S1E6: Red, White, and Bunny Costume

Wrapped in patriotism and bunny ears, this episode tries to sell sincerity—but underneath, it feels more like a test. Who plays along, who resists, and who takes the role a little too seriously? Between forced enthusiasm, awkward appearances, and one girlfriend refusing to participate at all, it becomes clear: this isn’t about the mission—it’s about who’s willing to perform.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Getting in a bunny suit. Oh no!

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I don't want to do it. Fine, you shouldn't wear it. Welcome back, everyone. You're listening to more Girls Next Door. Today I'll be re-watching season one, episode six of The Girls Next Door entitled Operation Playmate, which aired on September 11th, 2005. But before we jump in, in the last episode, I kind of teased our 2005 historical reference for today. Anyone recall another little reality series called The Simple Life? In The Simple Life, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, heiresses with a combined understanding of manual labor, at about a level pink, are sent to live with working-class families. Their mission is to perform jobs like farming, fast food, janitorial work, and waitressing, tasks they approach with the same confidence you'd bring to diffusing a bomb while wearing acrylic nails. Not unlike the girls next door, every episode of The Simple Life followed the same structure. The girls arrive somewhere extremely not Beverly Hills, they misunderstand everything, a local employer's soul slowly leaves their body, Paris says something accidentally iconic, Nicole causes mild chaos, they are fired, and Paris says, that's hot. Let me remind you, I'd be so grateful if you rated this podcast. Make sure to like, share, and subscribe so you don't miss any future more girls next door episodes. Okay, you think you can kick off your candies, hang up your trucker hat, and silence your sidekicks? Let's get into Operation Playmate.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

The flipping slide's coming along just fine. You can probably see.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

You're telling me, okay, you're telling me someone's not gonna slam into that blue tarp thing.

unknown 2:14

What will break your neck?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Operation Playmate opens as usual with an exterior drone view of the mansion grounds. Hank Fawcett of the Mansion staff is altering a boxed slip and slide setup so the girls don't break their necks flying down the property's rolling hills at 60 miles per hour. Any fan of the show now knows when the slip and slide comes out, we're watching a 4th of July episode. But this was the first time Holly's wish to belly flop downhill to the cracks of fireworks above her head was finally made true with a bit of fishing line and a hardware store tarp. Holly in an itzy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka dot bikini, comes out to test the structure, and I have to say, girls got balls. In later seasons, the Independence Day episodes will show an upgrade to two custom-made inflatable slip and slides. Much better, much safer. But this is season one, and the budget is experimental. So in this scene, Holly nearly misses her landing and launches over the safety tarp. Still, she approves the makeshift design, and we cut to clips of the mansion's Fourth of July celebration with a zoomed-in view of Kendra's booty in an American flag thong. Seth Green is there in his Can't Hardly Wait era. Vern Troyer or Minnie Me is back. Barely decent playmates are sprinkled in red, white, and blue all over the property. Holly explains that Operation Playmate is Playboy's support system for the troops where they can connect with American soldiers via email and care packages, including homemade cookies. She adds that some of the girls and playmates take photos in Playboys' military bunny costumes. So our boys also receive official autographed patriotic Playboy memorabilia. Hey, everyone's doing their part.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Maybe like they're having a hard time in Iraq, like fighting, you know, and maybe that one cookie brings a smile to their face, you know.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

We learn from Bridget that she will be making a special delivery to her brother who is stationed at Fort Bragg, Fayetteville, North Carolina. Holly heads to Playboy Studio West, where we meet Pat Lacey, a woman who works for Playboy Promotions and is in charge of fitting bunnies for the iconic bunny costume. Holly is there to borrow four military costumes for this year's photo. We get a little bunny suit background, learning that they are securely kept under lock and key and only allowed to be worn for official Playboy-approved business. Holly explains the differences in the Playboy model titles. Basically, a bunny is not necessarily a playmate or vice versa, although two can be true at the same time. We see Pat Lacey showing Jillian Grace and some other bunnies how to properly stand in the outfit, do the bunny dip, and of course the often requested bunny hop. The bunny dip, not a creamy side dish served with crackers, was a clever way of serving drinks to Playboy Club patrons without spilling the contents of your bunny suit all up in your patron's face, if you know what I mean. Playboy really was running a finishing school over there. The bunny dip was developed by Hef's brother Keith, who was heavily involved in bunny training and talent scouting when Playboy still had Playboy clubs, predominantly in the 1960s. This power course on the bunny suit, its history, and the rules one must abide by to wear it, it's all leading up to a breakdown involving Kendra. More on that soon. While Holly is at Bunny Boot Camp being a good little main girlfriend and first lady, Kendra and Playmate Destiny Davis are back at the mansion burning down the house, goofing around in the kitchen, bugging the butlers, swallowing whipped cream straight from the canister. The perfect visual to append to Kendra's thoughts about the Playboy Bunny. And she explains that while Holly and Bridget are like glamour bunnies, she's more like Rebel Bunny. But back at Playboy Studio West, it appears Holly has plans to whip Kendra's bunny tail into shape. She reveals that she's decided on the models for this year's Operation Playmate photo, and Kendra has been chosen to join Bridget, Jillian, and Audra in complete costume and cotton tail. But first, it's cookie time. It's cookie time, it's cookie time, it's cookie time. That's an appropriate Troop Beverly Hills reference, in case you didn't know. The mansion's grand dining table, surrounded by the girls next door and their playmate pals, is covered with flour, dough, and frosting. This trad wife kind of setup will serve Kendra again in a monologue about how she isn't a cookie-baking kind of girl.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

