Last week we showed you all the preamble surrounding the big race – Olympic legend Michael Phelps versus a great white shark (HERE).
Sunday saw the race air on Discovery, and there were most certainly mixed reviews.
I guess most of the animosity revolved around the fact that Phelps wasn’t in the water with the shark – viewers want blood, it seems – with each competitor swimming a separate 100m race that was then stitched together in the editing room.
Here’s the moment of glory for the shark:
The moment of glory for #TeamShark!!! #PhelpsVsShark #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/NWYp1CwiRa
— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) July 24, 2017
More video from that final home straight:
Pipped to the post.
As for those disgruntled viewers:
More info from Vox:
The actual hour-long broadcast of Phelps vs. Shark included Phelps simulating 50-meter races against two other varieties of shark in order to “prepare” for the race. Surprisingly enough, he actually beat one of them, besting a reef shark with a time of 18.7 seconds.
He had nothing on the hammerhead he practiced against, however, who beat him handily with a time of 15.1 seconds…
When it came time for the main event, the production team behind Phelps vs. Shark filmed an actual great white shark swimming in the specific 100-meter stretch of ocean designated for the “race.” So how did they manage that? Enter this brave guy on a floating bike thing, dragging along a decoy of a swimming seal to lure the shark along the designated track.
That would be this brave man below – what the actual?
Don’t do this at home. #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/hgOF0905aq
— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) July 24, 2017
That guy’s life insurance premiums must be sky high.
Great white one, Phelps zero.
Bonus video – check SA diver Johan Potgieter kak himself during a dive near Skipskop reef off Cape Town.
