The rational mind would dismiss it as a “Baywatch” promotional event at San Jose State University, and a small and chintzy one at that.
But one person’s gaseous promo event is another’s career opportunity.
Eight women and seven men answered the call recently to strut their stuff, in hopes of nailing an appearance on the syndicated beach-and-babe TV series.
The two winners — Divini Bean, 21, of Portland, Ore., and Steve Niyati, 22, of Danville, Calif. — secured bit parts on a future “Baywatch” episode.
Well, almost bit parts. Bean and Niyati will be part of a montage of campus winners shown at the end of an episode, said contest producer Jason Altshuler, who works for a Los Angeles marketing firm called Mediamix.
They’ll also compete with winners from 24 other “Baywatch Search On-Campus” competitions in a national finals contest.
The national winners presumably will qualify for two-bit parts in a “Baywatch” episode.
The 15 San Jose contestants auditioned in street clothes at the San Jose State University student union, before a mildly curious throng of, oh, seven or eight spectators who wandered into the ballroom.
One contestant, who said he was a kickboxer, promptly shed his street clothes, down to his red boxer shorts. He had his shirt half unbuttoned by the time Altshuler finished giving him his instructions: “In mime, tell the judges why you should be in `Baywatch.’ ” A moment later, he was prancing around the stage with his jeans bunched at his ankles. He lost.
The dark-haired, brown-eyed Niyati is a senior and soccer player at San Diego State University. He said he decided to audition in San Jose after a friend won the “Baywatch” contest in San Diego.
“It’s one of those opportunities,” he said. “You always, in the back of your mind, wonder if you could be some kind of actor. You get an opportunity and you take it.”
Bean followed the contest from Portland after losing in the final rounds there, only days before the San Jose competition.
Altshuler seemed disappointed by the sparse turnout in San Jose. By contrast, he said, a crowd of 3,000 watched 400 contestants vie in New York City. Even Portland produced 250 contestants.
“Maybe `Baywatch’ and San Jose don’t mix,” sighed Altshuler.
