Silvstedt was a member of the Swedish National Ski Team, ranking as high as fourth among her Olympic teammates in the Super-Giant Slalom. Silvestedt claims that when she was 16, she competed in a Best Fake Orgasm contest at a local bar. The contestants were Silvstedt and 10 guys, and the winner got a brand-new TV. When she came home, she told her mother she won it at a game of Bingo.
Silvestedt claims as a sports person she was a bit of a tom-boy who supposedly had never worn high heels, but after a shoulder injury ended her skiing career at 16, her mother and sister secretly entered her into the 1993 Miss Sweden Beauty Pageant. Silvstedt was the first runner-up in Miss Sweden, and went on to represent Sweden in the Miss World contest in South Africa, reaching the final eight contestants. Resultantly, Silvstedt was signed by a Parisian modeling agent and began a career in high fashion, working for various companies including Chanel, Christian Dior, Loris Azzaro, Givenchy, Valentino, and Giorgio Armani.
After being approached directly by Hugh Hefner, she appeared as a centerfold in the December 1996 issue of Playboy and was subsequently named Playmate of the Year in 1997. As a European, not being aware of the wider distribution and publicity effect of Playboy, she suddenly broke into the North American market. She has been featured in almost countless magazines, including GQ, MAXIM, FHM, GEAR and Nuts, where in 2005 she came second to actress Jennifer Ellison in a competition to find the Sexiest Blonde in the World.
Away from Playboy
Like many Glamour models and Playmates before her, she is trying to branch out into acting and business. Silvstedt claims her favorite hobby is singing, and in 2001 she recorded an album called Runaway girl, published by EMI, which sold poorly in most regions except Europe, where it went gold with the hit singles, "Hello, Hey" and "Rocksteady love".
Silvstedt was already well recognised in the UK when she took on a new career hosting, The Late Show on Virgin Radio, and as a guest host on the TV show Eurotrash. She has been in the American TV shows Melrose Place, MTV’s "The Real World," and has worked a lot for the Italian TV hosting several tv shows. She currently cohosts La Roue de la Fortune, the French version of Wheel of Fortune on TF1, alongside Christophe Dechavanne.
Victoria made guest appearances in the Hollywood motion pictures: Boat Trip, The Independent, BASEketball, and "Out Cold;" where she played up to her Swedish-Blonde "Inga" character. Silvstedt is now acting in lead roles in European films mainly based in Italy, and taking to the stage in North America
Silvstedt became a spokesmodel for Guess? Jeans, following in the footsteps of former Guess models, Eva Herzigova, Anna Nicole Smith, and Shana Zadrick. In February 2006 she launched her own lingerie range during London Fashion Week
Personal life
Silvstedt claims that she speaks: Swedish, English, French, and Italian - plus some Norwegian and Eskimo-Inuit. (Note that Swedish and Norwegian are often mutually intelligible languages.)
Silvstedt married WCBS-TV Sports telecaster, Chris Wragge, in June 2000 at Tuxedo Park Country Club in Tuxedo, New York. The couple currently live on Manhattan in New York City. In June 2006, Victoria and Chris threatened legal action against Sky News for slander, after pictures of her in Sardinia went onto the Internet. Sky News had to remove the page
Appearances in "Playboy" special editions
Playboy's Nude Playmates June 1997 - cover.
Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 13 July 1997 - cover, pages 1, 84-93.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 58 November 1997 - Michael Bisco, pages 28-31.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 59 January 1998 - Mizuno, pages 61-65.
Playboy's Wet & Wild April 1998.
Playboy's Girls of Summer May 1998.
Playboy's Body Language October 1998.
Playboy's Playmate Tests November 1998 - cover.
Playboy's Playmates in Bed Vol. 3 February 1999 - pages 82-85.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 67 May 1999 - Mizuno, cover & pages 1, 32-33.
Playboy's Girls of Summer June 1999.
Playboy's Celebrating Centerfolds Vol. 3 October 1999.
Playboy's Voluptuous Vixens Vol. 3 October 1999.
Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 75 September 2000.
Playboy's Nude Playmates April 2001 - pages 44-45.
Playboy's Girls of Summer May 2001.
Playboy's Sexy 100 February 2003.
Playboy's Blondes, Brunettes & Redheads June 2003.
