Peggy Tanous is the latest leggy addition to The Real Housewives of Orange County and although her amazing figure and long blond hair may make it hard to distinguish her from her similarly endowed cast mates she does has one thing about her that is completely unique in the entire Bravo housewives realm: she has a rookie card!
That’s right, Peggy Tanous was a featured model on the Bench Warmer line of swimwear/lingerie collectible cards under the name Peggy Tyler from the years 1994-2003. The photo at the top is is from her super-sexy 2002 Bonus Card (Number 77 for those collecting at home).
According to their “About Us” on BenchWarmer.com the company printed its first pin-uptialized version of collectible cards in 1992 and followed that up with its “Series 2” in 1994. Though there wasn’t a Peggy Tyler card in the inaugural 1994 set, there was a Peggy Farney card, which as it turns out, is Peggy Tyler/Tanous’ real name! I suppose at some point she realized that “Peggy Farney” didn’t sound very sexy so she changed it to the more phonetically alluring “Peggy Tyler.” So actually, Peggy Tyler’s true rookie card is this 1994 Peggy Farney card featuring the Farnster in sexy tennis gear and toting a racket:
Peggy joins other notable Bench Warmer alumni including Pamela Anderson, Brooke Burke, Cindy Margolis, Holly Madison, Shauna Sand, Bridgette Marquardt, Gena Lee Nolin, Kiana Tom, Charisma Carpenter, Nikki Ziering and Traci Bingham. Strangely, the card companies web site has yet to officially recognize the fact that Peggy has gone on to become a Bravolebrity.
One of the many fun features of the Bench Warmer cards is that they have numerous “specialty” and “insert” cards that include autographed limited editions, metallic backgrounds, and cards actually kissed by the models. This next one is of the “limited edition” variety and features Peggy and another model named Chanel Ryan in some hot girl-on-girl action!
So Tamra Barney isn’t the only one to pose nearly nude with another woman! (And if you look closely you will notice that the above card is a VERY rare Archive Auto card signed by both models Peggy Tyler and Chanel Ryan. There were only ten of these made! I don’t play around when it comes to collecting Real Housewives cards!)
The most risque of the Peggy Tyler Bench Warmer cards is another one of their specialty items from their 2003 “Hotties” collection which has Peggy in a see-through mesh top in front of actual flames with a “Liquid FX” foil background. Because of the reflective nature of the foil background it’s hard to get a decent scan of the front (An OK version is included at the bottom of the post) so here’s the back of the card featuring Peggy and her smaller-then Bravolebrititties. (According to the previews for tonight’s episode Peggy is going to have breast augmentation surgery)
I think of all my Peggy Tyler Bench Warmer cards my favorite is this 2002 Archive Auto featuring Peggy in girlish pigtails with a cut-off American flag and teddy bear t-shirt with hip-high stockings and a pair of satiny hot pants that could inspire many a James Brown song! (Yeah, it’s another rare, limited edition card. Mine is numbered 6/25!)
Here are all of the Peggy Tyler cards I could round up via eBay and other sites, although I think there may still be a couple missing from my collection. If you look hard enough you will even find one in which Peggy is sporting a firearm! (Click thumbnails for larger images)
***On an interesting side note, I’ve been putting this article together for some time (as you might imagine, it took a while to get all of these cards!) and during that time I lined up interviews with both Peggy and Bench Warmer founder Brian Wallos at different times and they both fell through! It’s been like the Bermuda triangle of Housewives posts! (You can see a photo of Peggy and Brian together at a recent Bench Warmer charity event for Toys for Tots HERE.)
1994:
^ Peggy Tanous as Peggy Farney on 1994 Bench Warmer Series 2 card
1997:
^ Peggy Tyler 1997 Bench Warmer “Bonus Card”
^ Peggy Tanous as Peggy Tyler in 1997 on Bench Warmer card #53
^ Peggy Tyler 1997 “Authentic Autograph” Bench Warmer (not signed)
^ Peggy Tyler 1997 “Authentic Autograph” Bench Warmer card 2
^ Peggy Tyler 2002 Archive Auto Authentic Autograph 6/25
2002:
^ Peggy Tyler 2002 Bench Warmer Replay Card No. 84
^ Peggy Tyler and Chanel Ryan 2002 signed Archive Auto 6/10
^ Peggy Tyler 2002 Bench Warmer Bonus Card #77
^ Peggy Tyler & Chanel Ryan 2002 Bench Warmer Double Play #195
^ Peggy Tyler All American chromium Bench Warmer card 19 of 24
^ Peggy Tyler 2002 Bench Warmer card number 12
^ Peggy Tyler and Lisa 2002 “Double Feature” Bench Warmer card #95
2003:
^ 2003 Peggy Tyler Bench Warmer “Authentic Kiss” card kissed by Peggy!
^ Peggy Tyler 2003 Bench Warmer HOTTIES “Liquid FX” card 5 of 6
^ Peggy Tyler 2003 Authentic Autograph (not signed) (no back scan)
WHEW! By the way, all of my cards are available for purchase, but I must warn you that they are pricey! (I love muh Peggy cards!)
Bench Warmer is still in the pin-up collectible card business and turning out more fantastically sexy cards! Be sure to check out their web site for the hot and sexy reality stars of the future!
Oh, and does anyone else think that Real Housewives trading cards is an awesome idea? Not only would their be cards for all the characters but also things (Kim’s wig), pets (Grandma Wrinkles, Giggy), catch phrases (Prostitution Wh0re! Who gon check me boo?) and events (table flipping, wig pulling). Oh man – I would buy a million packs to get my autographed limited edition wig pull card with a sample of Kim’s actual wig!!! Just letting you know Bravo, starcasm.net is willing to partner up on this!
