Bressie has revealed he was left petrified a seal would have sex with him on his first proper swim.
The Voice of Ireland judge was forced to conquer his horrific fear of the water in order to compete in triathlons.
But the 33-year-old knew he was going have a breakdown – until he was told seals in Dun Laoghaire were horny and couldn’t tell men in wetsuits from their mates.
He said: “It was this big thing and I was in Dun Laoghaire for my first big open water swim.
The Fear: Bressie thought seal would have sex with him | VIPIRELAND.COM
“Which means getting into the sea and swimming out for a kilometer was the worst thing ever I could have told my brain a year before that.
“But just before we got into the water the guy with me, knowing that I was going to have a nervous breakdown said, ‘Bressie, just so you know in the bay at the moment, the seals are mating and they get confused with men in wetsuits’.
“And I went, ‘What are you talking about?’ And he said, ‘If a seal comes up to you, just slap their tail.’ I went, ‘What are you talking about? You’re telling me a seal might…’
“And all of a sudden my fears slightly changed from water swimming to having sexual relations with a seal.”
But Bressie – who uses exercise in a bid to stay on top of his mental health – revealed it did to the trick.
Coach: Bressie is known for role on The Voice | RTE
He said: “I got out of the water and he said, ‘How did you find that?’ And I said I spent the whole time swimming more worried about the seals than the open water – and that was my fear gone.”
He laughed: “We could have been so good together – me and the seal”.
And speaking on Upbeat FM – a pop-up radio station for Mental Health Week – Bressie said water has always been a huge problem for him.
He added: “I had this horrible, innate fear of water – I couldn’t even get into a swimming pool until four months before my first triathlon.
“I couldn’t look at the water, I don’t know what it was. My mum said that she used to give me baths with little cups of water over my head.”
