Chase Stokes saved Madison Bailey's life on the set of Outer Banks.

The pair were filming a scene underwater when the 33-year-old actor had to come to the aid of his co-star after she "almost drowned multiple times" during the terrifying incident.

Chase recalled to Entertainment Weekly: "We were in Barbados and there's a scene when JJ gets knocked off of a boat and he's unconscious in the water and Kiara's holding him up.

"I realised that I couldn't see Bails' face anymore."

Madison noted: "We were treading water for like a minute before they called action.

Chase continued: "It was really hard to communicate with anyone, so I was like, 'Oh no, Bails has been under there for a while,' so I jumped off the boat and I realised she was not able to breathe underwater."

Madison added: "I couldn't swim to the boat, it was a whole struggle."

The pair joked everyone else on set just thought they were "really committed" to the scene and didn't reaise how serious the situation was.

Chase said: "Everyone thought like, 'Oh wow, they're in the scene. This is great'. And I was like, 'No, she's drowning. I was like, 'Hey that's not acting.' "

Madison, 27, quipped: "Someone was in the scene but I was drowning."

Chase continued: "Everyone's like, 'She's really good. Chase is really committed. He just left the boat in the middle of the ocean.'

Madison admitted filming underwater had been the "hardest" part of working on the show, made tougher by the fact Chase was such a strong swimmer.

She joked: "You actually make a bad day worse. When I'm struggling to barely swim, Chase is like [fake swims]. I swear he's breathing under there just to make me look bad."

Outer Banks will end with its new fifth season and Chase - who plays John B. Routledge - admitted late last year he was "ready to be done" with the programme.

He told People magazine: "We want the story to end on the right note versus [turning] four seasons into season nine and we're going after aliens or something.

"We want to cut the cord before we lose the plot.

"It's beautiful to know that even though there's the highs and lows throughout all of the seasons, it's ending exactly how I was told when I started the show."