#LochteGate: Esquire Network Airing Marathon of 2013 Reality Series What Would Ryan Lochte Do?

Sam Jones/E!

Bet you never thought you’d see this series again. In April 2013, following U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte’s stellar performance at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the E! network ran the eight-episode half-hour series What Would Ryan Lochte Do? which played up the good-looking athlete’s supposed idiocy, complete with his “Lochteisms” and trademark slogan “JEAH!” Well, perhaps Lochte’s cluelessness was not exaggerated, as weird stories of his and other swimmers’ shenanigans in Rio following their 2016  competitions have come to light, trending on Twitter as #LochteGate. What actually happened is still murky; Lochte claims he was held up and robbed, while others say that story was fabricated and it was he and his teammates who caused trouble by urinating outside a gas station.

ryan-lochte
“I always pee in the pool … doesn’t everyone?”

It all sounds stupid enough to fit in with Lochte’s supposed reputation as being dumb as a box of rocks. And you will now have a chance to decide whether his short-lived reality series showed the real Ryan Lochte or not when Esquire Network (sister network to E!) re-airs all eight episodes of What Would Ryan Lochte Do? in a marathon beginning Aug. 19 at 6pm ET/PT. In perhaps an ominous precursor to the trouble he now faces in Rio, one of Lochte’s phrases on the show references his regular swimming ritual: “I always pee in the pool … doesn’t everyone?”

What would Ryan Lochte do, indeed …

The What Would Ryan Lochte Do? marathon begins Aug. 19 at 6pm ET/PT on Esquire Network.