Will Smith narrowly escaped death while scuba diving under thick Arctic ice for his Disney+ travel series.
The 57-year-old actor recounted the harrowing experience on Tuesday’s episode of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Minutes into the dive, an emergency abort forced him to ascend, and he accidentally dislodged his mask while coming into contact with solid ice.
“We went scuba diving at the North Pole… the ice can be up to 10 feet thick,” Will told host Jimmy Fallon. “We went out about 40 yards… it’s like an upside-down ice mountain range. I start hearing, ‘Abort dive! Abort dive!’ and I hit ice while ascending and accidentally pulled my mask off.”
Amid the oxygen loss, Will quickly put the mask back on and tried to calm himself. “I was like, ‘Oh no. Will, calm down,’” he recalled. A tether attached to him helped rescue him, as someone grabbed the line and pulled him to safety.
Once safe, Will described the surreal beauty of the Arctic scene. “The sun is coming through the ice, and it went from terror to the most spiritual, beautiful thing. I was just like, ‘Whoever’s up there, don’t let go of my tether!’”
He also shared another adventure for the Disney+ series, when he went to the Amazon to hunt for an anaconda as part of a conservation initiative. Guided by locals, the actor witnessed traditional methods for testing the anaconda’s scales to detect illegal dumping.
“They would take a scale from the anaconda and test it to be able to use it in court. It was really wild. I don’t know why they needed me,” he joked.
