Ex-Bravest a hot commodity [Forum Archive]

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Ex-Bravest a hot commodity

BY JOSE MARTINEZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Axed from the FDNY's payroll amid a steroids scandal, Rodney St. Cloud is now lighting fires - in the hearts of women.
The muscle-bound former firefighter moonlights as a male stripper on most weekends.
Decked out in a mask and firefighter pants, St. Cloud strips down to next to nothing and steams up a stage before hundreds of overheated admirers.
"You put on that uniform and the women just go crazy," said St. Cloud, who was "Mr. April" in the 2004 FDNY calendar. "They're like, 'Wow, can you put out my fire?'"
St. Cloud, 32, was acquitted last year of having $350,000 worth of steroids mailed to his then-wife's Manhattan office. But the March 2004 bust, which followed a suspension for hawking a raunchy video of him stripping, cost St. Cloud his job.
"They handed me my coat and my hat, so I figured I might as well leave," said St. Cloud, a professional bodybuilder who said he once placed 12th in a Mr. Olympia contest.
The fallout from the steroids rap "destroyed" his bodybuilding career, said St. Cloud, who has admitted using the muscle-building drugs, while competing internationally.
"They were legal in Europe," he said.
"When this whole thing went down, I was 12th best in the world," he said. "Now, I'm not even placing."
St. Cloud, who works as a Web site designer, said he has given up on returning to the FDNY. But he still dons turnout gear when he takes the stage for his weekend beefcake gigs.
"Dude, I'm still a fireman," said St. Cloud, who worked out of Engine 43 in the Bronx for three years. "They can't stop me from that."
St. Cloud insisted his arrest was a "setup" that was particularly embarrassing for a member of the FDNY's small minority of black firefighters.
"People are coming up to me and asking me if I can get them steroids," he said. "I'm like, 'Dude, didn't you see me in handcuffs on television?'" Even after being muscled out of a job, St. Cloud said he has no regrets. He's happy with the Web business and loves peeling off his clothes before screaming women on weekends. "I'm pretty blessed," St. Cloud said. "I was able to fall back on the dancing, and that's not such a bad thing."

Originally published on May 14, 2006