‘Sharknado’ star scoops for Baskin-Robbins

In the Syfy hit movie “Sharknado,” a chain-saw-wielding Ian Ziering dished out a lot of pain to a some deadly sharks, but Ziering was dishing out a little pleasure in Burbank Friday, occasionally wielding an ice cream scoop.

Ziering was at the Baskin-Robbins on South Victory Boulevard in Burbank handing out samples of the ice cream shop’s upcoming flavor of the month called “Snacknado” — salted caramel ice cream packed with chocolate-covered potato chips, pretzels, chocolate chips and a chocolate-covered pretzel ribbon.

“It’s a kitchen sink of snacks,” Ziering said, riffing from behind the counter. “It’s a Snacknado.”

Justin Drake, a spokesman for the ice cream company known for its 31 flavors, said “it’s a whirlwind of flavor.” Sweet-and-salty flavor combinations have been popular in recent years, and the Baskin-Robbins culinary team sought to “up the game” with the new flavor, which rolls out nationwide for the month of March.

Kelli Hagan, who lives in Toluca Lake and works in Burbank, stopped by for a taste of the new flavor on her lunch break.

“It’s interesting,” she said. “There’s a lot of different combinations. Every bite is different.”

As with “Sharknado,” which rapidly became a popular topic on Twitter, the flavor also got a little buzz on the microblogging site, where Hagan said she and a friend had read about Ziering’s appearance at the local store and said, “Let’s check it out.”

Ziering himself is no flavor of the month — he’s had a lengthy career. While “Sharknado” allowed him to play an action hero in a science-fiction movie — he says action and sci-fi are his two favorite genres — his goal was never to be a star, but a working actor, which he said is no easy task.

Ziering rose to fame in the 1990s prime-time soap opera “Beverly Hills, 90210” and has appeared in many TV series and movies over the years, including a recent stint on the reality TV show “Celebrity Apprentice” before being fired this week.

He said he was under “a lot less stress” promoting the new flavor, even though the ice cream shop does expect the “perfect scoop.” He said it requires crafting the ice cream into a tight ball.

The 50-year-old actor said he worked at a summer camp scooping ice cream when he was 14, but “my technique was nowhere near what it is here.”

“Don’t judge me, cause I’m new at this,” Ziering said, attempting a pair of perfect scoops for a two-scoop Snacknado cone.

While the Baskin-Robbins “mad scientists” knew what they were doing in creating a flavor that ties into the sci-fi thriller that’s already had one sequel and is set for another, Ziering said “Sharknado” seemed less certain to be a hit until it took off on social media.

“When I read the first [script], I didn’t think it was possible to do what they did,” Ziering said.

Burbank-based studio the Asylum, which produced the Sharknado films, has mastered the kind of campy fun movie where everyone’s in on the joke except the performers on-screen, Ziering said. He’s read the script for “Sharknado 3,” he said, and it’s set to push the envelope again, this time as a “disaster road-trip movie.”

“There’s very few weapons you can use to battle a sharknado,” Ziering said. “So you’ll probably see a chain saw.”