Before rising to fame as a daring AEW wrestler, Darby Allin took an unexpected turn in his career with an appearance on the reality TV show “$ex Sent Me To The ER.” Known for his wild antics in the wrestling ring, Allin surprised fans by revealing details of this early television stint during a recent interview on the Battleground podcast.
While attending film school in Arizona, Allin stumbled upon a website listing various reality shows. He saw “$ex Sent Me To The ER” and thought it would be amusing to create a story for the show. “The thing is, I was going to film school in Arizona, and I saw this, there’s a website with all these reality shows. And I said, ‘Oh, $ex Sent Me To The ER, that sounds funny. Let’s come up with a story,’” Allin recounted.
To make his fabricated story convincing, Allin went to great lengths. He forged a doctor’s note to authenticate the incident and found a girl on Craigslist, an aspiring actress, to play along.
“So I made up this fake story, forged a doctor’s note that had happened, because they actually asked, ‘Did it really happen? We need doctor’s notes.’ And I was like, ‘yeah.’ So I met the girl on Craigslist. She was an aspiring actress, and we came up with the story. The day that we shot is the first day I met her. Then we just got our story straight, and then went in and filmed it,” he explained.
For Allin, who was struggling financially at the time, the experience was not only fun but also a much-needed source of income. He was living on a meager budget, working at a 99 cents store, and surviving on just $5 a week for food.
“It was just funny because that’s back when I was in film school, and I had no money. Literally no sh*t. I was living off of $5 a week on food. It was horrible. It was so bad. I worked at the 99 cents store at the time. So when I was in the freezer where they keep all the food, I’d be like, eating the food secretly back there. I had no money,” Allin revealed.
The paycheck from the show, ranging between $500 and $800, was a significant relief. “I forgot exactly the numbers it was like $500 or maybe $800 to do this reality thing. They flew me down to California. I was like ‘This is awesome. I can afford to eat now,’” Allin said.
He fondly recalled the experience as a fun and light-hearted adventure, adding, “Yeah, the whole experience was fun. It’s just fun coming up with stories and messing around and having a good time.”
You can watch this episode below:
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