Survival Guide:

First, find your best escape route and pull yourself out of the water as quickly as possible. To avoid breaking more ice around you, survival expert Bear Grylls, host of Man vs. Wild, says to channel your inner seal and keep a low center of gravity as you slide to safety.

As soon as you're a safe distance away, remove your wet clothes and try to get dry. According to Bear, a former member of the British Special Forces, you lose heat 25 times faster when you're wet than when you're dry. It may seem counterintuitive, but Bear suggests using powdery snow to sop up excess water.

To get the blood pumping, do push-ups, jumping jacks or run in place. Do whatever it takes to get warm, but remember, unless you can get a fire going or find shelter, you're still in danger.

It Happened to Me...

While on location in the European Alps, Bear willingly jumped—fully clothed—into a frozen lake. Despite the risk of hypothermia and cardiac arrest, Bear wanted to teach viewers how to escape from this life-threatening situation.

Do you have a chilling survival story? Leave a comment below.

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