“Trailer Park Boys” star Robb Wells recently spent an hour buried alive to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia.
The idea stemmed from a conversation Wells had more than a decade ago while filming the horror movie “Would You Rather?” The film’s director, David Levy, remembered Wells casually mentioning one of his greatest fears was being buried alive.
“I don’t know why that fear is there or where it came from,” Wells said in an interview with CTV Atlantic’s Katie Kelly. “I saw it in a movie a long time ago and thought, ‘Oh my God, that would be horrible to just slowly run out of oxygen.’”
That memory resurfaced when Levy, now working with the new charity platform Cajole, decided to challenge the actor to spend an hour underground in exchange for raising $5,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Once the donations were secured, Wells made his way to the burial site in California, where a plywood coffin had been prepared for him. He says it was at that moment reality hit.
“It didn’t really become real until I was on my way there, and I was trying not to have a panic attack,” he said. “I probably should have had a couple of drinks or something, but I did not.”
Upon arriving, he was surprised, and not in a good way, by the setup.
“I assumed it was going to be something safe,” he said. “The thing they had there was just made of plywood. It did not look safe at all. I was like, ‘Is this thing going to collapse on me?’ They told me they’d have me out in seconds if anything happened, but I did not feel very safe.”
With only a small breathing tube providing oxygen, Wells lay inside the confined space as dirt was shoveled on top of him.
“The first 20 minutes felt like two or three hours,” he said. “I had a radio and asked, ‘How long has it been?’ and they said 12 minutes. I thought I was almost done, I almost lost it,” he said.
“I kept thinking, ‘Is this actually going to work? Am I going to run out of air? It reminded me of this ‘Trailer Park Boys’ scene where I had to breathe through a garden hose underwater. Turns out, you cannot breathe through a garden hose underwater. So, I started flashing back to that, wondering if this was actually safe.”
After what felt like an eternity, Wells finally completed the challenge.
“I would never want to do it again,” he said. “It was for a great cause, that was the only reason I did it, but I’m done.”
The Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia was Wells’ charity of choice because of his personal connection to the disease.
“My mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s,” he said. “It’s such a hard disease for anyone who has it, but it’s also so hard on the people trying to support them. It just affects everyone involved.”
Despite the terrifying experience, Wells is proud that he went through with it.
“I guess coming to terms with some of your fears isn’t a bad thing,” he said. “But I don’t want to ever do it again.”
When asked about what other fears he might have, Wells said bungee jumping.
“I shouldn’t have said that. Now I’ve just put myself in trouble again,” he said.
A full video of Wells’ experience is available now on YouTube.
