Bam Margera admits he almost killed Ryan Dunn after making him sign a contract when he was 18
Bam Margera has reflected on the 'gnarly' stunt lost episode of Viva La Bam, which saw Ryan Dunn nearly killed.
With Jackass: Best and Last now released in cinemas, attention is back on the death-defying era of shock comedy which created the MTV franchise and its spinoff.
Created as a spinoff from the original Jackass series, Viva La Bam aired from 2003 until 2005 and featured Margera alongside his family and members of his CKY crew.
Like its parent show, Viva La Bam involved the cast members undertaking various extreme pranks, including beehive piñatas, destroying things with cannonballs and filling a pair of shoes with thumbtacks.
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However, there was one stunt which was apparently deemed too extreme for TV – involving Ryan Dunn and the state of Iceland.
Viva La Bam's 'lost' Iceland episode
Filmed in 2005, the episode begins with Dunn making the drunken claim that he was happy to be chucked off a waterfall in Iceland while locked inside a barrel, after refusing to do the stunt a year before.
After hearing Dunn boast to other punters about his bravery, Margera decides to have him sign a contract agreeing to the stunt.
Fast forward to the following morning, and Margera informs Dunn that the crew are flying to the Nordic nation to make good on his promise.
The entire thing is caught on camera, including Margera 'stealing' a barrel for Dunn to be locked inside of and Dunn's cold feet after coming face-to-face with the waterfall.
"I literally think I'm going to die in about five minutes," he says in the clip. "So I hope it's worth it."
After initially changing his mind, Dunn finally agrees to the stunt and is sent rolling down the waterfall.
The notorious prank is one which Margera recently reflected on in an interview with Living Proof, admitting that Dunn could very well have died that day.
Recalling how dangerous the stunt could've potentially been, Margera said: "If you watch this footage, he lands head first.
"There was nobody down there to like get him," he continued. "I had to run down to like get in the freezing cold water to get him out. It was a very poorly thought-out thing that I can't believe it didn't wind up worse than it did."
Noting that Dunn could've easily been suffocated, drowned or even broken his neck upon impact, he added: There's numerous ways to wind up in the hospital or potentially die.
"But, you know, we're f***ing 18-year-old punk ass kids and did not think this through.
"It's very gnarly to watch."
Despite coming out of the barrel looking somewhat shell-shocked, Dunn wasn't injured from the stunt, with Margera chalking it up as a successful stunt.
"I'm glad we did it because the outcome was nobody got officially injured and we came back as a successful barrel off the waterfall," he said of the whole trip.
Why didn't Viva La Bam's Iceland episode air?
Despite being considered a success by those involved, the episode never aired. According to a 2012 RIDE interview with Margera, the decision was made to cut the stunt after MTV decided it would be too 'repeatable' for young kids.
However, the moment wasn't lost forever, with Margera revealing that it was included as an 'Easter egg' on the Viva La Bam: Complete Second & Third Seasons DVD.
"What I did was I put it out on a bonus feature," he said of the moment. "It's called an Easter egg when you when you see a little thing pop up on your DVD player and you click [it]."
Topics: Bam Margera, TV
Brenna Cooper