July 24, 2025

Shark Week 2025 Why Shark Week’s “Dancing With Sharks” Episode Got It So Wrong

Shark Week 2025 Why Shark Week’s “Dancing With Sharks” Episode Got It So Wrong

Shark Week 2025 opened with a spectacle that left many conservationists and shark advocates frustrated. The premiere episode, Dancing With Sharks, featured handlers hugging, hand-feeding, and even riding sharks—behaviors that distort shark biology and promote a dangerous misunderstanding of these wild animals. In this episode, we examine how the use of tonic immobility and forced interactions undermines shark conservation and sends the wrong message to the public.

Shark conservation deserves better than spectacle. Instead of relying on shock-value stunts, media like Shark Week should highlight real science, elevate expert voices, and promote respectful interactions with apex predators. We explore how better storytelling can change public perception and help build a future where sharks are protected, not exploited.

 

Transcript
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I sat down to watch the kick off of Shark

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Week 2025 hoping for science, respect and

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wonder.

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What I got was a circus act

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disguised as conservation.

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Dancing with sharks opened up with

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handlers hugging, riding

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and hand feeding wild sharks.

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They call it graceful.

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I saw it as

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performative and disrespectful.

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These aren't props, they're predators,

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majestic, misunderstood

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and already under threat.

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Having sharks in a tonic state to

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entertain the audience

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crosses a serious ethical line.

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I couldn't believe that this was the

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headline act of the one of

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the world's most influential

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shark broadcasts.

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Shark Week was supposed to inspire

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protection, not promote domination.

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If this is how we teach people to love

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sharks, we're doing them a disservice.

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Let's talk about why this episode did

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more harm than good and

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what shark conservation

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should actually look like on this episode

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of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another

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exciting episode of the How

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to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Llewyn.

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And this is the podcast where you find

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out what's happening

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with the ocean, how you can

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speak up for the ocean and what you can

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do to live for a better

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ocean by taking action.

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If you want to take action, do not watch

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Dancing with Sharks.

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It was a horrible episode.

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We'll get into that in just a second.

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Before we do, though, if you really want

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to know how to be

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guided to live for a better

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ocean truly guided, I want you to go over

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and join the undertow.

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Go to speak up for blue.com

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forward slash join the undertow.

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It is an online community that I've

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partnered with some

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co-founders Serena and Amanda to

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build this online community to help

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people and guide people

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to not only reconnect with

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the ocean, but to help guide them towards

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making better decisions for the ocean.

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It's an app.

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It will contain the podcast and will

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contain extra information,

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interactive virtual meetings

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and so forth.

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It's going to be really exciting.

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Go to speak up for blue.com forward slash

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join the undertow to

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get on the waiting list.

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The app is coming soon.

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I can't wait for it to come to you to

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your hands and be able

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to get access to all of

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the shark information and ocean

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information as you please.

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Let's get it back into the show.

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This is disappointing.

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I am just going to say right off the bat,

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I was a little excited

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to kick off the month.

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We had shark fest with Nat Geo, had some

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great episode and had

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some not so great episodes.

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I reviewed the shark whisper, not so

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great on Netflix, a

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documentary on ocean Ramsey.

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It kind of sucked.

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I reviewed all the sharks, great episode,

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had some diving things

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going on, but overall

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great episode, really learned about

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sharks, really learned about the

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biodiversity of sharks.

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I thought that was fantastic.

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I really liked how they talked about how

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rays and stingrays and manor rays are

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part of the same subfamily.

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Elasmal branks, cartilaginous, fidget,

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conjurates, cartilaginous fish.

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It's always great to see when you are

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able to insert education and

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entertainment at the same time.

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So that edutainment, I

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think is what they call it.

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I thought it was really great.

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However, when we talk about shark week,

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we have to be careful because shark week

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has really disappoint us in the past and

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sometimes really impressed

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us with some of their show.

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And there are some shows that I'm still

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looking forward to watching this week.

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But to start off, to kick off the show,

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to kick off the week of shark week, one

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of the biggest weeks and most popular and

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top rated weeks of shows on sharks and

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just the environment and discoveries.

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I think of the

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biggest week for discovery.

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Don't quote me on that, but it's one of

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the biggest weeks for this channel.

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You start off with dancing with sharks.

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Now, there is a great channel called

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shark bites. There's a scientist on

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there. I can't remember his name right

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now, but he's fantastic.

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He's got a huge channel and I'll link in

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the show notes below.

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He actually talked about how he was going

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to maybe be on the show.

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They asked him. The producers asked him

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to be on this show. He didn't know what

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it was really about.

