The Sports Illustrated Magazine team along with six models arrived at Mahogany Bay Village in San Pedro Town on Wednesday, November 15th, to shoot the 2018 Swimsuit Edition of the publication.
For four days International photographer Yu Tsai photographed the models at Mahogany Bay as well as other destinations on the island. The six models included Olivia Jordan, Allie Ayers, Haley Kalil, Camille Kostek, Iyonna Fairbanks, and Tabria Majores. While some of the women had pageant and modeling experience, others are considered novices. Model Olivia Joran was Miss USA in 2015 and the second runner-up at the prestigious Miss Universe beauty pageant also in 2015, Ayers has a couple years of modeling experience under her belt, while Fairbanks, Kostek, Kalil, and Majores are somewhat new to the experience. However, all the participants hope that this opportunity will open more doors for their modeling careers.
Earlier in 2017, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit held their first-ever open casting call for swimsuit models. Over 5,000 women answered the Instagram post by creating and submitting their own casting video for the 2018 Swimsuit Edition search (View all the submissions on Instagram with the hashtag, #SISwimSearch). 35 aspiring models were selected and invited to New York City, New York USA for an interview and photo shoot. After another set of eliminations, six beauties claimed the grand prize of traveling to Belize for the official shoot.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuits is a branch magazine of the iconic American Sports media franchise, read by 23 million people weekly. Their very first Swimsuit Edition was published in 1964 and has become an international success. 
This issue features “Beauties, Beaches and Bikinis” in exotic areas throughout the world. This, not the first time Belize has been featured in Sports Illustrated. In April of 1972, the magazine featured an article titled, “Land of Wild Men and Fame Devils” written about the life of the Jewel.
The photoshoot concluded on Saturday, November 18th. The images will debut in the swim and activewear fashion line appearing in the Sports Illustrated 2018 Swimsuit Edition, release date to be announced.
