It's hard to believe that the taut, airbrushed beauties gracing the pages of Playboy were once just regular girls, but it's this untapped talent that the magazine set out to find when it launched its search for the 55th anniversary playmate.

Asylum showed up for the culmination of the national search in New York City, where we hobnobbed with the scantily clad, ultra-tan mass of girls hoping to end up splayed across the pages of the world's most iconic nudie mag. (Yes, we get paid to do this.)


While only one girl will end up on the cover of the January 2009 issue and win the $55,000 bonus, the other women who audition at any of Playboy's continuous casting calls are still in the running for other issues, special editions and Web site pictorials.

So peruse our interviews and photos of 12 Playboy hopefuls and let us know who you think should be a future centerfold. (Somewhat NSFW)

Playboy Hopefuls