Las Vegas Weekly

May 3, 2009 · 8:30 AM

Photo Gallery: New Playmate of the Year is first-ever African-born

By Robin Leach

The Shannon twins (Karissa and Kristina), Ida Ljungqvist, Hugh Hefner, Crystal Harris and George Maloof.

Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage

Playboy king Hugh Hefner named Ida Ljungqvist Playboy’s 50th Playmate of the Year last night at the Palms. Ida is the first-ever African-born Playmate and hails from Tanzania. Ida’s father was Swedish.

Celebrity Apprentice star and 2001 Playmate of the Year Brande Roderick hosted the event along with Palms owner George Maloof. It was the main event of a weekend of Playboy activities at the Palms. It began Friday with a parade of Playmates in pink at the kickoff of the new summer pool season at the Palms.

Along with her title, Ida, who a year ago worked at Bebe in Beverly Hills, Calif., received $100,000 in prize money, a 2009 Mazda6 sports sedan and a special one-of-a-kind engraved bottle of Patron Platinum. She is featured in the June issue of Playboy.

Guests included Hef’s former mansion mate Holly Madison, NFL quarterback Jeff Garcia, NASCAR’s Michael Andretti and Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz, along with more than 50 other centerfold and cover girls.

Iron Chef winner Kerry Simon catered the main Palms ballroom from his Simon restaurant in the adjoining Palms Place Spa.

One of the highlights of the night was the posed lineup of 50 Playmates across six decades of Playboy magazine publishing, along with Hugh and George in the center spotlight.

After the event, Hugh, his new steady gal pal Crystal Harris and Ida celebrated at The Playboy Club inside the Fantasy Tower at the Palms.

The Playboy Playmates of 2008 kicked off the new season of “Ditch Fridays” at the Palms pool and bungalows. The beauties included Michelle McLaughlin (February 2008), A.J. Alexander (May 2008), Juliette Frette (June 2008), Laura Croft (July 2008), Kayla Collins (August 2008), Kelly Carrington (October 2008) and identical twin sisters Jennifer and Natalie Campbell (December 2008).

The Playmates made a splash in hot pink matching bikinis as they partied poolside. Guests at the weekly pool party included undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who has just announced the end of his retirement to return to the ring, NFL free agent Melvin Fowler, Charlotte Bobcats forward Sean May, Tennessee Titans fullback Ahmad Rashad Hall, former Houston Rocket Robert Sura, Grammy Award-winning singer Robin Thicke and John Huntington, who opened his new Huntington Ink tattoo parlor at the Palms this weekend, too.

At Rain in the Palms, DJ AM spun for a packed house as the new resident DJ. Partygoers included the Playboy Playmates (A.J., twins Natalie and Jennifer, Juliette, Kayla, Kelly, Laura and Michelle) and The Girls Next Door’s Holly. They took over a most-watched and most-photographed VIP table across from the stage. Hip-hop musician and DJ Grandmaster Flash also was spotted at the VIP table on stage near the DJ booth.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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