Comedian Adam Sandler was enjoying a recent trip to Africa when things took an unexpected and potentially life-threatening turn. While visiting a local game reserve, the 46-year-old actor was leaning down to offer water to a cheetah when the world's fastest land animal suddenly sprang into attack mode.

"When he jumped on me, all I was gonna do was let him eat me," Sandler joked last night with host David Letterman on the Late Show.

"Not one part of me was fighting back. I was like 'Well, I guess this how I'm gonna die. This is great.'"

Upon watching the video, you can see Sandler's near fatal error. When the big cat moves to his side, he makes no attempt to face the animal, consequently showing it his backside. In the wild, this is the cheetah's signal to attack potential prey.

Thankfully, Sandler didn't make an even bigger mistake by trying to run away.

"My friends were like 'You played that pretty good' I had a stiff neck at the time. So when he jumped on me I was like 'Oh my neck!'" he said.

In fact, Sandler's stiff neck could have been what caused the animal's sudden loss of interest in the attack. After a cheetah subdues its prey, it will immediately move to strangle the animal by way of its jaw. So, once the cheetah in the video realized it had little chance of reaching Sandler's neck, it decidedly backed off.