Chase Stokes once saved Madison Bailey from drowning. The Outer Banks star recently revealed his heroic efforts during a conversation with Entertainment Weekly.
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"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," Stokes recalls. ""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."
Stokes continued by recalling how everyone around them assumed that Bailey's struggles were part of the scene. Unfortunately, the truth was far different, with the actress in genuine distress in the water.
"Everyone thought it was like, 'Oh, wow, they're in the scene. This is great.'" Stokes continued. "I was like, 'No, she's drowning.' I was like, 'Hey, that's not acting!'"
Fortunately, Bailey can see the funny side of the situation now. During the same interview, she joked that Stokes made her day worse due to his ability to navigate the water with such ease.
"You actually make a bad day worse," She joked. "... When I'm struggling to barely swim, Chase is like [swimming easily]. I swear he's breathing under there just to make me look bad."
Chase Stokes Previously Thought He'd Tanked His Audition
The Outer Banks became a very popular show in recent years. However, Stokes recalls his initial audition and comes away believing that he'd tanked his opportunity.
"I thought I'd bombed the audition with Jonas. And I sat on the curb of the front of the production office and I had a full mental breakdown, sobbing," he told PEOPLE in December. "He came out and he put his arm around me and he said, 'Hey, I don't know what you're going through. I don't know what you are feeling right now, but if you can bring this right here back into the room, I promise it's going to be magical.' "
Now, looking back on the entire experience, Stokes is full of gratitude for how things have played out.
"There's just so much gratitude because I was a kid who had a dream and no access to an industry, never really even knew what the process was," Stokes said. "I've checked so many boxes that I thought it would span the course of the next 40 years of my career."
The Outer Banks' latest season, which premiered on August 20, will be its last. Therefore, we'll all be on the lookout to see what life has in store for Stokes moving forward.