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He's got a great story of how he followed

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along the process because he wanted to

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see what this was about.

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If it's about science, he

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was really interested in it.

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Like I said, shark week has provided some

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great scientific shows.

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And then he realized quickly that dancing

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with sharks was

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literally dancing with sharks.

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It was taking these shark handlers and

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calling them dancers, but they weren't

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really dancers, teaching them how to

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dance underwater and

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handle sharks at the same time.

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Essentially, it was dancing with stars,

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but except the stars were sharks.

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And if you think about the concept,

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nothing is interesting about that.

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There's nothing interesting. It

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absolutely sucks when you think about.

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I don't know how this got approved by

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Discovery. I don't know how people said,

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Hey, you know what? Dancing with sharks.

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That's a great idea.

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Let's take sharks. Let's go underwater.

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Let's go in their habitat. Sharks that

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don't like to be touched, don't like to

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be handled and let's hug them.

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Let's sit on them. Let's ride them and

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thinking that's a good idea. Let's hand

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feed them because you know, the sharp

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teeth aren't a danger to anybody.

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And let's do this and let's entertain

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people. Then we'll judge the

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people. It's a competition show.

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All the sharks was a great competition

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show. Dancing with sharks sucked. Okay.

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It is the worst thing I've ever seen.

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Now they got Tom Bergeron, who used to be

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the host of America's home videos or

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whatever. It wasn't entertaining. He was

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great at commentating. Now he was

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commentating this. He was hosting this

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and it just like it was awkward.

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It was horrible to see like what these

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dancers did and what they had them do to

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interact with sharks was absolutely

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horrible. It was absolutely the worst

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thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

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They had someone from Dancing with Stars,

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a choreographer, you know, talking about

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the technique of the dancing that a

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choreographer to teach the dancing a

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separate person to teach the dancing to these divers.

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They had a diver and they named her a shark expert, but I don't know how much of a shark actually is maybe in diving because she's gone diving with a lot of sharks. Definitely not on the science side that I saw could be wrong on that. I didn't do much research too angry to be honest about this. Then they had this comedian that was on who was probably the most realist of all people was like, why am I here? Why are we doing this?
This is not right. And you know, he had to judge people. He's like, you're still dancing with sharks, which is awesome. I think he said one time and he's just funny. He's like, I'm not even gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like, I'm not gonna do this. He's like,

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you know, I'm not any comedian outside of

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this, but he's just like probably the

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most realist person. He's like, why are

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we doing this? What are we doing this for

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this makes no sense. And it's true. It

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made no sense right from the get go. And

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when you watch the performances I watched

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I was going to turn off after five

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minutes because it was so disgusting. I

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want to watch the whole thing. So I want

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to see if they put some education. They

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did put one piece one clip where they

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talked about hammerhead sharks and they

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did some education, but for the rest of

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the time was just absolutely all about

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man handling sharks.

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hugging sharks, one

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person, one diver, quote unquote,

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dancer fell and sat under

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the head of a nurse shark

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because she got off balance.

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You know, it's obviously

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not something she's used

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to doing underwater, but

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she did it and she fell

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on the shark and, you

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know, like didn't probably

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harm the shark, but

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obviously it's not helping

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when you start touching

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the shark and inadvertently,

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you know, sit on a shark.

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There's one person who

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actually like rode the shark,

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like grabbed a nurse shark by either side

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and actually rode the shark.

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Another person was

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holding it and tickling it.

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I think it was actually the

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same person, a nurse shark.

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And look, these nurse

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sharks are not harmful to people.

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They have this ability to suction.

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People have been, you know, quote unquote

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bitten by nurse sharks

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because they're all in around it and

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they're in around when they're

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feeding and probably inadvertently got

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bit these influencers.

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But in this case, like

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nobody got hurt, but the fact is

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these sharks are being handled.

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One time somebody put them in a tonic

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state and they think, oh, that's great.

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They put them in a tonic state.

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What a way to handle the sharks.

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No.

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No, do not touch the sharks.

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You know, like I thought

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the shark was first bad.

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I thought ocean ramage was bad.

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This is awful.

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This is absolutely horrible to be able to

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say that this is educational,

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to be able to say that

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this is entertaining.

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Watching people handle sharks, literally

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handle sharks in a dance for no reason.

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Whatsoever.

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There's no science behind it.

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There's no conservation body.

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In fact, you can argue that they were

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more harmful to the

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sharks than they were to

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00:08:08,458 --> 00:08:09,166
protect the sharks.

265
00:08:09,458 --> 00:08:10,458
I don't know what the

266
00:08:10,458 --> 00:08:11,708
purpose of the show is.

