Man jailed after taking Instagram photo at famous landmark: 'Was it worth it?'

An Instagrammer with more than three million followers says he was arrested after capturing a rather risky photo op — a picture atop Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza.

Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, a 27-year-old YouTube star and social media influencer, shared details of the incident in an Instagram post on Tuesday. The photo showed Zdorovetskiy sitting atop the pyramid — which is completely illegal — along with a caption explaining that he’d been imprisoned for making the climb.

"No words can explain what I just went through the past 5 days," Zdorovetskiy’s post read. "I was locked up in Egypt because I climbed the Pyramids Of Giza. I’ve been in Jail many times but this one was by far the very worst. I saw horrible things and I don’t wish this upon anybody. Was it worth it? F*** YEAH!"

Zdorovetskiy went on to say that he made the climb "for a good cause," but did not explain what that cause was. The Russian-born Youtuber added that he’d be posting a video of the experience soon.

And he wouldn’t be the first person to share footage of the law-breaking journey. In 2016, an 18-year-old German tourist named Andrej Ciesielski climbed the Great Pyramid, which he later shared in a clip posted to YouTube. The video went viral — it’s been viewed more than 3.5 million times — but it also got Ciesielski banned from visiting Egypt "for life."

Egypt has long worked to protect the pyramid, which, dating back to the 26th century B.C. is considered to be the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. A new law passed in 2019 states that anyone climbing the nation’s monuments can be subject to a minimum of one month in jail.

But Zdorovetskiy has a history of ignoring rules. Last year, he encouraged his girlfriend, Kinsey Wolanski, to run onto the field wearing nothing but a scandalous onesie during the Champions League soccer final between Liverpool and Tottenham. Wolanski’s outfit featured the logo for Zdorovetskiy’s X-rated website, Vitaly Uncensored.