 "Photo: ALYSSA SIRISOPHON / The Daily Reveille")
If the wings aren't enough to lure customers to Hooters of Baton Rouge, perhaps a dream girl will do the trick.
Brittany Farmer, a 21-year-old waitress at Hooters on Corporate Boulevard, is one of 16 Hooters Girls across the country competing for the title of 2012 Hooters Dream Girl.
With her waist-length brunette locks, Farmer, a Natchez, Miss., native, was branded the "Baton Rouge Bombshell" for the competition. She was selected from about 40,000 Hooters Girls around the world. The finalists went to Aruba for one week in November to compete and film a television show that premiered on SPEED on Jan. 14.
The competitors are divided into a "Bikini Bracket" until it's narrowed down to the final Dream Girl. The women endure three elimination rounds, determined by viewers' votes. The first round of voting ends Sunday, and eight competitors will be eliminated.
The final round of voting ends Feb. 16, and the winner will receive the Dream Girl title, a feature on the cover of Hooters Magazine and $10,000.
Holly Simon, director of marketing for Hooters Louisiana, said there is no formal audition process, and the contestants are selected by the national Hooters Magazine based on their performance throughout the year.
Transforming the competition into a TV show is an annual tradition, Simon said.
Farmer said she's still shocked by the success she's found at Hooters. She competed in her first Hooters swimsuit contest when she started working for the company at 18 and won first place ahead of about 50 women.
After that, she said, she just kept winning.
She was the pull-out in the Hooters swimsuit calendar and is featured on a billboard in New Orleans. Farmer said she almost wrecked her car upon passing it, and she said being surrounded by photos of herself is "kinda weird."
"I never thought this would be me," Farmer said. "It's so crazy to me — it's surreal."
Around the Corporate Boulevard location are posters and flyers of Farmer. She serves food and drinks from behind a bar that's decorated with photos of her in a teeny bikini.
"My co-workers say they don't miss me when I'm gone," she said with a laugh.
As she talked about the competitions in Aruba that consisted of in-store relays, volleyball matches and blackjack battles, Farmer rushed around the restaurant topping glasses, filling orders and making sure a pair of customers didn't leave without paying.
When she's not working at the restaurant, she's still working on photoshoots and promotions. She said she spends almost all of her time in the Hooters store, even when she's not on the clock.
"It hasn't hit me yet. I've been running around so much — I haven't stopped for a minute," Farmer said.
Farmer, who took online college classes, came to Baton Rouge with a friend who was attending LSU. She found a job at Hooters and has stayed put since.
Farmer stuck around Baton Rouge because of her job. At an hour and a half away, her biological family is close enough, but she said she can't leave her Hooters family.
Hooters isn't a forever job, Farmer said, and she plans to open her own business when her tenure is up.
Farmer said she enjoyed the experience competing in Aruba, and she misses her teammates and fellow Dream Girl contestants.
"I have not met one catty person through this whole experience. Everyone's super sweet. It's been amazing," she said.
Farmer said her recent success has puzzled her. She doesn't know what has made her stand out, but she feels blessed.
The results of the first-round Bikini Bracket eliminations will be announced Sunday. Farmer has her fingers crossed.
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Contact Emily Herrington at eherrington@lsureveille.com
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