Zac Efron starred in the Baywatch movie, but his brother, Dylan Efron, was the one who found himself as a lifeguard while on vacation in Miami.
“It was really random,” Dylan, 33, recalled of the incident during the Thursday, April 17, episode of the “Brooke and Connor Make a Podcast.”
During a visit to South Beach on April 5, Dylan and his friend Brennan spotted people “screaming” in the water moments after they walked onto the sand. “The currents were ripping,” he recalled.
The Traitors winner said there were five girls with their “hands up screaming” and when he scanned the beach there were “no lifeguards around.” That’s when Dylan and Brennan jumped into action.
“We just sprinted out there. There were two closest to us that already had a guy helping them in,” Dylan remembered. “There were three out further, so I swam one in and swam back for another girl.”
He reiterated how strong the current was in the area, saying, “From where we jumped in, we ended up, like, a football field length away.”
The reality star, who swam in college, noted it was “really real” and left the second girl he saved stunned.
“The last girl I swam in, I was just trying to calm her down and just saying, ‘Breathe, breathe,'” Dylan said. “She just wraps me in the biggest hug and doesn’t want to let go. We hugged for like a full minute. I’m like, ‘You’re safe, you’re good.'”
After she left go, he said he “just walked away.” While Dylan’s save made its way to social media, he insisted he’s not a hero.
“I feel like I did what most people would have done in that situation,” Dylan concluded.
Dylan is the younger brother of Zac, 37, but unlike his actor brother, he stayed out of the spotlight until he graduated from California Polytechnic State University in 2013. Dylan went on to work in Hollywood as a production coordinator and production assistant.
He joined forces with Zac in 2020 to produce his sibling’s Down to Earth With Zac Efron series, which documented the actor’s journeys around the world. Both Dylan and Zac are fans of the great outdoors and frequently share the travels with their fans — including surf sessions and more water activities.
Dylan gained even more fame earlier this year when he competed on season 3 of The Traitors. He was one of four joint winners for the season, which concluded in March.
That same month, Dylan’s latest documentary, The Fish That Saved a Village, premiered. “What started as a whispered legend led us deep into the jungle — just two friends, a camera, and a story we couldn’t ignore,” he wrote via social media, teasing the premise. “Hope you love it as much as we loved making it.”
