An influencer filmed the moment he came face-to-face with a bear after climbing into a pit.
If you were wondering why many YouTubers or content creators seem to be heading to the ‘most dangerous’ or haunted places in the world, it’s because they’ve had to get creative to keep their subscribers interested.
But I’m not too sure what Stefan Janković’s excuse is for climbing into a bear‘s den as that’s just downright daft.
It appears that the Serbian influencer might have fancied moonlighting as Goldilocks if his latest social media posts are anything to go by, as he boldly climbed inside a pit which a pair of the furry creatures reside in.
Stefan Janković shared his shocking encounter with two bears online (Instagram/@stefan_jankovich)
It seems he didn’t take heed of the moral of the fairy story about the three bears though as he seemingly made himself right at home.
There wasn’t any porridge or beds that were not to Stefan’s liking inside, but he did have to hightail it out of there just like Goldilocks did when one of the residents returned.
In terrifying footage shared to Instagram with the caption, ‘on the edge of life’, he can be seen cowering inside the mud cave while a bear blocks the entrance and seemingly weighs up the intruder.
The animal appeared to be making it’s way inside of the den while Stefan nervously sat inside, but after having a quick sniff around, it decided to retreat back up to higher ground.
The social media star then gingerly tried to make his way out of the bear’s pit himself, while coming face-to-face with it.
The influencer boldly climbed inside a bear’s den (Instagram/@stefan_jankovich)
The curious bear tried to get a whiff of the uninvited guest, and thankfully, it allowed him to escape without any trouble.
But Stefan quickly ended up in another bit of bother with the bears, as he showed his 953,000 followers in a second video captioned: “The one where you have nowhere to run.”
His ‘first stop’ after the den was climbing up a nearby tree – which people have pointed out is quite a strange choice, considering the animals are expert climbers.
Stefan was soon reminded of just how good they are at scaling a tree trunk though, as the two bears began scrambling up towards him with little effort.
According to a rough translation shared by a Serbian news site, the content creator said in the clip: “You won’t believe what happened to me. I spend 24 hours in the forest and a bear attacks me.
“It’s waiting for me, and there’s another one – finished Janković and stayed on the tree until the danger was gone.”
It is not clear where Stefan was during the encounter or how he ended up in the predicament with the brown bears, however, they are native to Serbia, The Daily Star reports.
Some people were convinced that the footage was authentic – and they just couldn’t believe Stefan would take such a huge risk for the sake of content.
Taking to X, one person commented: “He’s lucky that bear didn’t tear him to shreds.”
Another said: “How did he get there? These people risk their life’s just for content.”
A third remarked: “I think my soul left my body just watching this.”
But after the footage went viral on social media, others have speculated that the bears may in fact ‘know him’.
One said: “Nah, you can tell the bears know him! He would have gotten his head snapped otherwise,” while another added: “That’s definitely his pet bear.”
To make this situation even more strange, Stefan shared another video showing him stroking a bear, explaining that they had become ‘best friends’.
The animals were seen eating out of the palm of his hand and, at one point, plucking a berry which he had pursed between his lips right out of his mouth.
And all of this was done under the supervision of a handler, who kept a watchful eye over the influencer.
Stefan captioned the clip: “No one believed that a man could be friends with a bear.”
LADbible has contacted Janković for comment.