The cameramen who shot the footage for ‘Blue Planet II’ had to pee on themselves after they were stung by a deadly Portuguese man o’ war while filming for the current series.
The sea monster – also known as the floating terror – left the crew in absolute agony after its 100ft-long tentacles, which can be deadly to humans, struck them on their hands as they obtained close-up footage of the jellyfish-like creature for the marine show.
Camera assistant Andrea Casini told The Sun newspaper: "Once you get stung, you start to feel your heart beating really fast, you’ve got to get out of the water and head eight miles back to shore. The tentacles stick to your skin, so you have to scrape them off, and remove the stinging cells carefully and all the time they are releasing more venom. The pain can last for hours and you would do anything to make that pain go away. After we were stung, we tried everything – hot and cold water, even urinating on the wound, which is thought to be a traditional treatment – but it didn’t work."
However, once they were back to shore, they managed to get their hands on Hydrocortisone cream and that relieved the skin irritation almost instantly.
Andrea added: "It was worth the pain to get such unique footage."
Despite their war wounds, the crew managed to get incredible footage of the Portuguese man o’ war paralysing a fish, which took three months to capture off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, for the show narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
Bosses at the BBC announced they were planning to do a second instalment of ‘Blue Planet’ after ‘Planet Earth II’ went down such a storm with viewers late last year.
The series, which was filmed over four years using new camera technology and techniques, was last on screens six years ago.
The new-and-improved technology used during filming allowed the camera crew to capture predatory fish and dolphins front on as well as get up close to whale sharks.
Blue Planet II cameramen peed on themselves after deadly sting