I'm not really the cookie-making type of girl.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

I wish I was, but no. I do not do cookies. I mean, making football-shaped ones, making baseball-shaped cookies, it's fun, you know.

unknown 8:16

Yay!

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Still, she participates, sort of, but once she realizes she can roll dough into football and sport shapes, she's invested. Here, Kendra doesn't reject participation, she rejects performance. She's not anti-cookies, she's anti-pretending she cares about the aesthetic of cookies. Give her something that aligns with her actual interests, and she's in. Leave it as a wholesome, carefully curated domestic tableau, and she'll narrate her disengagement in real time. I can't help but find it a little sad though that Kendra couldn't fake it, at least in this one specific situation, knowing the task was for a noble cause. The cookies weren't for game night snacks, a mansion event, or even hef. They were to be received by those serving our country. But producers needed a pretty linear plot in this episode, so turning her nose up at apron strings and rolling pins perfectly precipitates the follow-up scene.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Getting in a bunny suit, I don't want to do it. It's just if you're gonna be miserable in that thing, then why do it?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

The Operation Playmate models, plus Holly and Minus Kendra, are preparing to take the Operation Playmate photo. As they squeeze their tiny waists into overly constricting bunny bodysuits, they discuss among themselves the great honor it is to do such. Kendra is summoned to join them by way of the mansion's dinosaur landline phone, and she is visibly not happy or honored.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

Hey, do you want to come in and get your costume on? It's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Oh no!

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Yeah, I mean, if you don't want to do it, I can always put it on because just however you feel please for me. Just because it's cute and Hef wanted us to take pictures in it and whatnot. Oh, that's right. We knew that Hef would really like to see her in one and that he would want her included in that. Okay. She doesn't want to do it.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

No, she Holly tells her if she doesn't want to do it, she will wear the costume herself. But she notes to Kendra that Hef does want her to dress in bunny and be in the photo. Begrudgingly, Kendra obliges, and when Holly hangs up the phone, the girls pump her for the verdict. She didn't want to do it, one asks. Holly, in an authoritative voice, replies emphatically, No, she will. Aja's costume is particularly ill-fitting since none of the suits were custom-made for any of the girls in the scene. Bunny costumes are individually tailored for each girl's measurements. That's the Playboy standard, and this is an exception. These were borrowed bunny costumes. Kendra enters the room to get her costume and sees two butlers cramming and zipping Audra into a bunny suit as she holds on to Bridget's bedpost for dear life. The look on poor Kendra's face is that of total horror, and I can hear her thinking to herself, I ain't doing it. Kendra retreats with costume in hand, and for a second, we expect her to return for help with her zipper. But when she comes back, she's still holding the suit and she timidly asks Holly, Can I not do it? Holly's annoyance, in my opinion, is not that of a talented actor. She's truly frustrated, but politely releases Kendra from her bunny duties and shimmies herself into the outfit. Okay, pause here, guys, because I've picked up on some separate behind-the-scenes commentary about this scene that don't connect.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

If you don't want to wear it and you aren't really excited about the outfit, fine, you shouldn't wear it. It's really weird and strange to us to see somebody who's not really interested.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

In Holly and Bridget's podcast, Girls Next Level, Holly claims that what appears to viewers as conflict with Kendra and shade in her reaction to Kendra rejecting the bunny suit was actually a hundred percent fake. Just professionals acting out a scene contrived by producers. Holly's actually quite shady to her podcast audience, playing up how shocking it is that the dumb viewers don't realize it was just a scripted scene. However, in her Girls Next Door reaction series, four episode Operation Playmate on her personal YouTube channel, Holly actually labels the Kendra versus other girls' dynamic as a weird circle of hate. She maintains that her and Bridget would always try to include Kendra and even felt pressured to do so by Hef. She mentions nothing about the scene being a phony gag perpetrated by production. And if you're wondering which came first, the chicken or the egg, Holly's YouTube reactions came before the Girls Next Level podcast. To put the incident to bed, at least in this recap, Audra, Bridget, Holly, and Gillian end up posing with Hef for the photo.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

I can't wait. We're so excited to come.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Yeah, I know I'm excited for you guys to come out here.

