Philadelphia based improviser B.J. Ellis won a contest called "Memorex Lives!" in which he spliced footage of himself (as his character, world explorer Colt Sebastian Taylor) into prerecorded footage of actor Joey Lawrence, who in turn portrayed an action hero. His prize was a featured extra role on this film (though the contest heavily implied the role would be in the Sharknado 4 film.) Ellis portrays a crazed Elvis fan.