‘Yeah buddy’: P.A. athlete excited for premiere of Canada’s ‘Jersey Shore’ spinoff

Editor’s note: This article contains language that may be offensive to some readers.

When Canadian reality-TV fans tune in to the country’s first-ever spin on MTV’s iconic Shore franchise this Thursday, they’ll be introduced to Bauer Swystun — a 22-year-old Prince Albert athlete who wastes no time owning his on-screen persona. In the show’s promos, he cheekily calls himself a “high-energy, golden retriever vibes, gym douchebag all in one.”

“I’m not really a gym douchebag, but I mean, I will talk about the gym in quite a few conversations,” he laughed during a press junket with paNOW on Tuesday.

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Co-star Ethan Maynard — hailing from New Market, Ont. — jumped in with his own description: “He’s just someone who is very approachable … with big muscles.”

Swystun and Maynard are two of 10 young singles chosen from a nationwide casting call last spring, all tossed together for a wild, no-rules, sun-soaked summer as housemates in Kelowna, B.C. If you’re expecting drama, they’re promising to deliver, just maybe not from the centre of it.

“You can expect us to always be in the outskirts of the drama,” Maynard said.

“I was tied into it though because of someone,” Swystun added, “but for the most part, we were the observers just like laughing at ourselves because we lived with some pretty effed up individuals. They are actually psycho.”

But behind the chaos, Paramount+ promises the classic Shore cocktail: big laughs, bigger parties, and a cast that somehow evolves from strangers into a dysfunctional-but-lovable family. Since Jersey Shore first premiered in 2009, the franchise has spawned versions in England, Poland, Brazil and Mexico — each one doubling down on the same recipe of drama and partying.

Swystun (left) and Ethan Maynard became fast friends during taping in Kelowna, B.C. (Paramount+/Submitted)

Back home, Maynard’s friends call him “The Machine.” On the show, he racks up new nicknames: “Rooster” and “MILF Hunter.” The guy’s résumé backs it up. His company literally hosts parties at universities across the country.

Swystun, meanwhile, is fresh off signing with the Ottawa Black Bears in the National Lacrosse League. Both said the reason they joined the show wasn’t complicated.

“My life started changing when I stopped second-guessing things and stopped saying no to everything that I wasn’t comfortable with,” Swystun said.

“Why wouldn’t you want to do something like this?” Maynard added. “People always say you find the great things in life outside your comfort zone and I feel like a reality TV show would be out of everyone’s comfort zone and now I found some pretty beautiful things. I found this golden retriever douchebag and eight others that are all wonderful people.”

Of course, reality TV fame comes with online critics. But it’s not something Swystun is losing sleep over. He said he can laugh off hate comments, though he admits, “I’m definitely going to tell Grandma Pat when to cover her eyes.”

He’s more focused on the opportunities ahead. One very unexpected example?

A message from the WWE.

One of Jersey Shore’s most legendary cast members, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, makes several appearances throughout Canada Shore. Her career exploded after the original series, from talk shows to social media stardom to competing at WrestleMania XXVII.

Now Swystun finds himself wondering if he might be on a similar trajectory.

“I’m like, ‘What? Are you kidding me?,’” he said about the WWE sliding into his DMs.

He’s also hoping for more brand deals and wants to stick with companies he already loves, like HD Muscle. Plus, he says he wants to be a bodybuilder.

“So, hopefully [I’ll] make enough money to buy enough chicken.”

Swystun hasn’t lived in Prince Albert for years, with lacrosse and school taking him across the U.S. and now to Ontario, but he hopes people back home enjoy the reality show.

“Not a lot of people get the opportunity to do this, especially from P.A. and so, the stuff that’s kind of come my way … well, my mom always says I have a horseshoe up my ass, but, like I said, believing that you can find yourself in a situation like this is huge. So, it doesn’t matter … you could be from Sturgeon Lake or Saskatoon or Toronto and chances are good if you just act yourself and manifest.”

As wild as a month-long Kelowna bender was, Swystun said nothing tops being back on northern Saskatchewan lakes with friends — though there is one thing he doesn’t miss.

“The bugs. Oh my God. That’s the one thing none of these people can relate to is the bugs. Like you can’t go on the lake [in northern Saskatchewan] without getting swarmed by horse flies or mosquitoes and these guys just have no idea.”

Canada Shore premieres on Discovery+ on Thursday, Jan. 22.