Kate Upton reveals she suffered frostbite after stripping down to a bikini in sub-zero temperatures for Sports Illustrated cover
Kate Upton has revealed that she suffered from frostbite after shooting her second Sports Illustrated cover in Antarctica.
For the assignment the supermodel stripped off to a tiny white string bikini on the shores of the South Pole, where the average high is around -49 degrees Fahrenheit.
Describing the effects the sub-zero weather had on her body she told the Today show: 'When I came back, I was like losing hearing and eyesight because my body was shutting down, it was working so hard to keep me warm.'
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Suffering for her art: For her Sports Illustrated assignment in Antarctica Kate Upton stripped off to a tiny white string bikini - images from the chilly shoot can be seen in the issue on sale now
The blonde beauty added: 'It was freezing. I'm from Florida so, it wasn't great for me.
'Obviously, the pictures now, it's incredible. I can't believe we were all able to accomplish that.'
She said that when she told her mother about her unpleasant symptoms she replied unsympathetically: 'I told you not to go there.'
Miss Upton's second Sports Illustrated splash was officially unveiled on Monday - enlarged into a huge Billboard on the front of the David Letterman studios in New York.
Back to warmer climates: During an interview on the Today show this morning Miss Upton revealed the effects the freezing weather had on her body
All smiles: Miss Upton joked that Sports Illustrated have promised her 'somewhere warm' for her next job
It's marks her third appearance in a Swimsuit issue. She was first chosen as rookie of the year in 2011, when Irina Shayk was on the cover, and went on to front the February 2012 edition, which saw her career skyrocket.
'Sports Illustrated really launched my career and I have a lot to thank them for'
'Sports Illustrated really launched my career and I have a lot to thank them for,' she said.
This year for the first time, the fashion shoot covers the entire world, with 17 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models journeying to all seven continents. Photo sites include African dunes and Asian cliffs.
Miss Upton got the surreal and beautiful landscape of Antarctica where the cover shot displays her clad only in a white, fur-lined parka and bikini bottom.
Sell-out success: Miss Upton tweeted this image of a store fully-stocked with her Sports Illustrated issue - she captioned it with: 'OMG! I just walked into a store and saw this...Love it! Haha'
'I was very surprised by the news that that was where my shoot was going to be located,'she exclaimed.
Keeping her cool: Kate Upton sizzles on cover of the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
Back in December pictures were leaked of her working on the chilly shoot aboard a boat with the Sports Illustrated crew.
The publication chartered the boat for a ten-day voyage between Argentina and the South Pole.
Apparently, they wanted to photograph her with a backdrop of icebergs and polar wildlife.
Asked what the penguins were like, she recalled: 'They kept me going, they're adorable. Any time I was like, I can't do it anymore, I would look at them and be like, okay, for them.'
In photographs from the photo shoot, Miss Upton is seen braving minus temperatures in just a small white bikini top and tasseled bottoms with her feet protected in thermal moon boots.
Eventually, Kate was able to swap the ebb and flow of the Antarctic Sea for the firm ground of Antarctica itself.
Bizarrely, she was greeted by a man dressed as an Oreo cookie once she stepped on terra firma. It is not clear why there was a man dressed as a giant biscuit on the icy uninhabited continent, but he might have been overseeing the delivery of 5,000 Oreo cookies to the scientists based at the Palmer Station in the Antarctic Peninsula.
She added that Sport Illustrated have 'promised somewhere warm' for her next cover shoot.
Kate Upton's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is on newsstands now
VIDEO Kate Upton makes friends with the penguins during South Pole shoot
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