What Didn’t Fans See on ‘Baywatch’? Erika Eleniak Says Cast Battled Cold Water & Exhaustion

Before slow-motion beach runs became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, Baywatch was simply a risky television experiment about California lifeguards trying to save lives under the sun. For original cast member Erika Eleniak, signing on to the series meant stepping into something completely unfamiliar.

“It was pretty grueling,” Eleniak recalls of the audition process that eventually landed her the role of rookie lifeguard Shauni McClain. “I feel like I had about six auditions. You go through casting, then producers and directors, then the network. Then they pair you up with other actors to see what the chemistry is like. It was a really long process.”

At the time, the premise itself felt unique.

Season 1 of Baywatch (1989). ©Pearson All-American Television / Everett Collection

“There were cop shows, lawyer shows, doctor shows,” she says. “This was a serious look at lifeguarding, and that really hadn’t been done before.”

There was also immediate excitement surrounding the project because David Hasselhoff had already signed on following the enormous popularity of Knight Rider.

“There was a lot of excitement around David being involved,” Eleniak says. “Billy Warlock had already been cast too, and I was such a huge Days of Our Lives fan. I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s Frankie.’ So there was already this feeling that something exciting was happening.”

Though Eleniak had already built an acting career dating back to childhood (remember her in E.T.?), she says she entered that phase of her career eager for almost any opportunity that felt creatively exciting.

Shawn Weatherly and Erika Eleniak. Credit: Everett Collection

“At that point, I was pretty open,” she says. “Whatever seemed fun or adventurous or interesting to me, I was willing to try. I just wanted to work and experience different things.”

That sense of youthful openness fit perfectly with Shauni, the somewhat spoiled and naive aspiring lifeguard Eleniak played during the show’s early seasons.

“I was told Shauni was based on a real girl who was an Olympic swimmer,” Eleniak explains. “But they wanted her to be spoiled and kind of bratty. She was young and excited and thought lifeguarding was going to be this glamorous thing, and then reality kind of hit her. That youthful energy and innocence was really fun to play.”

While Baywatch projected a glamorous image onscreen, Eleniak says the reality behind filming the series was far more physically demanding than most viewers realized.

“It was a very difficult show to shoot,” she says. “People see the sunshine and the beach and the beautiful bodies, but they don’t think about the wind, the cold water, the sand, the currents, the exhaustion. Sometimes you’re freezing cold in a bathing suit pretending it’s hot outside while they spray you down with water to make you look sweaty. There were so many uncomfortable elements involved.”

©Pearson All-American Television / Everett Collection.

Ocean rescue scenes were often especially intense. Eleniak vividly remembers filming in Hawaii at Sandy Beach during one particularly difficult sequence.

“I had to swim a drowning victim toward the camera, but the camera boat kept drifting farther and farther out to sea,” she recalls. “I just wasn’t strong enough to keep up. I remember the actor I was supposedly rescuing whispering in my ear, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll kick you in.’ That’s how rough it was.”

The stunt work could be brutal, too.

“Diving off boats going 30 miles an hour into the water feels like hitting cement,” she says. “People don’t realize how real a lot of that stuff was. One of my stunt doubles actually broke her leg during one stunt.”

Then there was the pressure that came with starring on a show where swimsuits were essentially the cast’s uniforms.

“You’re in a bathing suit all day long,” Eleniak says. “There’s nowhere to hide anything. No pinning, no layering, no covering things up. It just is what it is.”

Ironically, by the time Baywatch became a global sensation, Eleniak had already exited the series after two seasons.

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“The fame really hit after I was already gone,” she says. “That was the strange part. Suddenly I was getting recognized everywhere and receiving fan mail and press attention for a role I wasn’t even playing anymore. It was surreal.”

By then, Eleniak had already decided she wanted to pursue more dramatic acting opportunities.

Eleniak will reprise her role as Shauni McClain in the upcoming Baywatch reboot coming to Fox in January 2027.

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