A TikTok influencer "almost died" after trying to swim under the ice on a frozen lake and shared a video that has gone viral, only to do it again an hour later.
Jason Clark, who has over 419,000 followers on the video-sharing app, posted a video on February 24 of his attempt to swim under a frozen lake. He carried out the stunt at the Bear Lake in Utah, United States.
In the video he posted on his Instagram page, Clark is seen trying to enter and exit the ice through a small hole but getting trapped underneath the ice.
The idea was that he would swim in the freezing water on camera as part of a stunt for his followers, while a woman is heard filming him.
The stunt went south when Clark started struggling to retrace his strokes underwater and remained underneath the ice for much longer than planned, consequently causing his eyeballs to temporarily “freeze”.
“I have never been this close to dying,” Clark wrote in the caption.
“I didn’t think my eyeballs would freeze so quick. The surface of the water where the hole was didn’t look any different than the bottom of the ice,” he continued.
“When I flipped around and felt solid ice I thought I was at the hole. When I wasn’t that’s when I decided to head back and follow the dust I kicked up.
"The dust I kicked up had drifted and led me further away. I then tried to break the ice with my back, you can see in the video. I don’t know what made me turn around one last time.”
The TikTok influencer also wrote that he was “so short on breath” and could no longer see anything.
“I had accepted that was it and I wasn’t going to make it,” he added.
“I swung my hand at what I thought was just a lighter spot of ice and my hand came through. I then got a ton of energy to stand up. It took two to three breaths to regain my vision after resurfacing.”
Just when Clark's followers thought that he had learnt his lesson, in a subsequent Instagram post, he shared a video of doing it again. In the caption he wrote that it “went a little better” and that he “added a little more safety. The exit hole is almost comically big”.
As of now, his videos of swimming underneath the ice have been viewed more than 227,000 times on Instagram.
Majority of the comments on the first video were of fans concerned for Clark’s safety and asking him not to repeat the stunt.
One Instagram user, @hookipablue, wrote: “Please don’t die trying to get followers!”
Another user, mila_beauty_mua, was concerned people might try the same stunt: “Omg please don't ever do that again. You were clearly drowning. Please, please, don't do this again. Others may see it and try it. Last thing we want is a death as a result.”