267
00:08:11,708 --> 00:08:12,708
It wasn't entertaining.

268
00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:13,708
It was awful.

269
00:08:14,250 --> 00:08:15,458
There was no charisma.

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00:08:15,791 --> 00:08:16,791
There was no fun.

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00:08:17,250 --> 00:08:17,750
It sucked.

272
00:08:18,291 --> 00:08:19,166
It absolutely sucked.

273
00:08:19,541 --> 00:08:20,333
Everybody was awkward.

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00:08:20,708 --> 00:08:22,541
I think sometimes people were just so

275
00:08:22,541 --> 00:08:24,333
surprised that they were

276
00:08:24,333 --> 00:08:26,000
doing this and being like,

277
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:28,291
what decisions that you made in life made

278
00:08:28,291 --> 00:08:30,000
you come to this show and do this show?

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00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:30,708
I don't know what the

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00:08:30,708 --> 00:08:31,666
production company was saying.

281
00:08:31,666 --> 00:08:33,708
And this was absolutely awful from a

282
00:08:33,708 --> 00:08:34,375
scientist, from a

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00:08:34,375 --> 00:08:36,083
conservationist, from just watching

284
00:08:36,083 --> 00:08:36,541
this show.

285
00:08:36,791 --> 00:08:37,833
It enraged me.

286
00:08:38,083 --> 00:08:38,875
I had to leave the

287
00:08:38,875 --> 00:08:40,125
show a number of times.

288
00:08:40,125 --> 00:08:41,416
I haven't been this enraged in

289
00:08:41,416 --> 00:08:42,500
sea-spiracy, to be honest.

290
00:08:43,083 --> 00:08:45,333
And I was just like, what in the world

291
00:08:45,333 --> 00:08:46,416
are people thinking?

292
00:08:46,875 --> 00:08:51,208
To kick off Shark Week 2025 by doing this

293
00:08:51,208 --> 00:08:52,750
and putting on this

294
00:08:52,750 --> 00:08:53,875
dancing with sharks and

295
00:08:53,875 --> 00:08:55,541
thinking that this is a good idea.

296
00:08:55,875 --> 00:08:58,458
It really makes me wonder what people at

297
00:08:58,458 --> 00:08:59,166
Shark Week are thinking.

298
00:08:59,458 --> 00:09:01,625
I understand you want to maybe push the

299
00:09:01,625 --> 00:09:02,583
boundaries a little bit,

300
00:09:02,833 --> 00:09:04,750
but to put on this absolute

301
00:09:04,916 --> 00:09:07,333
garbage and say that this is how we're

302
00:09:07,333 --> 00:09:09,416
going to kick off Shark Week 2025.

303
00:09:10,166 --> 00:09:11,583
Horrible, absolutely horrible.

304
00:09:12,166 --> 00:09:14,458
Now with that said, I did watch the other

305
00:09:14,458 --> 00:09:15,875
two shows that were on that night.

306
00:09:16,166 --> 00:09:17,541
They were about great white sharks.

307
00:09:17,541 --> 00:09:19,000
They were about orcas that were harming

308
00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:19,791
the great white sharks

309
00:09:19,791 --> 00:09:21,416
in South Africa and where

310
00:09:21,416 --> 00:09:22,250
these sharks went.

311
00:09:22,666 --> 00:09:24,000
Dr. Alison Towner, who's been on the

312
00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:24,708
Beyond Jaws podcast,

313
00:09:24,708 --> 00:09:26,500
interviewed before, did a great

314
00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:27,000
job.

315
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:28,875
They had Andy Kesegande that was on

316
00:09:28,875 --> 00:09:30,333
there, who's a videographer for them.

317
00:09:30,541 --> 00:09:31,916
They really showed a lot of the science.

318
00:09:31,916 --> 00:09:33,750
They really showed some great whites, not

319
00:09:33,750 --> 00:09:35,625
touching them, not manhandling them.

320
00:09:35,625 --> 00:09:36,500
Of course, you're not going to do that

321
00:09:36,500 --> 00:09:37,708
with a great white, but it

322
00:09:37,708 --> 00:09:39,000
was really very interesting.

323
00:09:39,250 --> 00:09:40,583
Some parts I liked, some parts I didn't

324
00:09:40,583 --> 00:09:41,708
like, but at least it

325
00:09:41,708 --> 00:09:42,416
showed some science.

326
00:09:42,416 --> 00:09:42,958
At least it showed

327
00:09:42,958 --> 00:09:44,750
something like what was going on.

