Baywatch Hunk Suffers Barney Overload

When he's not busy cavorting in the waves with his beautiful co-stars, Baywatch Hawaii heartthrob Michael Bergin spends much of his time watching Barney videos with his 13-month-old son, Jesse. In fact, while celebrating Thanksgiving at his parents' home in Connecticut, Bergin did nothing but stare at the perky purple dinosaur.

"We're sitting there Sunday morning, there are a bunch of football games on, and we're watching Barney, over and over again," an incredulous Bergin tells TV Guide Online, adding that spending the holidays with his family in the east had, up until recently, become an annual tradition. "Every year, I would always go back [home] from Thanksgiving to the New Year and sit on my mother's couch for a month-and-a-half. But now I have a son in Los Angeles, so I can't do that anymore."

Bergin is living just down the street from Jesse's mom, Joy Tilk, a hair stylist for Access Hollywood. They're "not together" but remain good friends and take turns watching the infant. "I don't really go out that much," he says. "I just try to concentrate on my work and spend as much time with my son as possible."

This Sunday, Bergin will take some time out from his child-rearing duties to join co-star Brande Roderick in hosting the Baywatch Hawaii Search National Finals at L.A.'s Universal Citywalk. Twenty-four finalists selected by fans online will compete for a guest shot on an upcoming episode. (One male and one female will be chosen.)

"I've been doing the Baywatch search contests for almost three years," says Bergin. "It's so much fun. You've got girls showing their butts or flashing somehow... they start dancing or singing or doing gymnastics and flips. It's pretty exciting."