Carmen Electra says 'Baywatch' pushed boundaries without crossing the line: 'It wasn't porn'
Carmen Electra is reminiscing about her days starring in the original "Baywatch."
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the 54-year-old "Nation's Dumbest" contestant discussed the success of the original series, saying, all "the cast members made it special."
"It's hard to replace Pamela [Anderson] and Yasmine [Bleeth] and all those people. And there was just a certain tone. I don't know how to explain it," she said. "It had a certain tone to it that it was just such a fantasy, and maybe it was the first time on television you could see so much skin because we really were playing lifeguards right so we could be in these skimpy outfits."
She went on to say that the show possibly left people thinking, "Oh my God, what is this? We can see nipples."
"And it wasn't porn. You know, what I mean? They didn't have to sneak away and find a VHS tape to like, sneak and put in. You can watch this," she added. "You can also learn something. Because, we heard from a lot of people, a lot of fans out there, that they learned so much watching the show."
Electra credited the show's sexy nature as one of the reasons it became the global phenomenon it is, saying they were "sometimes trying to be sexy, sometimes not trying to be sexy" and that "all of a sudden, you get these guys on there with these gorgeous bodies."
In addition to the sexy aspect of the show, Electra attributed its success to the fact that fans could learn something from the show, including how to give CPR, adding she also "learned how to give CPR," and joked, "I could save someone right now if I needed to."
The actress and model joined the show in 1997 for its eighth season, after gaining exposure from posing for Playboy in a 1996 pictorial.
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In terms of returning for the new reboot of the series, Electra is open to putting on the iconic red one-piece once again, since her former love interest on the show, David Chokachi has signed on to return.
"I could do something. Come in, have another love scene with David Chokachi. Just something really cute and fun. I would be down to get into the water again," she said. "I think it would be fun it makes sense I was David Chokachi's love interest way back then. I think it would be really fun and why not, you know?"
His character, Cody Madison, is now the owner of a beachside bar, The Shoreline, and also acts as a mentor to the younger new lifeguards.
"I think it would be so cool if I just came in for an episode to surprise him and say hi. They fall in love again, who knows," Electra said.
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One thing the actress is not willing to go through again is "the schooling that I did when I first joined the cast," noting, "that was really tough."
Following her time on "Baywatch," Electra had a successful career in both film and television, appearing in films such as "Scary Movie," "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," "Meet the Spartans" and others.
She also recently appeared as a contestant on "Nation's Dumbest," a new celebrity competition show. She told Fox News Digital she originally didn't want to do it, saying, "I didn't pay attention in school" and that she "didn't have a good feeling about it."
"Fox kept getting on the phone. They're like, it's gonna be so easy. It's gonna be fun. It's like acting think of it as an acting role," she said. "Once I was not there anymore, I kind of missed it...and there was a lot of fun. I did miss the cast a lot but yeah, I think we were all sitting there going, 'What? Why the hell did we subject ourselves to be on this show?'"
"I definitely had a lot of anxiety and I would freeze. As soon as we would have to rush and say something, answer a question really fast or there was something weird we had to do," she added. "It could be very stressful and I would freeze."
When it came to a moment that still haunts her, Electra couldn't believe she couldn't remember what BBL stood for, saying the producers threw in "a really easy question that she's gonna get and I got it wrong. I couldn't believe it."
The show features celebrity contestants who undergo pop quizzes and physical challenges with the ultimate goal of being eliminated as early as possible, in order to avoid being the last one standing and being named the nation's dumbest.
Electra was ultimately eliminated after the fourth episode of the show, which aired on Aug. 5.
"Nation's Dumbest" airs on Wednesdays at 9:00 PM on Fox, with new episodes available the following day on Hulu.