NATCHEZ &045; Would you believe the Great Mississippi River Balloon Race weekend is so self involved a pair of scantily-clad supermodels can sneak in and out of the Miss-Lou with most people oblivious to the fact?

If you are now doing your best bobble-head impersonation in disbelief, go talk to Jimmy Riley over at Giles Island in Ferriday, La, who can confirm it.

Giles Island was one of several spots in the Miss-Lou Sports Illustrated chose as locations for its 40th anniversary swimsuit edition, which hits newsstands today.

Riley maintains 12 guides for hunters and fishermen on Giles Island, but very few can usually be found on a late Sunday afternoon.

However, that was no typical Sunday when last year’s swimsuit edition cover model, Petra Nemcova, and a crew of 12 pulled up.

&uot;I’ve never had so many guides stay on Giles Island on a Sunday afternoon,&uot; Riley said. &uot;Petra was a good, Christian girl, though. She made it a point before she left to shake our hands and thank us. She was very nice.&uot;

The magazine chose the Miss-Lou as a southern representation for its All-American issue, which also found shoots in the Adirondacks and ear-high in Iowa’s corn fields. SI spent time at J.J.’s boat ramp on Old River, Lake St. John and in the Mississippi River sandbar, where Nemcova posed with a 3-foot alligator draped around the nape of her neck.

&uot;It didn’t bother her a bit. I was really surprised because she’s from the Czech Republic,&uot; said Terry Rogers, owner of Alligator Park, a them park with more than 2,000 alligators in Natchitoches, La., which supplied the gator. &uot;They did a lot of filming for a TV show, and (Nemcova) started walking around. Then he (the alligator) started walking, and she decided to follow. It was like she was walking a dog.&uot;

Transplanted Natchez resident Peggy Pierrepont, an 18-year television producer in New York and Los Angeles before retiring to Natchez, was first contacted by SI last summer to take scouting pictures of areas that might seem appealing.

An outdoors enthusiast, Pierrepont sent her photographs off in June and immediately heard back from the magazine, which has launched careers for supermodels such as Christie Brinkley, Elle McPherson and Kathy Ireland.

&uot;They wanted something representative of the Deep South,&uot; Pierrepont said. &uot;There’s no place prettier or more credible than here. I think it’ll show a different side of Natchez; something for those who are not interested in the antebellum, but in the outdoors. This might attract a whole new group to Natchez.&uot;

Along with Nemcova, Noemie Lenoir was the other model to be photographed for the magazine in the Miss-Lou.

Both are making their fourth appearances in the swimsuit issue; however, neither Nemcova nor Lenoir is honored as the cover girl. That luxury was bestowed upon Veronica Varekova, her first.

When Pierrepont called Riley that Sunday to inform him the SI crew was in town, it was unfathomable to him until the vehicles began rolling in.

Still, Riley thought the crew of 12 (&uot;It took 11 of them to shoot one model,&uot; Riley joked) was just there to scout the place. He had no idea that minutes later, the popular outdoors destination would be transformed into a red carpet.

&uot;The lifestyle we live here in Natchez, of course you wanted to bust out and tell everybody. But we made a promise to keep it a secret,&uot; Riley said. &uot;Of course, we were busy getting ready for hunting season when Peggy first called\. We kind of forgot about it and then half-way thought it was never going to happen.&uot;

In addition to the magazine, television cameras caught most of the footage. Viewers can see locals interviewed in a one-hour special airing several times in February on Spike TV (Cable one channel No. 34), including at 9 p.m. today.