Fox's upcoming Baywatch reboot drew roughly 2,000 hopefuls to an open beach casting call, but one name generating buzz online was notably absent from the sand.
Fitness influencer Kira Pregiato, who has amassed approximately 2.5 million TikTok followers and nearly 1 million on Instagram, says fan pressure to audition was immediate once Fox announced the series, along with an open casting call the network described as giving "aspiring talent a rare opportunity to audition for the series' casting directors."
"My DMs were genuinely out of control," Pregiato told Sports Illustrated. "People were tagging me in the casting announcement, sending me clips, like full-on campaigning for me to go. It was really sweet, honestly, but also kind of overwhelming."
Fans have long drawn comparisons between Pregiato and Pamela Anderson, who made the show's iconic red one-piece swimsuit synonymous with her character C.J. Parker during the original series' run in the 1990s.
Many of those attending the open call arrived wearing the famous suit, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"The biggest comparison I get is basically a modern-day Pamela Anderson," Pregiato said. "My fans have literally been saying it forever, so when the reboot got announced, they kind of lost it."
The Blast previously described a Pregiato swimsuit post as "channeling old-school Pamela Anderson vibes with a modern-day twist."
Pregiato first gained viral attention in 2024 when a TikTok video about cologne surpassed 20 million views within 48 hours, a moment she has called "surreal."
She subsequently left college to pursue content creation full-time.
"I'm not ruling anything out," she said. "But I don't need a red swimsuit to make waves. I've been doing that."
The Fox reboot stars Stephen Amell as an adult Hobie Buchannon and also features returning original cast member David Chokachi.
The series is scheduled to air during the 2026-27 television season.