UPDATE: A reader writes in with a convincing case that the below is wrong, and I think the reader's right. Spoiler alert still applies, but it applies to the name you see in the first comment on this post.

Spoiler alert--don't read on if you don't want to know the identity of Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive. It's an annual ritual to guess who has earned the honor before several issues of photographic and textual clues are released.

Mike was the one who nailed it. We were sitting around playing with Connor, and I asked if they had any ideas. Neither he nor Ken had seen the first photo clue, so we pulled it up and perused it like forensic scientists. This, by the way, is a pose that I myself often strike for the camera.

All we knew was that it was some blond that's likely in the news (as past winners Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Biel haven't exactly been anonymous).

The clue that gave it away for Mike was the hint that she's often mistaken for Ashley Judd (all the first installment clues are here).

Katherine Heigl.

The person giving the clues in the interview must be her Grey's Anatomy co-star T.R. Knight. Another clue that fits the bill, according to a Google search, is the fact that she's an animal lover. Having come off a lead in Knocked Up, she fulfills the requirement for being somewhat in the entertainment zeitgeist.

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