Video showing man diving into pool on moving boat used special effects

A viral video posted on Facebook shows a man flawlessly executing a death-defying stunt: cliff diving off a bridge and right into a swimming pool on a moving boat.

The Feb. 18 post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The video used special effects to make it appear that there was a boat below the bridge. The original version was posted on Instagram Nov. 2 and showed the man — Gio Masters, a professional extreme sports athlete — diving into a river, not a pool.

In the videos, Masters is dressed as Neo, a character from the movie "The Matrix." In the original version, Masters gets a running start, bounces once on a trampoline positioned next to the railing of a bridge, then flips and dives into the river below. Hashtags on the video indicate it was in Nashville.

The modified version begins the same way, but after Masters jumps, a large boat emerges from beneath the bridge, and Masters appears to have a perfectly timed dive into a swimming pool on its front deck. Masters’ caption on the edited video says, "Good thing that little pool was there," with emojis of a target and a grinning face sweating.

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Masters let everyone in on the joke in a Feb. 21 post on Instagram, "So for everyone wondering yes the boat is just a visual effect hahaha, was supposed to be a joke but seriously honored that so many of you guys think I’m crazy enough to try this." He also linked to the original video.

A 2020 article about Masters said at that time, he was a competitive diver who hoped to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.

We rate the claim that a man dove off a bridge and into a swimming pool on a moving boat False.