Here's a story to give you a scare for a Monday morning. If you've ever been scared by Jaws, this is probably one to stop reading.

A Norwegian tourist was nearly sucked into the mouth of a giant whale shark as he was snorkelling off the coast of Oslob in the Philippines.

This would be a terrifying close call for anyone to experience, never mind poor 49-year-old Geir Johansen who is particularly scared of sharks.

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Even with his fears, it didn't stop him from capturing some amazing footage of the giant sea creature as it sucked in gallons of water.

In the video, Geir dips his head beneath the surface and manages to catch a glimpse of the whale shark before he gets quite up close and personal with it.

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This is the point he gets a bit too close to the giant beauty's mouth as he nearly becomes fish food along with the water.

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Though whale sharks are known to be quite placid and only eat small fish and plankton, anyone would be a bit scared to be facing down the gullet of the world's biggest shark.

So it was understandable when Geir started to panic as he was drawn closer to the shark's wide open mouth as it fed on algae.

Though people are told to stay at least four metres away from the creatures at all time, Geir ended up pressed against the shark's jaw. In his defence, it was through no fault of his own.

Credit: Caters

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It seems the shark was an unimpressed with the human getting as close he did because the whale shark was quick to give Geir a couple of swift nudges away with his head.

Nonetheless it is a true once in a lifetime experience - and though he recognised this, Geir said the chance meeting hadn't succeeded in curing him of any fears of sharks.

He said: "My whole life I've been very scared of sharks and open water. Even when I lived in Australia I didn't surf or use a body board, I'd just stay in the shallow waters.

Credit: Caters

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"Before we went into the water, we were told there were whale sharks in the area and that they're harmless. When I first went under the water and saw the enormity of the shark, I almost had a heart attack.

"Before I knew it I ended up on its dinner plate - I didn't know what to do. I tried to stay as calm as I could, as we were told not to irritate them.

"It was almost looking at me as if to say 'stay away from my food'.

"Then it pushed me twice. It felt like steel. A shark's mouth is not soft at all. It was an amazing experience."