TAKING SIDELINES
Camille Kostek mics up as ‘Wipeout’ sideline reporter on TBS
CAMILLE Kostek is having a moment...or two. The 28-year-old model will once again be featured in the annual swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated debuted as the field reporter in the revamped version of “Wipeout,” airing Thursdays at 9 p.m. on TBS.
“This is a great week, I have to say,” Kostek, 29, told The Post. “It’s like all of my dream jobs meshed together. Everything’s happening.”
“Wipeout,” which previously aired on ABC from 2008 to 2014, features contestants taking on a wet-and-wild obstacle course. As in the original series, the giant balls are back for the reboot -and, with them, new cohosts John Cena and Nicole Byer.
“They’re awesome,” Kostek said of Cena and Byer. “They actually worked closer with each other, since I was the one really up-close-and- personal with the contestants.”
Kostek, a former New England Patriots cheerleader — who’s been in a relationship with Rob Gronkowski since 2015 — said that getting to know the competitors as they passed through the challenging rounds (the qualifier, the gauntlet and the final “Wipeout Zone”) is her favorite part of the job.
“I really get to know these contestants. Every single one of them,” she said. “I’m talking with them, I’m up in their face, I’m so much to the point that when they get off of the obstacle course... I’m slimed. I’m wet, they want to hug me and I’m like, ‘Listen, I love you but I gotta stay camera-ready all the time. I don’t have wetsuits on like you guys.’ “But I think for me, meeting the contestants, first thing — when they show up on that set — it’s to the point that I get so close with them that I feel their jitters,” she said. “I almost get anxious for them. I get excited if they’re winded. I’m like, ‘Whoo, we’re really connected now.’ “Kostek also said it was challenging interacting with the show’s crew members with COVID protocols in place.
“It’s definitely a new world we live in. I think the biggest thing that was different was [that] everyone had to wear a mask. I was unmasked when I would interview the contestants, but it’s such a different vibe when you can’t see people’s smiles.
“I remember my audio guy, [who] I worked with every single day, he was mic’ing me up and it was towards the end of the season and he took his mask off and I happened to catch him going to take a sip of water and I was like, ‘Is that you?’ I just feel like I’m meeting you for the first time!’ ”