Tsunami! Unexploded mines! Busted affairs! Arielle Kebbel tells Us how Rescue: HI-Surf’s sexy lifeguards weather it all — while also teasing what is to come for her character Em’s relationship with Will.
“[For] little me who learned to swim at 1 year old, this is the best job of my life,” Kebbel raves in the new issue of Us Weekly of shooting Rescue: HI-Surf on the North Shore of O‘ahu, Hawaii.
Kebbel adds that the best compliment she can get is that North Shore locals are fans of the show. “To get positive feedback from the North Shore and to know that they’re championing our show means the world to me,” she says. “It was the hardest job I’ve ever done, but it was also the most rewarding because I’ve never been on a production where we would call cut and the crew would be cheering for me and for us and for our cast. It is so important to me to give it my all every single day. And so I’m very, very grateful that people are responding to this show.”
Even before the cameras started rolling, the cast was committed to the project, getting certified as lifeguards, ATV drivers, jet ski drivers and scuba divers.
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“We had two weeks of intense training. I definitely went to the hospital,” she said with a laugh. “It’s the only job I’ve ever been on where the more cuts and scrapes and bruises I got, we never had to cover them up. That’s part of the show, that’s part of the character.”
Rescue: HI-Surf airs on Fox Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
How much of your own stunts do you do?
There is no CGI, which I’m so proud of. We all do most of our own stunts. I do have an amazing stunt double [to give me tips].
Watching you go hard in the water or on the beach is really inspiring. Is there a fitness regimen you follow?
You have to take care of your body like an athlete would. Female lifeguards are strong and are tough from their core. [But] being on the island is such a physical, spiritual experience that diet isn’t even in the realm of thinking there. And I will carry that with me forever.
Your character Em’s hair is also iconic. Effortless beach waves!
When we started filming, there was talk about cutting my hair even shorter for practical reasons. I said absolutely not. We cannot cut her hair and further prove that you can’t be feminine and celebrate femininity in a man’s world.
How often did Mother Nature throw a wrench into production?
Every single day! We were constantly holding for crazy rip currents, windstorms, rain, sandstorms [or] whales, monk seals, turtles.
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The relationship between Em and Adam Demos’ Will began and ended offscreen, then picked up with a hot fling… while he was engaged. Are you rooting for them?
They’re like these animals! They’re explosive together. At the same time, it’s a reminder of the dangers that come when you follow your feelings and don’t necessarily take responsibility.
In the February 17 episode, they rebound with other people. Should we worry?
Anytime you have the word rebound in a love relationship, it’s probably not gonna go well. It’s more fuel to the fire.
Is there still hope for these two?
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[Creator Matt Kester] always said we want this to be a will-they, won’t-they all season long, so that at the finale, people are shocked.
What about Em’s relationship with Captain Sonny (Robbie Magasiva). Do you like playing that dynamic?
I love working with Robbie. We felt so lucky that we could develop this relationship because it’s very rare that you have a male-female work relationship that has zero sexual tension. She respects him as her boss, but she also holds him to the fire because she knows him in a way and can speak to him in a way that nobody else at work can. And at the same time, she knows that he can hold her to the fire because he saw something in her a long time ago and brought her along on this journey.
