A viral video capturing the moment a woman fell from a sheer cliff into the ocean is still puzzling people, who have criticised her companion’s actions a year later.
The footage shows a preened pair looking down into the bright blue ocean from a cliff on the Mallorcan coast. But when the woman loses her footing, her male companion can be seen pulling away from her reach as she plummets down, dangerously close to the rocks, into the sea.
You can relive the moment, aired on YouTube last summer, in the clip below:
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While the man’s reaction sparked controversy on Reddit boards – and in the mainstream media – UNILAD have learnt the truth behind the viral video.
After speaking to Russian-born Alexander Tikhomirov, the filmmaker and coasteering daredevil who shot the footage, we can confirm the identity of the woman in the video as model, Mary Shum.
At the time of filming the footage, which was viewed thousands of times across the world wide web, Mary and Alexander – otherwise known as Sasha – were married.
They now have a young child together, which might surprise the Internet Detectives who put forward their own wild speculation regarding Mary’s wellbeing after her fall from the cliff.
Tikhomirov, 26, told UNILAD about the injuries his then-wife sustained, saying:
I filmed this with my friend. The girl who is falling is my ex wife, now we have a baby.
Mary fell on a rock first – about 3 meters down – and then she went into the water. She didn’t break anything, unlike people said, but she did hurt her feet and ass and back.
We went to the hospital later and she couldn’t walk for a few days. But finally everything was good.
The Moscow-based filmmaker also told UNILAD the man sitting atop the cliff with Mary is the couple’s friend, Jay Alvarrez – pictured below alongside Sasha, who stands on the left.
Jay is a fellow YouTube personality, who rose to fame with his ex, Alexis Ren, thanks to their beautiful branding.
Tikhomirov said that Mary felt no anger towards Jay in the aftermath of the incident, adding he didn’t blame Alvarrez for his split-second reaction. In fact, the pair recently reunited in Russia.
Tikhomirov continued:
The guy who removed his leg is Jay Alvarrez.
He removed it not because he is an asshole, but because everything happened in one second.
Anyway, he probably made it better when he removed it.
Tikhomirov seems to agree with the commentators who suggested Alvarrez was acting only on instinct rather than through malice or cowardice, while others suggested the man should have pushed Mary further into the sea to avoid the rocks completely.
As for Mary and Alexander, they have spent the years after they first went viral collaborating on beautifully-shot videos on YouTube as they pursue their careers in modelling, film-making and travel blogging.
You can see how Mary is doing right now below:
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After having a child together, the wedded pair parted ways two months ago. But you can tell the online comments section that their split is almost certainly nothing to do with that fall from a cliff in Mallorca.
UNILAD has contacted Shum for comment.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.