The ‘Baywatch’ alum tells PEOPLE about his return to television and what intrigued him about the reality series
Credit: Frank Micelotta/FOX
NEED TO KNOW
- David Charvet is one of 15 celebrities competing on the fifth season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
- It’s his first time back on TV in several years, and the Baywatch alum tells PEOPLE that “the challenge aspect” of the show is what drew him in
- Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test premieres Thursday, September 24 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox
David Charvet is back on TV for the first time in some time, and he’s ready to compete.
The Baywatch star, 54, is one of 15 celebrities appearing on the fifth season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, and he tells PEOPLE it was “the show itself” that made him want to return to the small screen.
“For me, it was really the show itself, the challenge aspect of it,” Charvet said at a Special Forces red carpet on Thursday, Sept. 17. “Also, my children have never seen me on television.”
Charvet shares daughter Heaven, 19, and son Shaya, 18, with ex-wife Brooke Burke, and, as he explains, “I’ve been out of the game for 20 years. I kind of retired to be a dad, so they never saw that, and I thought it’d be kind of fun for them to see their dad go at it one more time.”
Credit: FOX
“My son also said to me, he’s like, ‘Dad, don’t disappoint us. Please, do not disappoint the family. We’re on a fitness journey right now, so please show up.’ So I did.”
Charvet notably starred on Baywatch from 1992 to 1996 and Melrose Place from 1996 to 1998.
As for the reality series, which puts its stars through grueling challenges inspired by the real-life U.S. Special Forces selection process, it differed in a “huge” way from what Charvet has previously experienced on TV. “But it was an incredible experience,” he says.
“The mindset is probably the hardest aspect in this whole show, to be able to go in day in and day out and do all the tasks and to deal with the [directing staff] and deal with different personalities was a really, really tough aspect,” he shares.
He was dedicated in his preparation for the experience. “I trained in our studio, called BUILD, with my son every day, and we had LED red light and infrared heat, which was about 105 degrees,” Charvet reveals. “It was a great way to prepare.”
Credit: All American Television
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“But there’s one thing that we could not prepare for: the mind games and what you endure,” he says. “That was very telling of what kind of person you are and what can you endure.”
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test premieres Thursday, September 24 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
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