A recent car wreck could have claimed Nelson Thomas’ life, with The Challenge star revealing he’s thankful to be alive and grateful for the individuals who rescued him from his burning vehicle.
The multi-time Challenge finalist shared photos and videos to let fans know he was in the horrific wreck. The incident had been reported a week before Nelson revealed he was the unidentified man saved from the burning car.
Nelson’s sharing the news brought plenty of messages from his fans, friends, and castmates, who mostly offered their prayers and support following his brush with death.
However, Nelson’s friend and castmate Amanda Garcia wasn’t too happy that someone was filming the car while it was on fire.
The former Are You The One? star blasted the NFL player, KJ Osborn, who had revealed he saved a man’s life a week before Nelson shared that it was him.
That brought the outspoken reality TV star to social media, where she fired off several profanity-laden messages giving her thoughts on what happened.
Amanda Garcia blasts NFL player for filming Nelson ‘almost die’ in crash
Taking to her Twitter account, Amanda was not too pleased that someone filmed Nelson’s burning car while he was still hurt and trapped inside the vehicle. Several individuals were near the car to try to help him, with another person filming it from a distance.
Amanda retweeted a comment along with Nelson’s original tweet in which he informed everyone about his car accident. Nelson’s tweet also included him thanking the individuals involved in saving him and filming his rescue.
“The f****** FOOTBALL player FILMING Nelson almost f****** die instead of putting down his f***** phone and helping. F****** DISGUSTING. That car coulda blown up at any f***in minute. F*****g worthless piece of s*** my blood is BOILING!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK GOD YOU ARE OKAY NELSON,” Amanda said in one tweet.
Amanda may have received backlash from followers and critics as she posted a follow-up tweet addressing those who tried to tell her she was directing her anger at the wrong person.
“Are you guys mental????? He clearly says he was ‘filming his rescue’ then thanks the people that actually pulled him out. READ THE CAPTION….and watch the video on ig it’s horrifying that someone can stand back and film that instead of help. Unbelievable,” Amanda tweeted.
NFL’s KJ Osborn gave details about the rescue a week earlier
As mentioned, news of the terrifying car crash and heroic rescue arrived a week before it was revealed that Nelson was indeed the one that had been saved. Osborn, a wide receiver on the Minnesota Vikings, spoke about the rescue on his team’s official YouTube channel.
Osborn mentioned that he and his Uber driver, Abdul, noticed the burning wreck. He talked about how you often see this sort of thing in movies or TV, but this was “different” because it was right in front of them.
He said as he was running toward the car with flames on it, thoughts of his mom and his family went through his head, making him realize he was “risking a lot.”
“My Uber driver Abdul, he went right up to the car. He opened the passenger door. He’s talking to this guy, [asking] ‘Are you alive? Are you OK?'” Osborn said, adding that two other friends with him named “Arthur and Rita” helped.
Osborn said Arthur told Abdul to back away because they didn’t know what might happen. However, Osborn said he realized this man’s life was in danger, and they needed to save him.
He said that the burning car’s injured driver got up some strength to move a bit, and the group dragged him out.
“I picked him up, and we were able to move far away, so the car didn’t blow up,” Osborn said.
“I was just happy that we were able to get him out, and the firefighters were able to extinguish the fire before the car exploded,” he shared.
The person interviewing Osborn asked him how long the rescue took.
“Three and a half minutes. Actually, I recorded the whole thing up until I had to pick him up. Obviously, I’m not gonna release the video, but I think the video is about three minutes and three seconds…maybe three and a half or four minutes,” he said.
Last week, Osborn shared an Instagram post following the rescue efforts. It featured photos from the scene, including one of him and the group that saved Nelson posing together. Osborn did not include any recorded video footage in his post but had an image showing the burning car. This past Tuesday, Nelson shared the video in his recent social media posts revealing he was the man saved from the wreck.
Nelson, 34, a longtime The Challenge star, was featured in MTV’s recent Ride or Dies season and more recently appeared in the spinoff, The Challenge: World Championship on Paramount Plus.
As of this writing, the full extent of his injuries in his crash is unknown. He hasn’t given a timetable for recovery but mentioned it would be a “long road.”
The Challenge: World Championship episodes arrive Wednesdays on Paramount Plus.