Ilona Spills on Her Sports Illustrated Cover Shoot with Editor-in-Chief MJ Day
episodePreviously titled “Why We Need Representation with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editor-in-Chief MJ Day” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
Transcript
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What is MJ Day's journey to becoming Editor-in-Chief of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit?
What gave you, I guess, the power to be like, no, this is what I think we should showcase on these covers and not stick to the one look of what a woman should be and what beauty and sexiness should be? The world deserves, women deserve to be represented in all their various forms and all their everything that makes us human and special. And it's not one thing. It's not one flavor. It's not one look. There is such beauty in diversity, and I'm unable to see it any other way. It's not celebrating beauty if you're not celebrating diversity.
Welcome or welcome back to House of Mar, a wave original. Tie your bikini strings and help yourself to whatever's in the fridge. The Wi-Fi password is SWIMSUITEDITION, all caps. As you should know by now, we have a few house rules. Girls are magic. Reading is hot. And so are you. If you're watching us or if you're just listening, maybe check us out on YouTube. Put us on while you're cleaning the house. Doing your makeup. Puzzling. Hang out with us in person. Hang out with us in person.
How does MJ Day advocate for diversity in beauty representation?
Sit here. Yap. And yap with us. Please. My friends say when they're watching, it feels like they're sitting on the carpet, like listening on a conversation. They don't get a seat. They just got to go to the carpet. They are the dog. They are the dog in this situation. We have a whole couch, but no, they hate carpet. No, they get the carpet. Let's get into what's happening with us, what's happening online. Let's hit the group chat for a minute. Group chat. I mean, can I just want to start a little strong here? Sorry, I want to talk about me. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday where she told me my BMI. And this stuck out to me because you obviously have had a huge video on BMI when somebody tried to like trying to tear you down by saying you look like you have a certain BMI and you were like, yeah, I do because I'm a professional athlete.
Like I do have that. So mine was 28.2 and I was like, is that bad? Is that okay? Like to my new, this is a brand new doctor too. So I was kind of like, I don't know because I don't really, I don't ever weigh myself really. And she was like, no, it's like, just like keep exercising. And I was like, okay. So I texted Alona right away to be like, what does this mean? And you were quite helpful. Doesn't really mean much. It doesn't mean much. It's just working with your height and weight. So it kind of doesn't paint the full picture like I say in my video. Go check that out, guys. Because I have a BMI about 30. So I'm 5'10", 208 pounds, and I go up to about 30. But when I talked in my video, what I say is I see this comment saying, you look like you have a BMI of 30.
And then I was like, okay. So I talked to my dietician and she goes, well, that doesn't take into account that you have 175 pounds of lean muscle or whatever it is on you. So I think that it's super outdated that they're still using it. It could be an indicator in some ways, but I feel like if you need help with your weight or you're on that scale, that's about also how they feel, how they look as well. The BMI isn't taking into account that all that you are, you know, somebody who still does run and lift and does Pilates and whatnot. I mean, I think maybe there is some telling, maybe it could be get a little fit all of us, but it's such a small part of the story. I weigh less than you. I'm like 198 usually.
So my BMI is smaller because I'm the same height as you. Yeah. But if you look at us... Someone's more healthy in this scenario. It's just a different life. Like I don't think that we're meant to be much smaller and I have much more muscle on me. So it's so funny that I'm 30 is obese on BMI. Really? So I'm considered obese yet. solid athlete you know like i'm very fit person so and i look in the mirror and i like the way i look i'm like this doesn't feel like somebody who like i don't know needs to be worried necessarily like the way you look at any size but it also is important to but it doesn't seem like something that would require a doctor being like just keep it up keep exercising i'm like i look good though like i look healthy i'm like good to go so i guess that's why it was confusing
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is MJ Day's journey to becoming Editor-in-Chief of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit?
0:00–1:13
2
How does MJ Day advocate for diversity in beauty representation?
1:13–4:58
3
What challenges does MJ face while running photoshoots?
4:58–8:10
4
How does MJ Day's background in sports influence her work?
8:10–13:45
5
What insights does MJ share about the impact of BMI on body image?
13:45–22:25
6
How does MJ Day select cover models for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit?
22:25–32:56
7
What makes MJ's approach to photography unique?
32:56–47:39
8
What are MJ Day's thoughts on the future of representation in media?
47:39–1:01:16
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