Firefighters were left "seriously unimpressed" after spending an hour freeing a YouTuber whose head had been "cemented" into a microwave.

Jay Swingler, 22, became stuck after filling the oven with Polyfilla and then sticking his head in it, which was wrapped in a plastic bag.

The unplugged microwave was being used as a mould in the stunt, but the mixture soon set and friends became concerned as Swingler struggled breathe through the plastic tube he was using for air.

The group had already spent an hour and a half trying to free the YouTuber when five firefighters from the West Midlands Fire Service arrived at the address in Fordhouses, Wolverhampton, on Wednesday.

Firefighters trying to free the prankster from the microwave credit: West Midlands Fire Service

Watch Commander Shaun Dakin, the officer in charge of the crew who responded, said: “As funny as this sounds, this young man could quite easily have suffocated or have been seriously injured.”

The stunt was carried out by the TGFbro channel as part of its ‘extreme Christmas calendar’ series, in which Swingler and his friend Romell Henry set each other prank challenges each day.

Other calendar dares have seen Swingler bath in fake tan and the pair sit in a bathtub of expanding foam.

The pair have a large YouTube following with their TGFbro channel accruing almost half a billion views and three million subscribers since 2012.

Jay Swingler talking about the microwave stunt on his YouTube channel credit: YouTube/TGFbros

Yesterday they uploaded the 10-minute video of microwave stunt, which Swingler introduces by saying: “This is the day where I probably kill myself, do not try this at home.”

The video shows the pair filling the microwave with four tubs of Polyfilla before Swingler balances prone across two chairs, sticks his head in and waits for it to set.

At one point Henry goes out to buy a hairdryer to help speed up the drying process. However Swingler soon becomes concerned as the Polyfilla sets and he struggles to use the breathing tube.

The firefighters faced a tricky operation when they arrived as much of the microwave was welded together and they had to video-call technical rescue colleagues for advice.

Mr Dakin added: “He was very relieved when we removed a large chunk of the Polyfilla with a screwdriver, allowing him to breathe more easily. But we had to be extremely careful with the screwdriver, working so closely to his head.

“It took us nearly an hour to free him. All of the group involved were very apologetic, but this was clearly a call-out which might have prevented us from helping someone else in genuine, accidental need.”

The fire service later tweeted photographs of the rescue saying they were “seriously unimpressed” a crew had had to spend an hour on such a call-out.

At the end of his YouTube video Swingler thanked the emergency services and his friends for saving his life, but appeared undeterred from continuing with his extreme Christmas calendar stunts.

He said: “Finally, after a long process of doing this they got me out and I've never appreciated life so much, ever.

“Thank you very, very much to the paramedics and fire brigade for helping me get out and also a big thank you to Romell and Brandon and Jake, if it wasn't for you guys I'd literally be dead right now, I wouldn't be here.

“Thank you very much for watching, I love you all and I'll see you tomorrow for the next Christmas calendar with hopefully something more positive.”

Simon Woodward, a station commander, said that as Swingler's life was in genuine danger, the fire service were "not going to charge" him the £650 deployment cost.

However, the prankster has faced multiple calls from social media users to pay compensation to the fire service for wasting their time.

Twitter user Shinny messaged the fire service to say: "I hope you are billing him for the time wasted. The prat could have cost someone their life. Should have left him."

Another member of the public wrote on Twitter: "I'm all for backing people on innocent mistakes - e.g. people getting stuck up a tree.

"But with stuff like this, it would be nice to be able to send them the bill for the costs."

It is not clear if Swingler earns money from his YouTube channel. If a video carries ads, vloggers with enough of a following can earn around £1.10 per 1,000 views. The microwave prank video has clocked up 1 million views, but the TGFBro channel does not appear to carry adverts.

YouTube policy states that "video content that promotes harmful or dangerous acts...is not suitable for advertising." Videos depicting pranks are listed as an example.