America’s Got Talent contestant Ryan Stock narrowly avoided tragedy when a flaming arrow shot by his fiancee Amberlynn Walker hit him in the chest during a live show.

America’s Got Talent Accident Video

Stock and Walker’s act involves swallowing swords and other daredevil tricks. For their final bit Monday night, Stock swallowed a sword that had a bullseye in place of a handle. Bending down inside the 50s living room set, Stock prepared for Walker to fire a flaming arrow from a crossbow while perched atop a pink ladder. However, instead of hitting the bullseye, Walker’s arrow struck Stock below the neck.

The mishap stunned the judges and a hush descended over the audience, as everyone feared that Stock was seriously injured. Fortunately, though Stock seemed jarred by the incident, he was uninjured.

“We had a serious mishap tonight…” Stock tweeted after the broadcast. “A very unfortunate mechanical failure but I am very fortunate to walk away from it.”

“It was crazy. Water fights and people getting shot with arrows, all types of stuff! It was quite interesting! Just hoping [Ryan] didn’t get punctured. Because that would not be good, for anyone,” said host Nick Cannon. “Luckily the arrow did not go in,” he added. “We got him checked by the medic afterwards and he’s totally fine.”

Judge Howie Mandel had thought the worst had happened. “It was like slow motion, watching that flaming arrow hit him in the neck,” Mandel recalled. “I thought I saw something tragic and terrible. My stomach dropped. I’m okay on live TV, I’m okay in front of an audience, but I have no desire to see somebody get hurt.”

Mandel, now knowing that Stock is fine, mused, “If it would have impaled him, if it would have broken the skin, it was flaming, so he would have been cauterized.”

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