A young man, who survived 12 hours stranded at sea after rescuers discovered him surrounded by a pod of dolphins, previously achieved accidental fame as “Frostbit Boy”.
Ruairi McSorley achieved unlikely fame as a lad after his appearance in a news interview delighted viewers.
He won hearts as a teen after remarking of the snowy weather in Derry: “Oh God, you wouldn’t be long gettin’ frostbit”.
The viral video resurfaced this week as it emerged he was the man rescued several kilometres off the coast of southwestern Ireland on Sunday night after getting into difficulty on a daring swim.
A volunteer lifeboat crew from Fenit RNLI located the swimmer after spotting a pod of dolphins and a head bobbing above the water near Castlegregory beach, County Kerry, at 8:30 pm.
The swimmer was discovered by RNLI volunteers after a nine hour search with the help of a pod of dolphins.
The crew was amazed to find the stranded swimmer alive so far out at sea – and apparently being protected by dolphins – around 12 hours after he was first thought to have entered the water.
The search was launched after a walker discovered clothing on the beach at 8:00 am that morning, the Irish Mirror reports.
Ruari, who shot to fame in 2015 after his infamous telly appearance, spoke to the Irish Independent following his release from University Hospital Kerry in Tralee.
“I just jumped in, and that was it,” he said.
“I saw Fenit lighthouse out in the water, and I said, right I’m going towards it.
“I wouldn’t have got in to start with if I didn’t know I was going to be grand.”
“Apparently, the first thing I said to the rescuers was, ‘I’ll not have to pay for this, will I?’”
He told media he had no idea why the dolphins flocked to his side, but had been relieved they weren’t sharks when he spotted their fins slicing through the water.
The ‘frostbit’ star told local media he was none the worse for his experience – aside from a touch of hypothermia.