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ERIN DREWES IS (STILL!) NOT TIM TEBOW'S GIRLFRIEND—A Girlwatcher Special Report

University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is the most famous football player in the college game. He won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore, nearly won it again as a junior and has a shot at it again in this, his senior season. His Gators sit atop the BCS rankings, and if he can get them past Alabama in the SEC title game he'll have them playing for a second consecutive national title and their third in his four years at the school. Additionally, he is a devout Christian and self-proclaimed virgin who is saving himself for marriage.

All of which raises the question ... how hot is his girlfriend?

That is perhaps a non-sequitur, but come on: big man on campus, everybody's All-American, the man with the golden arm—guys like Tebow generally attract beautiful coeds, the cream of the crop. The day after the Gators won the national championship in 2007, a photo of Tebow with a busty brunette showed up on a sports blog, and the rumor mill went into overdrive. Here was Tebow with his girlfriend, and ain't she a babe? Before long, more pictures of the girl in question showed up, phenomenal shots of her wading in the ocean wearing a bikini. Her bodaciousness and Tebow's squeaky-clean image were prime fodder for internet snark.

TKbig: "Tebow is a big guy, he wants to paw at some big tats. What's wrong with that? Remember that those bazzontittes in his big hands are probably equivalent to a set of Cs in your normal-sized hands."

vinceneilyoung: "I guess his homeschool tutors gave him some lessons in ass magnetry."

C-Boy: "Well to me the chick is hot and im pretty sure y tim is w her.But for the most part of it is that Tim wants to moterboat her ass.I would to but hey Im not over there so Tim do us all a favor.LOL"

Well put, C-Boy. Eloquent.

There are a couple of problems with the story. First, the girl in the picture with Tebow, Erin Drewes, was not Tim Tebow's girlfriend. Second, the girl in the bikini is not Erin Drewes—it's well-known British glamour model Lucy Pinder.

Two years later, the misinformation lives on—kudos to ShowbizGossips for this crackerjack journalism, posted two weeks ago and Uptimenews for this even-worse post from September.

Erin remains a little bemused and a little annoyed. Girlwatcher tracked her down, and imagine our delight when we found out she was about to do a photo shoot wearing a bodypaint version of Tebow's jersey. Enjoy these exclusive images (courtesy John Neyrot) and the final word from Erin. Well, maybe not final—after all, she might just take the newsstand by storm as the "American Lucy Pinder."

Tebow? Who's Tim Tebow?

GIRLWATCHER: What is the real extent of your relationship with Tim Tebow? Are you friends with him—or did you just happen to stand next to him at a party?
ERIN: We are acquaintances through mutual friends and we would see each other here and there. We were standing together talking at a party at U of F and that's when the now-infamous picture was taken.

GIRLWATCHER: How did you first discover that football fans were sharing the Tebow picture around?
ERIN: I received a phone call from one of my girls jokingly informing me of my "new boyfriend," Tim Tebow. After talking to her, things started making more sense. I was puzzled as to why I had suddenly received hundreds of new friend requests and e-mails. She told me to Google my name, and I was shocked to see all the buzz on the Internet about Tim Tebow's mystery girlfriend.

GIRLWATCHER: How did you feel about it?
ERIN: The whole thing was and is still pretty crazy. It amuses me how many different stories people can make up just over one picture. When it's all said and done, it was just a harmless photo, and there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

GIRLWATCHER: We read on one blog that your boyfriend was none too amused by the situation—is that true? How did you work through it?
ERIN: Of course, my then-boyfriend wasn’t cool with the situation at first, but we had a trusting relationship. It became an ongoing joke after a while and we would laugh about it.

GIRLWATCHER: Did anyone you know see the picture online and believe the story? Any old high school friends e-mailing you like OMG I can't believe you're going out with Tim Tebow? Did you have to explain it to your parents?
ERIN: Are you kidding me? My Dad got the biggest kick out of it because he's always been such a huge Gator fan. We were raised watching football and rooting for the Gators. I actually attended a Bucs game with my Dad and somebody said to me, "Hey, I know who you are, you're Tim Tebow's girlfriend." My Dad just laughed. As far as other people thinking it was true, they absolutely did. So let me set the record straight: I was never dating Tim Tebow, nor was I ever his girlfriend!

GIRLWATCHER: At the time, were you considering trying to be a model? Did you think, Ok, this is weird, but maybe it could be an opportunity?
ERIN: My first priority has always been school, and that has never changed. I am a pretty grounded person and, although opportunities did arise from the situation, I decided to just stay away from the hype and continue with my goals.

GIRLWATCHER: It's our understanding that the "evidence" in this situation was just the one photo of you and Tim. We've never seen any others of the two of you. Is that correct—it was all based on a single photo? 
ERIN: Yes, you are correct. All of this over one single photo!

GIRLWATCHER: And then from there people stared posting other candid pictures of you—from MySpace or something we assume. How did you feel about that? 
ERIN: I felt like my privacy was intruded upon, but I suppose that’s what you can expect if you join Facebook or MySpace. I learned to be a little smarter about the information I make public for people to see.

GIRLWATCHER: A lot of attention was paid to your breasts, which are prominent in the photo—do you think the commentary went over the line? 
ERIN: I had to ignore the commentary. You never want to hear things said like that about you and some of it was hurtful. I'm convinced the picture must have been photoshopped—my breasts certainly are not that big!

GIRLWATCHER: Did you thnk about taking action to set the record straight? Look into registering nottebowsgirlfriend.com or anything like that? 
ERIN: I didn’t feel the need to set the record straight because I thought it would go away, but now after almost three years, it is still haunting me. So now I am setting it straight, again and again—I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!
 
GIRLWATCHER: The phenomenon took on a whole 'nother level of sillines when Lucy Pinder got dragged into it, didn't it? How did you feel the first time you saw a picture of her with your name attached to it?
ERIN: I mean, it's not offensive by any means to be compared to a well-known model, so I just took it as a compliment.
 
GIRLWATCHER: To your knowledge, is Lucy Pinder aware of this story?
ERIN: I have no idea if she knows about the story.

GIRLWATCHER: Lucy Pinder is one of the most famous models in England. She's on magazine covers every month. Did you take this as any sort of good omen for your modeling career? 
ERIN: I didn’t take it as an omen for my modeling career at all! I wouldn’t mind being the American Lucy Pinder and being on magazine covers every month, but who wouldn’t love that job?

GIRLWATCHER: It's funny to go back and read comment threads, to see these guys slowly piecing together the facts. When they figure out that the girl in the bikini is Lucy Pinder, most say "Oops, we've made a mistake, that's not the same girl in the picture with Tim." But some are like "OMG Tim Tebow is going out with British model Lucy Pinder!!!" ... what's the most bizarre distortion or unlikely explanation you heard? 
ERIN: I heard one time that he was cheating on me with Lucy Pinder! To be completely honest, all the stories I heard were bizarre and distorted. There was no story to the picture other than one friend taking a photo with another friend, or one Gator fan taking a picture with Tim Tebow.

GIRLWATCHER: Have you spoken with Tim about this? What does he think? 
ERIN: I spoke to him briefly when it first came out. He didn’t think anything of it though. I am sure he gets crazy stories written about him all the time. He must be used to it.

GIRLWATCHER: What should we know about you, the real you? Are you a UF cheerleader (we read somewhere that you were)? Have you graduated? What was your major? What sort of hopes/ambitions do you have for modeling? Would you consider doing Playboy? 
ERIN: I was not a UF Cheerleader, even though I did cheer on an All Star team for 12 years. I graduated from UF with a degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. I am presently attending graduate school. I've never considered a career in modeling. As for considering Playboy, it would have to be the right circumstance.

Photos of Erin Drewes are copyright John Neyrot, and are provided as a courtesy. See more of Neyrot's work at his official sites, Neyrot.com and NeyrotBodypaint.com.

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