Thousands of people head to the real Outer Banks in North Carolina every year to vacation. The Netflix teen drama was actually filmed in South Carolina, but water can be dangerous anywhere. Outer Banks star Chase Stokes broke his silence on what it was really like working on the show, revealing a terrifying near-drowning. Keep reading for all the details on the harrowing incident.
Outer Banks Star Chase Stokes Breaks Silence On Terrifying Near-Drowning Experience
Drowning is always a serious risk no matter how good a swimmer you are. Actors on shows like Outer Banks often film scenes in the water. There are safety measures in place, but sometimes things go wrong. Chase Stokes broke his silence on a terrifying near-drowning experience.
The fifth and final season of Outer Banks premiered on Netflix on August 20. The cast gave many interviews in the last few weeks to promote the show. Chase Stokes and his co-star, Madison Bailey, played the Lie v. Lie game with Entertainment Weekly. Each star took turns answering a question and the other guessed whether it were true or a lie.
She called him out for telling a lie when he said that “underwater work” was his most challenging scenes to film. Madison Bailey balked, calling him a “fish” underwater. She said that the water scenes were her most challenging. Chase Stokes reminded her of the time he had to jump in and save her from drowning.
“We were in Barbados and there’s a scene when JJ [Rudy Pankow] gets knocked off of a boat, and he’s unconscious in the water and Kiara’s holding him up,” he recalled. He noticed that his co-star was having trouble in the scene. However, the crew thought she was just acting.
“It was really hard to communicate. I was like, ‘Oh no, Bails has been under there for a while.’ So I jumped off the boat and I realized that she was not able to breathe underwater,” Chase Stokes said about his heroic rescue.
He Opens Up About Toll Show Took On Him Amid ‘Organ Failure’
Chase Stokes was 27 when he landed the lead role on Outer Banks. It was a huge gig for him after years of smaller parts, including in Netflix’s Stranger Things. He opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about saying goodbye to John B. Routledge after five seasons.
Now 33, the actor revealed the drastic lengths he went to while filming and how the toll Outer Banks took on him physically and emotionally. “Hindsight is 20/20, but I probably, unfortunately, wouldn’t have been around much longer if I didn’t take care of my body, which is a really jarring thought,” he said.
“I left that show… My liver was failing, my kidney was failing. I had so many health issues that I had to figure out, and my brain was all out of whack,” Chase Stokes shared about his health problems after filming wrapped up. “I feel great for the first time in a long time,” he said about how he’s doing now.
Madison Bailey is lucky her co-star was keeping such a close eye on her during underwater scenes. It could have been much worse. Season 5 of Outer Banks is now streaming on Netflix.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger