Influencer Prank Ruins Hot Air Balloon Ride for Other Passengers After Trying to Parachute From Basket

A hot air balloon operator was praised for the way he handled a skydiver TikTokers are calling "entitled" as he attempted to record a stunt video of him jumping from the balloon's basket without informing the operator beforehand.

"Guy tries to be the main character resulting in ruining the ride for everyone..." a text overlay in the video reads in a TikTok uploaded by @cinashow that shows a conversation between a hot air balloon operator and a passenger who appears to want to skydive out of the balloon.

The operator informs him that he isn't high enough to jump from the balloon and that for both safety and legal purposes he can't be sky-diving from the balloon.

Here's how their discussion goes down in the clip:

Operator: You're not high enough.

Passenger: I am high enough.

At this point in their discussion, it sounds like the would-be-jumper is referencing the fact that he's paid thousands to do this, but the operator doesn't seem to care about that at all.

Operator: I don't give a s--- you have to tell this before we need to ask for permission. We're not allowed to do this. We're actually filing a f------- permit and you'll f--- us up. I'm telling you man we are actually filing a permit if we do this illegally man, we are f----.

Even though he explained to the customer that they would more than likely be causing long-term or even permanent harm to his business/livelihood if he jumped and that stunts like these needed to be cleared beforehand so the proper paperwork/permits are filed, the guy didn't seem to care.

Passenger: You just tried to stop me.

Operator: What?

Passenger: You have it on video you just tried to stop me.

Operator: I don't care. I can stop you physically I'm going down right now.

The operator then says he's going to call the police and that he'll be taking the balloon down to prevent the guy from jumping.

Someone on the balloon then attempts to interject and ask the operator to let go of his parachute strap, until a woman chimes in and repeats what the operator said — that permits are necessary and that the guy is pretty much ruining the ride for everyone else on the hot air balloon.

The passenger appears to persist in his disagreement with the balloon operator asking him to "come on," presumably to try and just let him jump out of the basket.

He's shot down by the operator who avers again that jumping is not an option under any circumstances, who keeps his hand firmly planted on the passenger's parachute rig.

When the passenger asks him to remove his hand, placing his hand on the operator's hand, the employee warns the man that he will hit him if he touches his hand again and that the only reason he's firmly grasping the rig is to prevent the man from jumping out of the basket and ruining his business — this is after he radio'ed down to someone he works with and informed them to call the police.

"I'm sorry," the operator says, before explaining that he has been put in the position of physically restraining the man until he brings the hot air balloon lower. It's at this point that the passenger finally capitulates, stating that he's brought the balloon down to an altitude that would make it impossible for him to jump out of the basket safely.

Before the video cuts out, the passenger tells him that he's an experienced jumper who's logged some 2,000 skydiving jumps in his life and that he previously had more than enough clearance to perform the jump.

In the comments section of the video there didn't seem to be too many people who were siding with the overzealous sky diver who just didn't seem to care that he was potentially jeopardizing another person's entire business just so he could get another jump in.

In fact, the operator was praised for the way that he took care of the situation: ""The guy in the red hat is so dope, handled so well," one person wrote.

Another said that that prospective jumper wasn't just showing a lack of regard for the business but for other paying customers as well: "Mind you those rides are expensive! I feel bad for those other people."

More love was shown towards the balloon operator: "The way the operator interrupted his little speech with the fire," someone penned.

Someone else highlighted how much worse the situation could've been for another passenger — especially if they had planned their own special moment there: "imagine u had planned to propose and this guy was in ur balloon"

"The worker definitely needs a promotion for handling this so calmly," another said, applauding the operator.

For others, they were just amped to see a worker tell the skydiver they weren't all that impressed with his experience in jumping grand heights as he singularly stuck to the protection of his business.