SPEAKER_03 13:38

Yeah. So, um, I'm unpacking the bunny costume. Woohoo!

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Oh, we're mine.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

We pick back up as Bridget is packing a suitcase in anticipation of visiting her brother Eddie on base at Fort Bragg. The story on Eddie is that he had a normal life and a career, and when 9-11 happened, he left it all to join the army and serve our country. Since Bridget can't miss an opportunity to be seen as part of Playboy, she's actually planning to walk onto base and deliver cookies to her brother and his fellow army troops wearing a Playboy Bunny costume. Now, I don't mean to be judgy wudgy, but this took me by surprise. I personally would be embarrassed to show up like that, as it doesn't seem necessary or even appropriate given the setting and the audience. Well, apparently someone agreed with me because the next thing we know, Bridget is in full bunny getup, pantyhose, rabbit ears, high heels, and she tells us that the meeting point was changed to a local restaurant and bark because production was not granted access to film on base. But her brother Eddie expanded on this when he was a guest on Girls Next Level. He explained that when his superiors learned of the plans to film the Girls Next Door on bass, he was called into office and sternly told that the 82nd Airborne would not be associated with Playboy. I don't know if I give Bridget guff or props for still getting all suited up after hearing that. But I'll say one thing. The girl's committed to that bunny costume. Eddie meets his sisters, Sergeant Sexy Bunny Bridget and Plainclothes Anastasia at the restaurant, and he seems just as we would expect him to be. Quiet, unassuming, respectful. Half of the scene is Bridget attempting to perform a proper salute. Again, it's a bit embarrassing, awkward at the very least. But Eddie and his mates are good sports, and Bridget completes her mission, Cookies Delivered in Costume.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Fourth of July just means freedom to do whatever you want at the Playboy Mansion. Happy Fourth July!

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Back at the mansion, the 4th of July festivities that were teased at the start of the episode are ramping up. Kendra flashes the camera abreast and educates us that 4th of July means you can do whatever you want at the Playboy Mansion. Bridget trades Sexy Sergeant Bunny for Sexy Statue of Liberty. I'm just not going to comment here. Holly's wearing her favorite American flag, Bunny Keeney, and hitting the slip and slide slopes as often as she can. Hef's home was the only private residence in Los Angeles with a firework permit. So his Independence Day backyard barbecue included a firework display that rivaled Disney's. On paper, this episode is about patriotism, service, and gratitude. In practice, it's about how those ideas get filtered through branding, performance, and very tight bunny suits. Kendra's resistance, Holly's frustration, Bridget's unwavering commitment. It all points to the same underlying tension we keep seeing in season one. Three women being asked to represent the same image while having completely different relationships to it. Kendra doesn't want to perform reverence. Holly feels responsible for maintaining order and optics. Bridget genuinely believes in the symbolism, even when the setting maybe doesn't call for ears and pantyhose. What makes it all so compelling isn't who's right or wrong, but how the show tries to package sincerity inside Spectacle. Cookies for the troops become a character test, a bunny costume becomes a loyalty quiz. Freedom is celebrated, but only after it's filtered through fireworks, thongs, salutes, and a slip and slide re-engineered to cover a sprawling mansion zoo. And yet the episode does manage, almost accidentally, to tether itself back to its stated theme. Freedom. Bridget's reminder to think about those who fight for our country lands differently after watching how messy, performative, and uncomfortable the lead-up was. But maybe that's the point. Freedom isn't tidy, patriotism isn't aesthetic, and gratitude doesn't always fit neatly into a produced storyline. So we end where the show often does best. In contradiction. A fireworks finale at a mansion that feels like a theme park. A message about service wrapped in spectacle, and three women navigating a role they were never asked if they wanted, only how well they could wear it. Thanks so much for hanging out with me today. If you liked this recap, drop a review, a rating, or a comment. I'll actually read them and I'll jump in. I'll engage.