The One Office Episode That Made Cast Members Extremely Sick On Set

Summary

• Filming the "Beach Games" episode of The Office proved to be a challenging and hazardous experience for the cast.
• During the episode, cast members struggled with eating hot dogs, sustained injuries during sumo wrestling, and had to perform stunts with potential risks.
• The crew had to find alternatives to create the illusion of fire on the beach, leading to sore and bruised feet for Jenna Fischer.

The cast and crew of The Office typically stayed within the walls of its administrative-style set, which indicated that the show had a less hazardous filming environment compared to action and thriller genres. However, the classic mockumentary was indeed as funny as it was adventurous. The cast and crew of The Office did step out a few times for some outdoorsy shooting, but this came with a series of dangerous effects.

Through its nine seasons and over 200 episodes, The Office recorded unforgettable moments on set. Two of those were the "Work Bus" episode, described as a near-death experience by stars on the show, and the "Beach Games" episode, which was also challenging. In fact, amid filming the out-of-office episode, some cast members became sick from doing several takes in between scenes. Here's a look through the harrowing experience.

What Happened To The Office Cast While Filming The 'Beach Games' Episode?

For the 23rd episode of The Office season 3, the recurring cast members and workers at Dunder Mifflin filmed outdoors for a competition. The plot of the episode, titled, "Beach Games"," plays out with Michael Scott (Steve Carell) trying to pass on his position as regional manager after being informed of a promotion at a corporate level. He devises a way to choose a worthy successor by setting up a competition outside the office. Michael and his colleagues visited the beach where a series of games had been outlined, with the aim of choosing a winner.

However, throughout the episode, different occurrences play out as the colleagues try to outwit each other for the winning position. Per Mashable, during an episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Jenna Fischer, who played Pam, and Angela Kinsey (Angela) opened up on the hurdles they encountered while filming the "Beach Games" episode. The stars talked about the light-hearted fun of filming on the beach as well as how things took a turn for the worse.

Among the games that Michael Scott maps out for the competition, is the hot dog-eating contest. He shows up with 800 hot dogs, and after his colleagues participate, Ed Helms, (Andy) emerges the winner. Andy had eaten 13 hot dogs. Helms' recurring role on the show didn't initially sit right with a cast mate. However, shooting the hot dog scene was another challenge he faced because it was not as easy as it looked. Angela Kinsey revealed on the podcast:

"This was an arduous scene for everyone to shoot. I was really lucky, Jenna, because I said 'My character's a vegetarian. She's not going to be eating these.' I made a really big plea about that. But poor Brian, and Ed [and] Leslie. All those guys were shoving hot dogs in their faces."

Angela Kinsey's explanation was in reference to how Ed Helms, Brian Baumgartner, and Leslie David Baker struggled to eat the hot dogs between takes. The scene reportedly took a long time to film, causing the actors to gag and vomit into spit buckets. According to Helms, the spit buckets only made matters worse. He relayed that he was put off by having to spit out chewed food, and it continually triggered his gag reflex.

The Office "Beach Games" Episode statistics according to IMDb :

The Office Cast Recorded Two Injuries On The Set Of 'Beach Games'

While the hot dog scene in the Beach games episode did a number on the cast mates, it was not the most stressful part of filming. Ed Helms and Leslie David Baker sustained injuries when they filmed the sumo wrestling scene, which was one of the games Michael Scott set up. Jenna Fischer recalled:

"What happened was that during all this sumo wrestling, Leslie got sand in his eyes, and they tried to flush it out, but they couldn't."

The sand incident affected Leslie David Baker so much that he had to seek medical attention. After examination, doctors discovered his cornea was affected. He would later return to set to continue filming.

During Ed Helms (Andy)'s wrestling session with Rainn Wilson (Dwight), he lost a fingernail. Angela Kinsey shared, "[Wilson] walks over, and then they start going at each other. And Ed is like kind of flailing his arms at him. Somehow in this tussle, Ed broke his fingernail. But he said he broke it really bad, like it ripped." Jenna Fischer agreed with this by noting that it "was gruesome looking."

Did The Office Cast Face More Challenges In The 'Beach Games' Episode?

Being on the set of the outdoorsy episode was quite a lot to unpack, as some cast members filmed some stunts by themselves. Coupled with his hot dog dilemma and fingernail issue, Ed Helms filmed a scene where he fell into the water and floated away in his sumo suit. In fact, the scene was filmed in the day and at night.

The actor, who built a fine net worth on the show like his co-stars, decided to carry out the stunt by himself. Therefore, he spent about 45 minutes floating on the water. The second stunt filmed was performed by Jenna Fischer (Pam), and this was when she did the hot coal walk. Although the coals were not really on fire, she revealed that her feet were bruised.

Due to fire regulations, The Office crew sought alternatives to make the beach fire. Angela Kinsey noted that the director, Harold Ramis, revealed that they dug big holes in the ground and placed a light box in it. Then yellow and orange gels were placed on the top of the light box to create an illusion of flames. The crew also placed lava rocks in the light box and two gas lines that had little flickers of real fire.

Jenna Fishcer revealed that because she complained about how her feet hurt, people thought she actually walked on hot coals. The TV star, however, explained that her feet were sore and bruised because she had to run on the lava rocks many times.