Nicole Eggert might’ve looked like she was living the dream, joyfully running in slow motion across sunny beaches in that iconic red swimsuit, but behind the scenes, it was more like a nightmare in flip-flops.
Now 53, Eggert recently spilled the sandy tea on the Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko, opening up about her time on Baywatch and the surprising mess it became. She joined the show in 1992 as Summer Quinn, a lifeguard who was supposed to be part of something totally different. Originally, Eggert explained, Baywatch creators pitched her a spin-off that was supposed to be a mix of 90210, rescue tubes, and beach volleyball. It would’ve starred her and David Charvet in a high school-for-lifeguards setup, and it all sounded pretty chill.
But then Baywatch exploded in popularity, becoming the most-watched show on the planet thanks to syndication. Producers scrapped the spin-off idea and shoved everyone into the main cast. “Because why waste money and resources on an iffy spin-off when the golden goose is already fat and ready to dance? Or at least that was the vibe, according to Eggert. So suddenly, instead of teen drama at the beach, she was caught in a whirlwind of slo-mo and body oil.
After two seasons, she’s seen and done enough and politely tapped out. But even though Eggert left, the show’s shadow stuck to her like sand after a beach day. The actress admitted she had this naive idea that quitting would free her from the Baywatch stigma, but little did she know that was not how things went.
She said people started seeing her a certain way. If you were to guess what kind of way and say a very specific, skimpy swimsuit-clad way, you’d be correct. Unfortunately, that stigma followed her off-screen, especially when it came to dating. People assumed they already knew her based on the show, and it made it tough for her to be seen as herself, not just “that hot girl from Baywatch.”
And as to her Hollywood career, one would think that being on the biggest show in the world would open all the doors, but Eggert said it was the opposite. Behind the curtain, the press was tearing them apart, and suddenly, all the serious casting calls stopped coming in, as if all of her previous roles were wiped clean.
She remembered how the cast started getting lumped together under one ugly label—the “Baywatch bimbos.” It felt surreal to her. How did it make sense to get mocked and treated like stage decorations for being on a global hit like Baywatch? It was a whole lotta mess.
Running in slow motion was particularly unpleasant for her. Did you realize that the iconic Baywatch eye candy was not part of the original plan? Eggert revealed that during her seasons, they were the test group for the new intro footage. Nobody told them it was going to be slowed down in editing, so they were running full speed. And let’s just say that slowing down a full-speed run did not look super flattering. She joked that the results were less hot-lifeguard and more awkward-P.E.-class. Despite all this, she did return to the franchise for the 2003 TV movie Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. Because, of course, she did. Cause she has to pay the bills, too.
Looking back, Eggert said she was blindsided on her very first day of filming. She hadn’t realized they’d basically live in bathing suits. All the girls were super fit and tiny, and to make things worse, she hated the one-piece suit. It was not as flattering as the viewers imagined it to be.
Feeling self-conscious, Eggert decided to get breast implants during a break. She’s since admitted she regrets the decision, especially considering she was just 18. At the time, though, she felt like it was the only way to survive the “pleating,” which is what she called the wrinkling of the suit made by flat chests. “You can’t stuff it, you can’t tape it—you’re just stuck,” she said.
In the end, Baywatch may have been a global hit, but for Nicole Eggert, it came with a heavy dose of typecasting, body image stress, and a whole lot of running she’d rather forget.