a partnership between Alta Loma Entertainment, a subsidiary of Playboy Enterprises, Bunim-Murray Productions, a reality-television company known for MTV's "The Real World" and "Road Rules," and Fox.

It did poorly in the ratings and was criticized for its content. But roughly 1,000 women attended open casting calls throughout the country to appear on "Girl Next Door."

The competition was based on who was most photogenic. Contestants also sat down with the pajama-clad Hefner so he could gauge their personalities.

Farley said Playboy does a similar show every five years for the Playboy Channel, where Playboy representatives travel to a handful of cities, set up in hotels where women can fill out forms, have Polaroids taken of them and are evaluated as potential centerfolds.

Baring it all

Often women will consider posing for Playboy on their own or their boyfriends will suggest it. But in a lot of cases, until the opportunity presents itself, women don't make an effort, Farley said.

Had she not been approached, Meiers said it's unlikely she would have ever posed nude for Playboy.

"To pursue it would be very difficult for me," Meiers said. "But the fact that I was pursued piqued my curiosity."

Her decision to jump naked into the limelight has had a ripple effect on her social life.

"I've had friends come and go more recently," Meiers said, explaining that some of her friends have dropped her because of her decision to pose nude. Her boyfriend, who she said was uncomfortable with her recent exposure, is also out of the picture.

Other friends, she said, will stay with her no matter what paths she takes in life. And many old friends have come calling.

"I've heard from people who picked my best friend over me in high school," Meiers said, "people ... I haven't seen in three years, who when they saw me on the show, dropped their drink on the floor because they were so surprised."

She has definitely created a buzz among former classmates. Steve Randall, a friend of Meiers and a former classmate, said Meiers is one of the least likely people that anyone expected to see in Playboy magazine.

"It was a surprise to everybody," Randall said.

Michelle Minguey, a cheerleader at Cimarron-Memorial and former classmate of Meiers, said "I was shocked because she was more shy and reserved in high school. But I'm really excited for her.

"I think it's great because she is such a nice girl."

Amid the assortment of readers looking for a thrill in the monthly magazine, there are likely to be dozens of former classmates, teachers, neighbors, co-workers or even family members who will get a glimpse of the sexy Shallan.

Meiers said she's comfortable with that idea and that she's grown from the experience.

"For the first time ever I looked at myself nude and I didn't mind that everyone would be seeing it," she said. "The pictures are done so tastefully and I'm so proud of them so it (won't) bother me."

She said that she is a little nervous to see the video "Who Wants to Be A Playboy Centerfold: What You Didn't See On TV," which shows clips of nude contestants that couldn't be shown on network television.

Her craziest moment in the house, she said, was when she jumped into a pool naked with a couple of other contestants.

Into the future

Meiers still lives in Las Vegas with her family, all of which, she said have been supportive of her decision to pose nude. She has two stepbrothers, a half-brother and a half-sister.

Playmates are paid $25,000 for posing. Women who become Playmate of the Year are paid $100,000, Farley said.

Often former playmates will stay with Playboy Enterprises, which owns Playmate Promotions, a full-service modeling agency that books models for anything from promotional videos to television, spokesmodel jobs and print ads.

Playmates also appear on such television shows as "Fear Factor" "Weakest Link," sitcoms and "Dog Eat Dog." Some pursue other careers within Playboy Enterprises.

In some cases, Farley said, "They really stick with us pretty much for the rest of their life."

Meiers said she plans to use her experience at Playboy as a stepping stone to acting. She's also taking voice lessons to learn how to sing. Unless she wins Playmate of the Year, she doesn't plan on posing nude again, but might consider working for Playmate Promotions.

Her main reason for participating in "Girl Next Door" and posing as a centerfold, she said, was out of a sense of adventure.

"I hate to have regrets."

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