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It goes without saying that dudes actually care about what they look like when you see them in their birthday suit. And that’s definitely true for Scott Foley, a.k.a. Jake Ballard from Scandal. The man who heats things up with Olivia Pope on Thursday nights recently told People that getting ready for all those shirtless scenes is pretty much exactly what you’d expect (less eating, more sweating).  

“Oh yeah, it takes over my life. It’s horrendous,” he joked. “You’ve got to be prepared that at a table read, you’re going to sit down, read the script and think, ‘Oh God, I can’t eat tomorrow!’ “

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He also says that he does some extra workouts at home to get revved up for going shirtless on screen—like that opening scene from the season four premiere, for example. Anyone recall that beach sexcapade? Yeah, let’s take a minute to relive that.

“We’ll be in the middle of watching Survivor, and my wife is like, ‘What are you doing?’ And I’m just like, ‘I’ve got to do some pushups, babe.’ That’s what you do when you know that 12 to 15 million people are going to see you without your shirt on.”

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Okay, it’s probably safe to say that his wife doesn’t mind watching that and reality television and the same time. Lucky woman. And judging by last night’s episode, all of his hard work is paying off. Outside of Scandal land, you can make your own guy feel more confident during your off-screen sex scenes by telling him these nine things every naked man wants to hear. No pushups required.

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