A STOCKPORT School pupil is donning the famous Baywatch red shorts and heading to California for a new BBC documentary.

Joe Mallalieu, 16, from Great Moor beat thousands of pupils from across the UK to land one of eight places on the show ‘Oceans Eight’, which will see him train as a lifeguard.

Having just completed his GCSEs, Joe has jetted off to the USA for four hard weeks of training with the legendary lifeguards, which will all be caught on camera for the BBC2 reality documentary.

"It is the opportunity of a lifetime," said Joe. "I was amazed I got the part. It was first metioned in class assembly that we could apply. Thousands sent in for it, and we went through auditions and interviews. I got down to the last 50, then 12 and then I found out I was in the last eight.  It is so exiting but I am a little nervous."

Joe will be tested to the maximum to see if he can handle the tough training which includes pier jumps, ocean swimming and jumping off speed boats.

He said: "It is going to be a real challenge. I have already started training as they said it would be an advantage. Swimming is not my strongest suit but I am a bit of an all-rounder at sports so I should be okay - I am very competitive. I think a lot of the show will be personality based. I am not too bothered about being on television, as I have done drama ever since I was a school. They also say that you don’t even notice the cameras after a while."

Following in the footsteps of David Hasselhoff hasn’t gone unnoticed with Joe’s friends.

He said : "My friends are all joking with me that it will be like Baywatch. We will be wearing the red shorts and yellow shirts so it won’t be that far off."