Despite the frequent appearance of winter swimming in his videos, he rarely did it in his spare time, nor did he drink alcohol often outside of his videos. He was fond of the Volvo 240 and 142 series of cars, owning a 1968 model of the latter. He had an affinity for the outdoors, often going camping during the summer, along with mountain climbing, especially around Jotunheimen. Įckhoff was highly interested in evolutionary biology, having a great fascination with the close genetic relationship between humans and apes.

He had one child with his long-time partner, Tove Skjerven, who he lived with for 30 years. This would remain his long-term place of employment from 2008 until his death in 2021. According to his YouTube page, he worked at a paint factory in Sandefjord, which was run by the chemicals company Jotun. He studied history, philosophy, and nordic literature at the University of Bergen, graduating in 1993 with a cand.mag. Tor Eckhoff was born in Kristiansund, Norway, on 22 November 1964, and moved to Sandefjord at the age of 6. Despite his success, he did not make a living out of his videos, creating them primarily for his own enjoyment. The ones he recorded during the winter were his most well-known, though also being controversial in nature due to their perceived danger-drinking alcohol before swimming near-naked in below-freezing temperatures-but some also characterised them as artistic for their presentation and content. His videos, in which he remained mostly silent, were popular worldwide, especially in Poland. His YouTube career lasted from 2006 until his death in 2021, though his channel first started gaining popularity in 2011. At the time of his death, he lived in Sandefjord where he worked in a paint factory run by the chemicals company Jotun.

He died in 2021 after he fell through the ice of a lake west of Kongsberg, Norway, while recording a video. Tor Eckhoff (22 November 1964 – 27 November 2021), also known as Apetor ( Norwegian pronunciation: ), was a Norwegian industrial worker and YouTuber known primarily for his videos where he drank vodka while performing daring activities on frozen waters, like ice skating, swimming in ice holes and diving.

Tor eckhoff interview