Anderson Cooper was left battered, bruised and nearly blind after a day of filming himself riding waves in Portugal with world-record-setting surfer Garrett McNamara. 

The CNN anchor was experiencing the Portuguese swells from the back of a jet ski driven by McNamara, who holds the world record for surfing the tallest wave. 

Cooper filmed the entire experience with a waterproof camera mounted to a stick, while several cameramen also filmed from jet skis nearby, as well as from land.

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Battered: Anderson Cooper was left bruised and nearly blind after a day of filming himself riding waves in Portugal with world-record-setting surfer Garrett McNamara

The CNN host was experiencing the Portuguese swells from the back of a jet ski driven by McNamara, who holds the world record for surfing the tallest wave

Soaked: At one point during filming, Cooper took a fall a slipped off the jet ski into the ocean

Ouch: Cooper burned his eyeballs in the course of filming

'What we wanted to do with this story was to take the viewers as close as possible - as close as most people will ever get - to a big wave,' Cooper said. 

His producer, Keith Sharman, said the segment was extremely challenging to film. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2288241/Anderson-Cooper-left-battered-nearly-blind-burning-eyeballs-riding-waves-Portugal-world-record-setting-surfer.html#ixzz2MfwseRid 
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