Club Scene 13.6 MB

..Hat On 12.6 MB

On New Years Eve, at the end of 1996 (after Playboy but before Singled Out), Carmen made a list of things she wanted to do with her life and career durring 1997. One of the first things she put on the list was to be cast as a regular on Baywatch. She felt it would be a wonderful training ground and fantastic exposure, since it was the number one rated show in the whole world at the time. Carmen did get her hopes up earlier that year when she appeared on an episode of Baywatch Nights. The entire crew thought she would be a perfect addition to the Baywatch cast, but she didn't hear from them for over a year. But while she was waiting and hoping, she landed a highly publicized stint as Jenny McCarthy's replacement on MTV's Singled Out. When the Baywatch producers spotted her on the show, they were so impressed by her looks and personality that they freaked out with excitement and contacted her managers immediately.

The part of this story you've probably already heard was when Carmen goes to her audition saying she's a great swimmer, but in actuallity, she is so uncomfortable in the water that she has to plug her nose. The producers suprized her durring what she thought was just a simple meeting, when they took downstairs to an indoor tank so she could demontrate her diving techniques. Carmen worried that holding her nose would hurt her chances, so she just said a prayer and dove in. Thankfully it all came together just fine. It must have been destiny.

They did make sure she was prepared for the show. She and the rest of the new cast members were required to take intense swimming lessons, mock-lifeguard training, CPR training as well as getting certified for scuba diving. Carmen especially hated the scuba diving, which terrified her, as well as giving her sore dried-out eyes and sinus infections.

The media really hyped up the idea that Carmen was "replacing" Pamela Anderson. She always pointed out to the press that she was only one of 4 women who were new that season: "Everyone's playing up this replacement thing, but there are four new girls coming on the show. I'm just one of them-Lani Mackensie from Hawaii who comes to Hollywood to try to make it as a dancer and a singer but has to make ends meet as a lifeguard while she pursues her dream. The character is pretty different from Pamela's, so I don't know how they can really say I'm the one replacing her."

The Baywatch writers made a special effort to create a character for her that would help her showcase her special dancing talents. In fact, they just happened to write the "Leave Your Hat On" performance [clip is at the top of the page] into the very first eppisode of the season. But just because she was a dancer doesn't mean the dancing scenes were easy- she mentioned a particular scene durring an AOL chat: "I was doing a dance scene where I'm supposed to be auditioning for a show. During the dance, I'm supposed to hurt my ankle and fall to the ground. After 15 takes, I realized that I had over 30 splinters in my butt. I had to go to the CPR guy and have him pull them out one by one with a pair of tweezers."

Carmen's shoots were almost always physically challenging. They required lots of running through sand (which isn't easy) and jumping and swimming- having to do take after take. She also had to do all of her own stunts, like diving off a speeding boat and learning to tandem surf, which were quite dangerous. Just the dangers of being in the ocean were scary enough, as Carmen once described: "I have come in contact with a shark. I was doing a scene with Jose... We had been in the water all day. And at the end of the day... We got into this tiny little boat... When we got in... The stunt coordinator told us we had been surrounded by about 16 sharks... But not to worry cause they were leopard sharks. And then when Jose and I looked out... We could see them swimming all around the boat. So SCARY!"

Carmen was always the first to point out and joke about the extreme cheesiness of Baywatch. One of her most memorable cheesy scenes was having to beat a giant eel under water, which she commented: "How ridiculously frightening that I'm making a living at this!" For a guest spot she did on the spinoff, Pacific Blue, she had to do a scene were she fights an entire gang of preppie white guys with her rescue can while wearing her red bathing suit, which she thought was absolutely ridiculous.

Carmen thought the wardrobe was cheesy too. She spent a great amount of time durring her AOL chats complaining about the way the red suits were too small and rode up her butt durring such physical scenes. Hair and make-up were pretty bad sometimes as well" "There have been a couple of episodes on Baywatch... When they made my hair all teased and enormous... That I cringed and cried when I saw the episodes air. I looked like I should be on Dallas. Except I was dressed in a bathing suit."

Her time on Baywatch wasn't always bad though. She had a lot of time between scenes where she was able to chill in her trailer or bond with the castmates by playing practical jokes on them. "My best one so far was when I stuck a Twinkie down Michael Bergin's wet suit. And he wasn't wearing anything underneath. So it just squished right in there. Another one I played on... Yes, Michael Bergin again was... I pulled down his speedo in front of everyone who was in front of catering. And he was so embarrassed because... Well, what can I say without getting too explicit. Everyone saw... And he wasn't quite ready... If you know what I mean."

She developed some great friendships with some of her castmates. Yasmine Bleeth was only there for a few episodes durring Carmens season, but they bonded instantly and have been friends ever since. Tracy Bingham felt close enough to Carmen to include her in her wedding party (which consisted mostly of Baywatch actresses). She also had a great flirtatious friendship with Micheal Bergin. (Anyone who makes such an effort to get so close to anothers "package", via practical jokes, must have a slight crush.)

Carmen was done with her Baywatch days after just five months. She has always said she left the show to honor her contract with the WB network, but the Baywatch producers insist she was cut- Who knows what really happened. At the time she left, she didn't seem bitter at all:"I don't know what else you could ask for. And it's a great place to learn your craft. I'm really just at the beginning of my acting career... So it's been an incredible place to start. I really appreciate having this be a part of my career... And helping me get started."