Skip to content

Social media stuntman goes for swim on flooded Vancouver Island road

Toronto ‘influencer’ wanted to take a positive from ‘horrible situation’ in B.C.

A social media stuntman from Toronto, visiting B.C. during a flooding state of emergency, decided to try to make something positive and dive in.

Jake Hillhouse, described in a press release as an “influencer,” has been travelling across Canada in his camper minivan, seeing the sights and creating content.

He said seeing flooded MacMillan Road in Cedar gave him the idea to try to “make a positive out of … a horrible situation.”

Hillhouse donned swim cap and goggles for the stunt, flopped into the cold water and tried to front-crawl “like Michael Phelps.”

“When I did the belly flop, I figured with how much I weigh that I wouldn’t hit the bottom but I ended up hitting my [groin] off the ground,” he said. “Maybe a little bit of bruising.”

Hillhouse has been making social media content for about five years. He performs Jackass-style stunts such as long-jumping onto Lego; one of his common schticks is to dress up as a mime and have friends strike him with objects.

Hillhouse has filmed a couple of bits so far while visiting his manager Colton Davis in Nanaimo, and they have a few other videos in mind.

“We’ve kind of just been going with the flow,” Hillhouse said. “It’s been tough with the flood and stuff – we had some ideas, but considering that we can’t really make our way over to certain areas of the Island, we’re doing what we’ve got.”

Hillhouse’s social media channels are www.tiktok.com/@imjakeh and www.instagram.com/jakehillhouse.

Officials including Abbotsford Police ask that members of the public refrain from using flood waters for outdoor recreation.

READ ALSO: Flood waters from Nanaimo River reach front doors in Cedar



editor@nanaimobulletin.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter