Manti Te'o's Invisible Girl Is Hot Enough For Maxim's Hot 100

Don’t let it be said that the folks over at Maxim don’t have a sense of humor. When this year’s Maxim Hot 100 was announced (topped by a newly sexified Miley Cyrus), it featured a little surprise. If you look closely at the list, number 69 is occupied by… an empty bathing suit. But it’s so much more than an empty bathing suit! The spot is actually reserved for the invisible/imaginary girlfriend of San Diego Charger Manti Te'o. The magazine included the following justification for the pic: “After Manti Te'o’s fake girlfriend hoax of 2012, we think it might be nice to have an invisible girl of our own to love. Why not? She’s got a ton of great qualities, including looking awesome in a bikini.”

The whole thing came about back in 2012, when Te'o’s heartbreaking story of how he lost his girlfriend in a car crash made him the talk of the sports industry for a while. It later came out that he had actually never met the supposed girlfriend in person and that there wasn’t even a girlfriend to begin with. Instead, the baller had fallen victim to a catfishing scam.

He had even spent hours talking to the supposed girlfriend on the phone, only to find out that he had been talking to a man the whole time. And yes, it may be that the man has had enough disappointments for one lifetime, but apparently the gag at his expense was too funny for Maxim to pass up.