Has anyone died filming Shark Week? No, but there have been quite a lot of close calls.

After looking at hours upon hours of Shark Week (admit it, we all do it), it's most effective natural to start wondering concerning the risks of Discovery Channel's annual programming. Like, has anyone in reality died while filming Shark Week?
Article continues beneath commercial
Yes, I know mosquitos kill extra people each and every 12 months than the underwater predator and sharks do not actually like eating humans. However, hanging yourself right into a cage to swim alongside sharks isn't the safest situation. After just a little bit of study, I'm proud to announce that there aren't any deaths attributed to Shark Week, but there were more than a few close calls.
And whilst you needless to say the concept that of Shark Week was written on a cocktail napkin through Discovery Channel workers who had been "lightly" inebriated, according to executive manufacturer Brooke Runnette, a 0 death toll is in reality relatively spectacular.
Article continues below advertisement
So, let's glance again at all of the courageous souls who nearly misplaced their lives for our viewing excitement. And no, you won't find Michael Phelps on this listing.
Article continues below advertisement
Guy Fieri's near-fatal dive.
The Food Network megastar was featured in the Shark Week Special Guy's Feeding Frenzy. However, it wasn't the shark Guy had to be nervous about, but as an alternative his air provide. Another diver noticed Guy's air supply leak and alerted the truth star — who briefly answered, "Holy Cow."
Luckily for everyone, Guy was in a position to succeed in the skin earlier than working out of oxygen, but may well be noticed gasping for air in footage got via Yahoo.
Article continues under advertisement
Shark assaults biologist Erich Ritter!
In 2002, Erich Ritter was bitten in the leg while filming Shark Week. The footage was in the end used the following yr in a distinct titled, Anatomy of a Shark Bite. However, he doesn't blame the shark for his damage. "Humans are not part of any of the more than 400 shark species' diets," he instructed The New York Times. "We hope that as we tell these stories, people hear the real message — the victims were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Article continues beneath advertisement
This film crew needed a larger boat.
Experts Jeff Kurr and Andy Casagrande, who had been filming within the tiny dinghy, realized the arduous means that it will not be the smartest time to try to are compatible a video camera on the shark's dorsal fin. In footage captured via the Discovery Channel, the guys onboard can be heard predicting their seemingly doomed fate more than as soon as. "It’s a little nerve-racking being in a boat no bigger than the size of the shark. The shark is actually bigger than our boat," one said prior to any other added, "I don’t think this is such a brilliant f--king idea you know." #CrewShark on this one.
Article continues beneath advertisement
Shaq meets shark.
The former NBA celebrity's phase was lower quick when a shark made its means into his cage. On this 12 months's Shaq Does Shark Week , a diver spotted a shark getting too close for convenience and shouted, "There’s a shark getting in the cage! There’s a shark in the cage! We’ve got to get him out." The workforce was in a position to distract the shark and get the seven-foot-one-inch participant to protection.
And Shaq handled the near-death revel in lovely well, telling the digital camera, "I survived a shark attack, you b---h."
Article continues underneath advertisement
When a crocodile assaults on Shark Week.
Marine biologist Melissa Marquez was filming a section called Cuba's Secret Shark Lair when she was bitten via a (plot twist) crocodile. Luckily, she best suffered minor injuries, but audience had been definitely shocked via the on-camera attack. "Tell me why you dont immediately get out of the water when you see an 11 ft croc? Bad enough swimming with sharks, can't be surprised something bites you," one fan tweeted. Another agreed, jokingly adding, "When the crocs get jealous that they don’t have their own week."
Melissa recounted the experience on her personal Twitter web page, writing, "Got bit + dragged by a 10 ft (3 m) croc and all I got were these scars. Today all wounds have healed (finally!), bruising gone, + can walk w/o (much) pain." #Blessed.
Article continues beneath advertisement
"Great White Nearly Bites Guy's Head Off"
That is literally the title for the Discovery Channel clip of a shark sneaking up on diver Chris Fallows whilst he was filming within the waters of New Zealand. Chris' reaction to the shark that was two-feet away from his face, "That was f--king close." You can say that once more.
Article continues beneath commercial
The untold tale of a Shark Week cameramen.
When asked about his maximum horrifying second involving Shark Week, Andy Casagrande (who was also on that small boat we discussed above) recounted a incident while filming the 2010 Into the Shark Bite — even supposing he hates telling the tale.
"I was essentially running out of air, and I had to go to the surface, and I was out of the cage with great whites. Like I said, if you swim away from them, they pursue you. I was breaking my own rule of don't act like prey or they'll treat you like prey," he told Entertainment Weekly. "I saw this little shark — little as in, like, a 10-footer — coming up at me, and I saw its little white chin wagging. It was accelerating toward me. I'm like... uh, holy --t. I just relied on my standard instinct of using the camera, keeping the camera between me and the shark. The shark came up with its mouth open, and as I finned back, it sort of went past me and I hit it on the side on its gills."
He continued, "They don't really know any better, and they're really curious. But when a great white shark is curious, it can be catastrophic."
Not all (Shark Week) heroes put on capes.
More from Distractify:
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaJ2eqbKzwMCipaadnql8c3yQcWZpb19ng3CmkWyHnZ6EZLWiv4yapbKnnpp6pbXEnWSfoZyitq%2BzjKyfmqqbYsSmsco%3D