‘That looked like she died!’: Woman ignores instructor’s guidance and simply yeets herself off a ledge

When taking part in any extreme activity, it is of tantamount importance to do precisely as the instructors tell you. That’s undoubtedly the case when doing any kind of controlled jump, whether out of a helicopter thousands of feet in the air or off a ledge just a couple of hundred feet up. Well, one woman has gone viral on TikTok after completely ignoring all the advice she received before doing the latter.

In the 19-second video, uploaded by Zoe Mallett (username @zoemallet_), the woman (Zoe) is filmed by a friend as she stands next to her instructor, suitably equipped with the relevant harnesses. However, instead of simply stepping off the ledge in the manner she was supposed to, she hesitantly crouches down and just sort of… well… yeets herself off like a marble being gently rolled off a table. It prompts her friend (in a gloriously typical English accent) to shout, “WHAT THE F***?” followed by “THAT LOOKED LIKE SHE DIED!” The instructor (also English) then says, “She’s fine, but that’s not what I said to do at all!” The clip then ends.

The video is embedded below, but you’ll likely only be able to see it if you’re logged in to TikTok due to the implications of death in the words of the woman filming. However, it should be noted that Zoe has uploaded many videos since this one and replied several times saying “Lol” to various comments on it, so she’s absolutely fine! The TikTok community had much to say about it, though.

How did TikTok react?

Many people were confused by what Zoe was supposed to do, writing things like, “I just wanna know what this was supposed to look like,” “Wait I need to understand what was supposed to happen,” “What is it supposed to look like,” “Ok but what was she supposed to do?” and “What was she supposed to do??”

Several people thought she was either supposed to be abseiling or ziplining, commenting things like, “After learning what abseil is, this is so funny,” “I thought it was going to be a zip line and when she went straight down I gassssped,” “The way i thought she was zip lining,” and “For the american wondering, abseiling is what we call repeling.” However, her friend commented, ““Zoe Mallett: I was supposed to lean back and keep my legs straight”,” confirming what was actually meant to happen.

Surprisingly, very few people noted the friend’s reaction, with only one person writing, “‘That looked like she died’ is sending me.”

But many noted the instructor’s reaction, and their comments read things like, “he looked so disappointed,” “He was so deeply disappointed,” ““That’s not what I said to do at all!” I’m crying,” “*splat*: “That’s not what I said to do at all”,” “The immediate face palm from the operator,” “Dude looks like he is ready to quit,” “THE WAY HE FACEPALMED,” “The guy physically facepalming lmao,” and “Why do I feel like he explained this MULTIPLE times before she dropped.”

A 2023 YouGov poll of 2,000 adults in the United States found that far more Americans dislike (30%) or hate (22%) participating in extreme sports or activities than like (19%) or love (7%) them. We wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that, like Zoe, they’re doing them incorrectly!