Boy from Singapore overwhelmed meeting Bondi Rescue lifeguard: 'He just gave me the biggest hug and started bawling his eyes out'

Meeting your idols can be an overwhelming experience for anyone, and this child is no different.

"All the way from Singapore, meeting a lifeguard was at the top of this boy's bucket list," said the narrator in a video uploaded by Australian TV series Bondi Rescue on TikTok last Friday (Dec 29).

The child can be seen hugging lifeguard Harrison Reid, who hugs him back and pats his back with a bewildered smile on his face.

"He just gave me the biggest hug and started bawling his eyes out," Harrison, also known as Huts on Bondi Rescue, said in a confessional. "I didn't really know how to take it.

"You don't get that very often and that was pretty special, knowing that, you know, I've made an impact on someone's life like that."

Harrison then said he thought to "make this kid's day", and the video shows him gifting the blue lifeguard shirt off his back to the boy. They hug again and another boy, presumably the child's older brother, joins in while the crew cheers off-camera.

"Definitely tugged on a few strings of my heart, knowing that he had that reaction. Pretty special," Harrison recounted.

Singaporean netizens were amused with their country's inclusion on the TV show.

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"Singapore mentioned," a comment with fire emojis read.

"Wansuey (thousand years) Singapore!" read another.

Others were touched by the boy's reaction in the comments, calling it "so wholesome" and "so darling".

Some also shared the impact the show has had on their own lives.

One wrote: "Bondi Rescue [is] the reason I am here. It drove me [to] migrate to Australia."

"My friends and I booked to stay at Bondi for when we first arrived in Australia, just because of Bondi Rescue," wrote another.

Another shared: "It do be like that. Kerrbox (lifeguard Rod Kerr) and Deano (Dean Gladstone) were my GOATs."

Bondi Rescue is an ongoing TV series first aired in 2006 on Australia's Network 10. It follows the daily lives and work of professional lifeguards who patrol Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales.

It features the rescues of beachgoers, while also tackling issues such as shark scares, jellyfish stings, missing children and thieves, and was renewed for its 18th season back in October.

Over the years, Bondi Rescue has also featured celebrity guests, including actors David Hasselhoff (who acted as fictional lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in Baywatch), Hugh Grant, Zac Efron, Rowan Atkinson and Russell Crowe, celebrity conservationists Steve Irwin and his daughter Bindi, rapper Snoop Dogg and socialite Paris Hilton.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@bondirescue/video/7314937060903701768[/embed]

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drimac@asiaone.com

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