The Embarrassing Moment Carmen Electra Had During Her Baywatch Audition

Even if you've never personally watched "Baywatch," you're probably familiar with the iconic red swimsuits that have become synonymous with the show's lifeguards. While the male cast members only donned a pair of red trunks, the female stars wore a more revealing costume. While it wasn't as tiny as today's barely-there bikinis, it still had super high-cut hips and a décolletage-baring neckline.

We can think of many embarrassing situations that could happen with a swimsuit like this, especially on camera. But Carmen Electra's mortifying moment was pretty unexpected. 

The stunning actor and model was 25 when she tried out for the show and was approaching the peak of her career. By this point, the former singer had appeared in a nude shoot for Playboy, so she wasn't a stranger to baring it all on camera. The only difference between her modeling shoot and her "Baywatch" audition is that she was prepared for the former. During the latter, Electra didn't realize she would be trying out in the signature suit — yikes!

It was the late '90s, and Carmen Electra was ready to rock her "Baywatch" audition. The celeb revealed to People that when she walked into the room, David Hasselhoff, the O.G. L.A. County Lifeguard, was sitting there along with the producers. Electra had already practiced the dialogue for her scene, so the reading was no big deal. But then the crew pulled out the classic "Baywatch" one-piece and told her to go get changed.

Electra admitted, "I had no idea, because I was wearing like leggings when I went to the audition. And I didn't shave my legs that morning. I had no idea. I'm like, oh my God, I'm so embarrassed!" We're all for embracing (or not embracing) whichever beauty practices you like. Still, we shudder to think of putting on an itty-bitty swimsuit with zero warning. 

Fortunately, things turned out alright for the bombshell model. She went in, changed into the suit, and finished rocking her audition. "My legs weren't that hairy where you could notice, but I would have liked to have shaved my legs," she admitted. Her hair obviously didn't scare off the producers, because Electra was welcomed to the cast in 1997.

As it turns out, the one-pieces worn by the "Baywatch" cast were just as functional as they were fashionable; well, mostly. Greg Bonann, a former Southern California lifeguard and co-creator of the show, handled the swimwear design himself by recruiting real competition swimwear brand TYR. Bonann recalled to Yahoo TV that he told the company they must "look good on the women, but had to also be functional in the water." Paying close attention to the coverage for actors like Carmen Electra, the swimsuits needed "good support on the top and minimal creep in the back." Ultimately, Bonann deemed a rescue-risky two-piece too far from the real thing.

Though her audition almost turned into quite the hairy situation, Electra was probably thankful the one-piece provided more coverage than a bikini. Two other castmates, Pamela Anderson and Kelly Rohrbach, also came out and admitted that they liked wearing the suit. Anderson, who held onto her costume, told British GQ that she still wore the suit long after "Baywatch" went off the air to "dress up for boyfriends" that needed rescuing. Nevertheless, the suit caused some "Baywatch" castmates to struggle with body image.

The red lycra has seen a resurgence in recent years, like when the new "Baywatch" movie came out in 2017 or when celebs like Selena Gomez have been snapped swimming in the iconic red one-piece. And thanks to modern body positivity, you can proudly rock it any way you want, leg and armpit hair included.