Las Vegas Weekly

May 18, 2010 · 3:57 PM

Photos: Exclusive interview with 2010 Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk

By Robin Leach

2010 Playboy Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk arrives at the Palms on May 15, 2010.

Photo: David Becker/WireImage

The new Playboy Playmate of the Year is such a stunner that when she smiles, she single-handedly might be causing global warming and the melting of the ice caps. Texas bombshell Hope Dworaczyk is so gorgeous, you simply will never accept the fact that she looked like Olive Oyl growing up and didn’t have her first real boyfriend until five years ago.

Today, the 25-year-old is so seductive and curvy at 34C-23-35 that it’s difficult to believe that she might never have graced the pages of Hugh Hefner’s magazine had she not had permission from her grandmother, Brenda, who was the principal at her high school, which, BTW, is coincidentally Hope High School.

“I was scared to death she would say no,” Hope told me over brunch at Kerry Simon’s restaurant in Palms Place the morning after she’d been officially unveiled by Hef as the 2010 Playmate of the Year at Rain in the Palms.

Hope was the Miss April 2009 Playmate and cover girl knockout.

“If she had said no, I wouldn’t have done it. I didn’t care what anybody said except her. She told me if it had been her in her younger days, she, too, would have gone for it. That made me so happy.

“I was even happier when she came here with me to Las Vegas to join in the celebration. She even won $2,800 playing slots here at the Palms, so it was doubly good for her!”

When 5-foot-10 Hope waltzed into Simon wearing 5-inch Christian Louboutin heels, a flower print bustier and white ripped jeans she’d shredded herself, the restaurant came to a halt -- as if in a slow-motion scene from a film.

“I didn’t tell anybody for a week I had been selected as the new Playmate of the Year,” she laughed with me. “Not only didn’t I believe it, but I expected them to call me back to say they’d changed their minds. All 11 girls I was up against are beautiful, and I never dreamed I’d make it.”

Incredibly, America’s No. 1 pinup for the next 12 months didn’t have a boyfriend at her side for the Las Vegas weekend festivities. Yes, guys, Hope’s single and available, which is the ultimate added bonus for her future fame and fortune.

Her romance with Dallas Mavericks star Jason Kidd has ended, and they’ve remained friends.

“He sent the sweetest message congratulating me,” Hope told me. “But at the moment, I’m available. There is no serious boyfriend. I’m looking!”

Hope told me that she celebrated after the award presentation in Hef’s Playboy Penthouse at the Palms with her sister Britney, her mother, her best gal pal from New York and of course Nanna.

“It was wonderful because I don’t get to see them all the time, and we got to hang out and they’re very proud of me. We all went swimming in Hef’s pool looking out at the Las Vegas skyline, and somewhere there, I lost my cell phone. See, I can still be silly!” she laughed. “That’s why I laid on Robin Thicke’s piano when he was singing. That wasn’t planned. That was me in the moment.”

Our Editor Don Chareunsy covered the 2010 Playboy Playmate of the Year party in my absence Saturday night, and the Palms posted videos on YouTube. Loyal VDLX reader Richard Corey also posted his videos on YouTube.

Hope said after all the partying at the Palms and in The Playboy Club, she took off with her family to check out XS at Steve Wynn’s Encore.

“I don’t have a clue what time we closed it. I simply crashed near dawn. When I woke up, I’d locked everybody else out of the suite by accident. I called room service the moment I woke up and ordered two Tylenol for my headache and took a one-hour bubble bath to get myself in shape for brunch,” she added.

The brunette with the amazingly big hair is a cross between a young Sophia Loren and a smoldering Charlotte Rampling. She laughed when I described her.

“You hear those stories of the ugly duckling turning into the swan, but it couldn’t have been truer in my case. I really was ugly. I was tall and lanky. I still hadn’t even gone out on a date until I made it to 16 or 17. I was still growing out and up. When I decided to enter Miss Teen Texas, everybody said what are you thinking with all that hair. I had it to cover my face. I didn’t have my first real boyfriend until I was 20!”

Hope went on to become one of the world’s top runway models, working for, among others, Balenciaga and Versace, and host and producer of a Canadian TV fashion show -- and with the Playboy title has won $100,000 and prizes galore.

“Unlike a lot of girls before me, I’m not disappearing quickly,” she vowed. “I have a day job with the modeling and television. But I want to do more. I’d love to do more reporting and hosting TV shows than modeling for them.

“I’ve never taken myself seriously, so I’d like to expand the comedy opportunities. I definitely see entertainment and movies in my future. I’d like to think that intelligence had something to do with my win.”

Hope has appeared on CSI and Ugly Betty and has just finished shooting Funnier Guy and will be seen in an upcoming episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

As the 51st Playmate of the Year, Hope walked away from the Palms with a $100,000 Playboy check.

“Let’s all go right now to Capri and spend it all,” she chuckled. “That’s my in-the-moment reaction, but then I get serious and I’ll save it for future security. It’s great to have the ability to say no. I might splurge on a $1,000 pair of shoes because I never wear flats, but I’m just as comfortable taking a $1.25 item from Walmart and turning it into something special. “

Although she had a Judith Leiber bag for the party, she’s now landed her own designer bag line for Clara Kasavina. “It’s the first time my name will be on something, and I hope it will lead to a entire fashion line eventually. I’m all about business.”

Photo: Scott Harrison/Retna/www.harrisonphotos.com

Hugh Hefner and 2010 Playboy Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk onstage at Rain in the Palms on May 15, 2010.

Her layout in the new June issue of Playboy features the magazine’s first 3-D centerfold, plus Hope’s eight-page nude pictorial and a 3-D portrait offering a glass of wine to her reader. She’s already being bombarded with TV and movie offers and has learned to turn down the ones that aren’t the sure and steady path to future stardom.

Proof of the already undying fan loyalty for Hope came when she was asked to meet, pose for photos and sign autographs for Arizona businessmen and friends Peter Cosovich and Sung Cha. They’ve worked together for six years, and incredibly five weeks ago, Sung underwent a kidney transplant operation when Peter gave one of his to him. To say thanks, Sung treated Peter to a weekend in Las Vegas to see the PMOY unveiling and the 2010 Miss USA Pageant at Planet Hollywood.

By wonderful coincidence, they were at Simon during our brunch and Hope was introduced to them.

Photo: TVT

2010 Playmate of the Year Hope Dworaczyk with Sung Cha and Peter Cosovich.

“Peter gave me hope to live again,” Sung told her. “Now I have met Hope, so I know it was meant to be.” The Playboy beauty kissed both guys and told them it was the sweetest story she’d ever heard.

Hope is one smart cookie. Yes, big on brains and huge on beauty. She’s already learned the smartest trick in the book to avoid answering nosy reporter questions. Hope told me she simply folds her arms, closes her eyes and silently waits until the reporter has tired of asking the same question. Then she simply says “amen,” and the journalist beats a quick retreat!

Sorry to spoil it for you, Hope, but in the coming months and years, you’re going to be bombarded with questions and interviews, so I know you’ll quickly figure out a new and even better ruse!

You can follow Hope on Twitter, and you can go to Playboy.com for her winning photo shoot.

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.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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