Actor Will Smith explained that he recently found himself trapped under a thick layer of ice during a film shoot, seeing his last hour approaching.

A very, very close call. During an appearance on The Tonight Show, Will Smith recently revealed that he had a near-death experience while filming his series "Pole to Pole Starring Will Smith." Speaking to Jimmy Fallon, the 57-year-old actor recalled being trapped under a thick layer of ice, believing his last hour had come, when he accidentally lost his diving mask.

Recounting the circumstances of this terrifying experience, he explained that he had "gone scuba diving at the North Pole," before detailing his adventure. "You dive under the ice, which can be up to 3 meters thick. So we were underwater, about 40 meters away," he recalled. "Except that everything didn't go as planned," he continued.

The actor removed his mask as he tried to go back up

“We dove down, and I started hearing, ‘Give up! Give up! Give up!’ (…). So I came back up to the surface and hit the ice,” the star recounted, admitting that he panicked. “I thought, ‘Oh no, Will, calm down. Calm down.’ You’ve got a rope, and you have to pull yourself back to the hole.” But as he grabbed the strap, he revealed that he had “accidentally taken off [his] mask.” Luckily for him, as he tried to put his mask back on, he remembered feeling a hand grab his strap and pull him toward the surface, explaining that he went from “terror” to an intense “spiritual experience” when he found himself on the sunlit ice. “And I thought, ‘Whoever you are up there, don’t let go of my rope!’” he concluded humorously.

Currently streaming on Disney+, the series "Pole to Pole Starring Will Smith" follows the actor for 100 days traveling from pole to pole, as he takes on numerous challenges such as diving under the ice, catching a giant anaconda, extracting venom from a tarantula, and climbing mountains. This journey, undertaken to answer life's big questions, was completed alongside scientists, explorers, and local experts.