Brooks Nader Explains Why the “Baywatch” Cast Takes Their CPR Training 'Seriously' (Exclusive)

Desiree Anello, Raven BrunnerWed, May 13, 2026 at 5:20 PM UTC

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Brooks Nader in 'Baywatch'
Credit: BACKGRID -

Brooks Nader is explaining why she and her costars did “three or four weeks of lifeguard training” in preparation for the upcoming reboot of Baywatch

As one of the franchise founders told her, they used to receive “hundreds of letters a day” from fans saying that they were able to save a life after learning CPR from the show

“I felt a responsibility to take the training seriously because you really don't know who you could be saving that's watching at home,” Nader tells PEOPLE

Brooks Nader is ready to save lives.

Ahead of the premiere of the long-awaited Baywatch reboot, the Love Thy Nader star, 29, tells PEOPLE at the 2026 Fox Upfront event in New York City that she will be spending her summer “working and saving lives.”

After all, she and her costars — including Stephen Amell, Shay Mitchell, Livvy Dunne and more — underwent training to become “full certified lifeguards” in preparation for the show, Nader told PEOPLE on Monday, May 11.

“We did three or four weeks of lifeguard training, swim training,” Nader says. “You have to because one of the founders of Baywatch, the franchise, told us day one when we were learning CPR. He was like, ‘Actually pay attention to the skill of CPR and how you actually administer it because we've had hundreds of letters a day sent to the Baywatch franchise from people all over the world saying, 'I saved my daughter's life because I watched Baywatch and I learned CPR.' "

Brooks Nader attends the Fox Upfront event on May 11, 2026
Credit: Stephanie Augello/FOX via Getty

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“So that gave me, I felt a responsibility to take the training seriously because you really don't know who you could be saving that's watching at home,” she added.

Before the reboot was announced, Carmen Electra, who joined the original Baywatch in 1997 for a one-season stint as aspiring dancer Lani McKenzie, told PEOPLE that “she would absolutely participate” in a revival of the series for similar reasons.

The forthcoming series is set to premiere sometime in early 2027.

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"I think they should bring Baywatch back," she said in 2022. "Because it was a show that people would learn how to give CPR ... and plus, it was sexy. Come on, it was sexy. But it did have that element to it — and such a following.”

Baywatch has indeed made an impact. In 1997, a woman named Keysha Marshall was able to save her 2-year-old nephew from drowning after learning CPR from watching Baywatch, Rescue 911 and other emergency-related shows. "I held his nose and I blew into his lungs and then I pumped on his chest," she told the Tampa Bay Times at the time, after which a spokesman for the American Red Cross added, “The Red Cross always advocates anything is better than nothing.”

The cast of the 'Baywatch' on March 18, 2026
Credit: TheImageDirect.com

As she prepares to star as "sharp-tongued Captain of the Zuma beach lifeguards" Selene, Nader also admits to PEOPLE that she's been placing photos of Electra, 54, and Pamela Anderson on her vision board since she was a kid.

“I've been practicing the run since I was in middle school,” Nader says. “I definitely feel like I manifested getting here somehow.”

She adds, “It gives me chills to put on the red one piece and do the run every time,” she adds. “I felt like this was my moment. I was like, ‘Okay, if you screw this up, all your life's work is down the toilet.’"

The forthcoming series will feature "all the adrenaline-fueled rescues, tangled relationships, complicated chemistry and beachside heroics that defined the original — now with an entirely new cast, contemporary trappings, tensions and challenges, and a renewed mission to protect Southern California’s shoreline," per its official synopsis.

Baywatchpremiered in 1989 and ran for 11 seasons through 2001.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”