‘Baywatch’ alum Donna D’Errico suggests she continue to doesn’t know how to swim: ‘I simply cannot even tread water’

Donna D’Errico was ready to make a splash for her “Baywatch” audition — besides the actress did not get one particular crucial memo.

“The only issue I experienced to do was move a swim take a look at,” the actress told Fox News. “Except I could not swim. I experienced a severe drinking water phobia. I could not even tread h2o. The [‘Baywatch’ swim coach] asked me, ‘You could swim proper?’ I said, ‘Of training course!’ I lied.”

The star recalled how her examination took put at the YMCA pool located at California’s Pacific Palisades. The starlet claimed she was identified to become one of the show’s coveted lifeguards. D’Errico, however, had no concept how she was heading to convince an total crew that she could acquire a dip — or three — with simplicity.

“You get to be aspect of the most-viewed clearly show in the planet,” said the 53-year-outdated. “It was the prospect of a lifetime. And in this article I am, knowing full effectively, that I simply cannot swim. It was all meant to be standard stuff, nothing at all technical. But all I kept contemplating was, ‘What the heck am I supposed to do?’ I however confirmed up at 5 a.m. I was explained to, ‘Get in the pool, do a few of laps to warm up.’ Right here I am keeping onto the edge like a terrified child. And he’s like, ‘Donna, what are you carrying out?’ Go do a couple of laps. It is freezing in there.’ I couldn’t let go. I was going to sink. And finally, he’s like, ‘Donna, get out of the pool. You cannot swim.’”

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“My first response was, ‘Are you heading to inform the producers?'” D’Errico chuckled. “And he’s like, ‘Well, yeah, of study course, I’m going to explain to them that you simply cannot swim. This is a show about lifeguards!’ I was so upset simply because I did not want to skip out. So I took swimming classes with their key guy 5 situations a 7 days at 5 o’clock in the morning on that pool. I produced that travel just about every morning. And I had a minimal boy at the time. They gave me fins, which designed it a lot easier to swim and tread h2o.”

Weeks later, D’Errico was supplied a further swim examination — and she unsuccessful once again. She took more lessons and barely passed the subsequent test. But that did not matter — she created it. And D’Errico went on to star in the sequence as Donna Marco from 1996 right up until 1998.

“To this working day, I still cannot swim,” she admitted. “I’m terrified of h2o. I just can’t even tread h2o. There’s just one scene, and I assume it’s the only a person, where my character was in the drinking water to do a rescue. And I’m pretty absolutely sure I practically drowned making an attempt to do it. I’m intended to rescue a boy and you can see my lips stating the f-phrase making an attempt to swim in this pool. It’s one particular detail when you have your fins, but it is a different when you do not have them. You can’t actually swim and you are terrified. I’m very positive they under no circumstances designed me do a further rescue once again. But if you search up that a single episode, I’m quite sure you can see my mouth say the f-phrase!”

Even with her aquatic mishap, D’Errico insisted she liked currently being a part of the show and rapidly bonded with her castmates.

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“When I 1st started off, I was seriously nervous mainly because all people was a gigantic superstar and there’s me, brand name new and shy,” she mentioned. “Even I would imagine to myself, ‘How did I land this demonstrate?’ But I remember a single time, I was in my trailer and I experienced to use the restroom. I was in my swimsuit, and when you’re donning a a person-piece bathing fit, you have to pull the full factor down. I lifted the toilet seat up, and there is this substantial, foot-extensive lizard. It was enormous. I just flew out of there screaming. I busted that trailer doorway open up, and there is David Hasselhoff and a pair of crew users laughing hysterically. The good news is I pulled up my swimsuit in time! They were just cracking up. But that established the tone.”

D’Errico mentioned how Hasselhoff, now 69, was identified to make certain every person felt welcomed on set.

“He was just a sensible jokester,” she explained. “He was pretty lighthearted and was eager to break the ice. That was his way of allowing me know to loosen up. And you know, I experienced a fantastic giggle afterward. It was a quite entertaining, enjoyable ambiance. He was always building people today giggle. And I search back on all those reminiscences quite fondly mainly because every person was so welcoming. Even when we experienced to film a tense scene, he would do or say something afterward to get every person laughing and smiling again. I was often grateful.”

Subsequent her time on “Baywatch,” D’Errico said she was typecast in Hollywood. Having said that, she continued to make her mark as an actress by getting on roles that ended up wholly various from Marco.

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“I just did ‘Survive the Game’ with Bruce Willis and I was actually joyful to be forged in a position where by I’m type of the antagonist,” she described. “I have been teaching with firearms and firearm managing for a incredibly long time. So I was snug in that part. And my character Carly is ex-armed service. I selected to do all my stunts. I experienced with the stunt coordinator and the whole stunt team so I could do my combat scenes. That was truly great. It is not a very position. I chose to don no makeup and have my hair again. Carly’s a hard girl, and it was entertaining.”

“We just finished Sean Patrick Flanery’s ‘Frank and Penelope,’ which is heading to be out following yr, and I’m super excited about that,” she shared. “I’m almost certainly far more enthusiastic about this movie and the character than I have been about just about anything in a seriously long time. We shot it 12 miles from the Mexican border where it is incredibly hot and desolate. So as a cast, we relied on just about every other, and it demonstrates on display. I’m genuinely thrilled for individuals to see it.”

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D’Errico is eager for what the foreseeable future holds for her. But she does not intellect wanting back at her “Baywatch” earlier.

“That was very existence-switching,” she mentioned.