James Paxton as Lukas Waldenbeck, Tyler Young as Philip Shea
“Eyewitness” stars Tyler Young and James Paxton talked about filming the pond scene and the bike stunt at the end of Season 1, episode 8, titled “The Larsons’ Dog.” Christos Kalohoridis/USA Network

The cliffhanger at the end of last night’s episode of “Eyewitness” was one of the most dangerous scenes to film for the series. And although it was James Paxton’s double who did the bike stunt mid-air, Paxton and his co-star Tyler Young also faced some challenges of their own while shooting the intense sequence.

“There were leeches in that pond,” Paxton, who plays Lukas Waldenbeck on the USA Network series, revealed during a Facebook Live Q&A with fans after the airing of the episode. “I saw a few squirming around in there. That was a little nerve-wracking. That was what I was scared of that day. I was cold after that too. They poured buckets of water on me.”

“Yeah, to keep us looking wet,” Young added. “We had to be wet for a long time.”

Young, who portrays Philip Shea on the series, pointed out that he and Paxton actually went into the water for that scene. “We both had to really go into the water and do that,” he said. “[So] we did like leech checks on our body afterwards.”

The two then praised Paxton’s double for pulling off the cliffhanger’s very risky bike stunt. “That was a gnarly stunt to do,” Young said of the scene in which Lukas was shot midair and fell into the pond. “That was actually really dangerous like he could have gotten hurt for real. There was like a wire that pulled him off the bike and he fell on water that wasn’t really that deep. That could have ended really bad.”

“And he came out with a leech on his leg, on his inner thigh,” Paxton added of his stunt double.

Associate producer Jennifer Coté also took to Twitter to share a fun fact about filming the cliffhanger.

An all-new episode of “Eyewitness” airs on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 10 p.m. EST on The CW. Check out the synopsis for Season 1, episode 9, titled “Savior Unknown,” below:

“Ryan (Warren Christie) struggles to cover his tracks. Meanwhile, Helen’s (Julianne Nicholson) dark past comes back and threatens her marriage as well as her ability to protect her family.”

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