'Dirtiest Man in TV' Mike Rowe Offers to Buy Submerged Utility Worker a Beer

The utility worker went beyond the call of duty fixing a broken pipe.

ByABC News
August 26, 2016, 12:27 PM

— -- The Texas utility worker who went viral thanks to a photograph showing him submerged in muddy water while fixing a broken pipe is now getting attention from the TV star who earned the nickname “the dirtiest man on TV.”

“Somebody’s Gotta Do It” host Mike Rowe, who became famous for traveling the country exploring different, dirty jobs, has offered to buy the utility worker, Jimmie Cox, a beer or two.

"I'm serious about the offer for a beer or two,” Rowe said in a taped message that aired today on “Good Morning America." “Please tell me that was a water line … because if it was a sewer line, I'd have to get you a whole case.”

Cox fortunately was repairing just a water line when he went beyond the call of duty and submerged the upper half of his body in the murky water. The Hood County, Texas, homeowner whose burst, one-inch pipe Cox was trying to fix, took a photo of Cox that has since gone viral.

Cox, 23, told local ABC station WFAA-TV the hole he submerged himself in was about five-and-a-half feet deep. He said he saw water spewing everywhere when he arrived at the home so just dove in to try to plug the leak.

"In this line of work, people do it a lot," he said. "I wasn't even able to get the clampers, so we had to cut it and put a valve on there when it was underwater.”

Rowe first tweeted about the photo on Thursday.

Wrangler Jeans, which Cox was wearing in the photo, also tweeted that the company will be providing Cox with new jeans.