Underwater panic attack sees contestant pull out of an Amazing Race challenge

In a challenge set in The Great Barrier reef, one contestant has to be pulled out of the water when it all becomes too much.

Tonight’s episode of The Amazing Race Australia sees one contestant suffer a huge panic attack while underwater in The Great Barrier Reef.

Contestant Jackson, one half of the ‘Cowboys’ team, is overcome with anxiety after being submerged underwater for a challenge.

He and his partner Brendon are competing in the ‘Restoration or Rehabilitation challenge’.

Contestants much choose one … Restoration or Rehabilitation.

In Restoration, teams swim into a submerged scuba doo, also known as ‘the tank of terror’’ and count baby coral.

In Rehabilitation, teams helped care for sea turtles, cleaned their tank and fed them a fishy lunch.

Brendon and Jackson choose Restoration, and it isn’t until they are submerged in the scuba doo that things start to go wrong.

Contestant Jackson suffers panic attack while underwater. Picture: Channel 10

He has to pull out of the challenge. Picture: Channel 10

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“We had to go and count baby coral off these trees so you ducked your head in there and you drive this little machine under water,” Jackson explained.

“First five minutes I was good as gold, but pretty quickly I started getting really claustrophobic and then it just hit me.

“Jacko’s just sitting there half having a panic attack,” Brendon explained.

“I was gasping for air the whole time,” Jackson continued.

In the preview, Jackson urges that he needs to get out of the water, as he is having a panic attack.

“I need to go up,” he urgently tells Brendon.

“I was gasping, couldn’t get any air. I felt really uneasy.”

‘The Cowboys’ Brendon and Jackson are from NSW.

They are described as “true-blue cowboys and young dads saddling up for the adventure of a lifetime.”

The pair met through rodeoing over 10 years ago and have been friends ever since.

To see how things unfold, watch The Amazing Race Australia tonight on Channel 10.