A Timaru man whose astonishing roller coaster phone catch went viral has revealed the "sad ending" to his amazing tale on Seven Sharp tonight.

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Samuel Kempf was at Spain's Port Aventura theme park riding the Shambhala roller coaster when he saw the person a few rows ahead drop their iPhone X.

"Long story short I caught it. This roller coaster is moving at over 130kms and was once Europe’s tallest and fastest coaster," Mr Kempf said.

However, fate didn't reward him for the valiant effort and there was a "sad ending to the story".

"Later in the day we were on a different ride and I had my arm up and my Apple Watch flew off and hasn't been seen since," Mr Kempf said.

He outlined the original miracle catch in more detail to Seven Sharp this evening.

"I was pretty surprised myself when it all happened, I noticed a guy drop his phone on the ascent and I jokingly turned to my cousin and brother and said, 'Get ready to catch guys,' but I never thought it would actually become a reality.

"We headed down the fast part of the ride, the big drop, and then as we came up the rise I just saw the phone come up out of the corner of my eye, without even thinking I just reached out across my cousin and managed to catch it."

The owner was even more grateful for the quick thinking Kiwi's action as three days earlier he had it fixed for 300 Euros after dropping it then kicking it.