Shark stunt nearly turns deadly for Aussie adrenalin junkie

Gold Coast adrenalin junkie Shaun Harrington thought it was a good idea to get in a flimsy cage and stir up sharks.

It wasn't.

The 27-year-old and his twin brother, Dean, decided to go 'cage-diving' with sharks for an extreme video shoot for their surfing and fishing clothing label - which is (fittingly) called The Mad Hueys.

The thing is, they didn't use a proper shark cage. Not even a reinforced steel cage.

Unbelievably, boys plucked out $50 for a bird cage that Shaun fitted over his head.

With only the bird cage for protection, Shaun plunged into the water off Coolangatta and decided to get up close and personal with a 2.4-metre tiger shark.

What ensued was pure, unadulterated terror as he was forced into using the cage to fend off the underwater beast.

"It was heavy - its scared the s**t out of me and I thought I was a goner," Harrington said.

"We were just having fun but it turned crazy."

He said the whole stunt came as a surprise after his brother told him they were going on a 'shark fishing tour'.

"He pulled out the bird cage and told me 'this is the cage we're going to use and we're going out there to find a shark'," Harrington said.

"I said 'no way!' but we were out there and the first line our mate pulled up had an 8ft tiger shark on it still thrashing around.

"I jumped into the water and was swimming with the cage and the next thing I knew, the bloody thing was coming at me.

"I was flailing around like crazy to get back on the boat before it sunk it's teeth into me."

Harmless prank or idiotic stunt? Let us know in the comments below!