How much money would it take for you to agree to swim with bull sharks? That’s the question some celebrities have seriously considered recently, ultimately deciding that their fear of the underwater beasts – and potentially their safety – does indeed have a price. ITV1’s new series, Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters sends a handful of celebs to the Bahamas, where they will undergo a series of underwater experiences, all leading up to the ultimate challenge: to swim with bull sharks.
Among the famous faces taking part are Sir Lenny Henry, Countdown’s resident brainbox Rachel Riley, TV presenter Ade Adepitan and Lucy Punch, better known as snobby Amanda in Motherland and its recent spin-off. The line-up is the first indication that Shark! isn’t going to be like other celebrity-focused reality series: there are no fame-hungry D-list wannabes hoping to snap up headlines here.
As explained in the series’ opening gambit, the show is loosely inspired by Jaws, which just happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We’re told that the film made people so scared of sharks (“people were scared to get in the bath!” says Henry, only half-joking) that they have been treated as the devil incarnate ever since. But they are vital to our ocean ecosystem. “The scary thing isn’t a sea with sharks in it,” we’re told. “It’s one without any.”
No one is going to let national treasure Sir Lenny Henry get bitten by a shark (Photo: Plimsoll Productions/ITV)And so, Shark! tries to walk the blurry line of entertainment (celebrities being scared of sharks) and education (trying to convince us that sharks aren’t terrifying). This confused tone leads to strange moments like the introductory lecture from the series’ experts and shark conservationists.
We hear from Danni Washington and Tristan Guttridge, who have dedicated their lives to protecting sharks, before being swiftly reminded of just how dangerous they can be by meeting Paul de Gelder, who lost his arm to a shark bite. If the plan is to warm the celebrities to the idea of getting in the water with the creatures, I’m not sure this is the way to go about it.
Anyway, the first episode throws the celebs in at the deep end – their first challenge is to get in an underwater cage surrounded by the bull sharks they’ll eventually be expected to free dive with. Everyone – bar comedian Ross Noble – is nervous, but none more so than Call the Midwife actor Helen George, whose childhood experience of swimming has made her afraid to go underwater, never mind while being circled by sharks. Nevertheless, she bravely faces her fear head-on and joins the rest of the celebrities in successfully getting in the cage and coming face-to-face with the huge fish.
The celebrities also go swimming with stingrays (Photo: Plimsoll Productions/ITV)The rest of the episode is largely the same, with the celebrities asked to get in shallow water with stingrays – yes, the very same that killed Steve Irwin – and then lemon sharks. There are four more episodes to go, and it’s hard to see how Shark! will be able to keep up any momentum if it follows the same pattern over and over again. Nevertheless, there is a bit of excitement when a lemon shark takes a nibble on Noble’s leg, though not with enough force to puncture his wetsuit.
Celebrities have taken part in much more dangerous series than this (Channel 4’s infamous winter sports competition The Jump deserves a special mention) – of course, no one is going to let national treasure Lenny Henry get eaten by a shark. And yet, there is something admirable about the celebrities willingly getting on with it, particularly Adepitan, whose disability makes the experience that much more difficult: while the others can walk around the sharks and rays in the shallows, he must sit on a box and hope they don’t take too much interest.
On the scale of celebrity reality TV shows, Shark! is certainly one of the higher-brow ones. But I doubt it will be able to move the needle on public perception of sharks. Surely that’s a job for Sir David Attenborough.
‘Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters’ continues next Monday at 9pm on ITV1
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