Chanel Iman joins five other Victoria’s Secret models as SI Swimsuit rookies today

How many freaking models are going to be in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue anyway? Yesterday Chanel Iman was announced as the 12th rookie. My goodness, 12? Also apparently SI just decided to raid the Victoria’s Secret catalog this year for its new crop. Not that I’m complaining, Lily Aldridge, Chanel and friends are great additions and you can never have too many sexy ladies in bikinis I always say, but damn, this is going to be a lot of models.

Related: Chanel Iman shared two of the greatest Instagram pictures ever

To recap, the 12 new girls this year are Chanel, Lily (who made the cover), Emily Ratajkowski, Bregje Heinen (also a VS model), Samantha Hoopes, Lauren Mellor (who we asked to be in the Swimsuit Issue two years ago), Cris Urena (another VS model), Valerie van der Graaf (who we said could be the next Kate Upton), Marloes Horst (VS model #5), Hannah Ferguson, Gigi Hadid, and Sara Sampaio (VS model #6).

So half the rookies this year are models who work for Victoria’s Secret, which I suppose is really not a bad move since it surely saved time in casting the issue and since we already know how good they all look half-naked. Smart. I can’t wait to see Barbara Palvin, Candice Swanepoel, Karlie Kloss, Behati Prinsloo, Lindsay Ellingson and Erin Heatherton next year!

Photo credit: Victoria’s Secret