328
00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:46,500
One of them was looking for colossus,

329
00:09:46,500 --> 00:09:48,083
like Air Jaws, that they

330
00:09:48,083 --> 00:09:48,875
haven't seen this shark

331
00:09:48,875 --> 00:09:51,166
in 10 years or almost 10 years, looking

332
00:09:51,166 --> 00:09:52,375
for the shark and

333
00:09:52,375 --> 00:09:54,375
saying, was it in South Africa?

334
00:09:54,375 --> 00:09:55,250
Was it in New Zealand?

335
00:09:55,250 --> 00:09:57,166
Talking about how we've discovered that

336
00:09:57,166 --> 00:09:58,000
South African sharks

337
00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,625
can travel to New Zealand.

338
00:10:00,125 --> 00:10:01,625
So wondering if that's where they went as

339
00:10:01,625 --> 00:10:02,583
adults or that's where

340
00:10:02,583 --> 00:10:03,583
the shark called colossus

341
00:10:03,625 --> 00:10:04,625
went as an adult.

342
00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,500
They couldn't find it obviously, but

343
00:10:06,500 --> 00:10:07,333
there was a big shark

344
00:10:07,333 --> 00:10:08,708
that might have been it in

345
00:10:08,708 --> 00:10:09,833
New Zealand, but they

346
00:10:09,833 --> 00:10:10,958
don't know for sure.

347
00:10:11,375 --> 00:10:12,583
Obviously, they're going to be doing some

348
00:10:12,583 --> 00:10:13,458
more studies on that.

349
00:10:13,875 --> 00:10:15,458
And then the other episode was talking

350
00:10:15,458 --> 00:10:16,125
about great white

351
00:10:16,125 --> 00:10:17,416
assassins, a great white shark

352
00:10:17,416 --> 00:10:18,833
assassin is the port and

353
00:10:18,833 --> 00:10:20,000
starboard in South Africa.

354
00:10:20,166 --> 00:10:21,750
And they're looking to see if there is

355
00:10:21,750 --> 00:10:24,708
any predation of orcas in New Zealand.

356
00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,500
Dr. Alison Towner, and with another

357
00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:28,125
naturalist, went over to New

358
00:10:28,125 --> 00:10:30,041
Zealand to look at any type

359
00:10:30,083 --> 00:10:32,250
of markings or any type of evidence if

360
00:10:32,250 --> 00:10:33,083
these great whites were

361
00:10:33,083 --> 00:10:35,000
being predated upon or harassed

362
00:10:35,083 --> 00:10:36,000
by orcas.

363
00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:36,416
There's an orca

364
00:10:36,416 --> 00:10:38,041
population in New Zealand as well.

365
00:10:38,416 --> 00:10:40,166
So they did some small experiments, you

366
00:10:40,166 --> 00:10:41,541
know, TV type experiments.

367
00:10:41,541 --> 00:10:42,333
I thought it was interesting.

368
00:10:42,750 --> 00:10:45,250
So I like those episodes more than

369
00:10:45,250 --> 00:10:46,458
Dancing with Sharks.

370
00:10:46,458 --> 00:10:48,166
I would rather get bitten by a shark than

371
00:10:48,166 --> 00:10:49,875
watch that again, Dancing with Sharks.

372
00:10:49,875 --> 00:10:51,666
That was absolutely atrocious.

373
00:10:52,458 --> 00:10:54,666
Shark week people that prove that should

374
00:10:54,666 --> 00:10:56,083
be a shame, they should be fired.

375
00:10:56,458 --> 00:10:57,708
That was absolutely awful.

376
00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,625
What these people did with sharks.

377
00:11:00,125 --> 00:11:01,541
I don't know if this is a normal thing.

378
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:03,666
Hand feeding sharks to the point where

379
00:11:03,666 --> 00:11:04,541
you're trying to guide

380
00:11:04,541 --> 00:11:05,625
them, like your hands are

381
00:11:05,625 --> 00:11:08,083
so close to their mouths, not only being

382
00:11:08,083 --> 00:11:09,583
like putting yourself in

383
00:11:09,583 --> 00:11:10,916
danger, but really affecting

384
00:11:11,333 --> 00:11:12,333
the sharks by hand feeding

385
00:11:12,333 --> 00:11:14,416
them is a huge no no in my books.

386
00:11:14,416 --> 00:11:15,875
I thought it was absolutely awful.

387
00:11:16,250 --> 00:11:18,250
In the Shark Whisperer review, when I

388
00:11:18,250 --> 00:11:19,083
talked about Ocean Ramsey

389
00:11:19,083 --> 00:11:21,208
handling sharks and riding

390
00:11:21,208 --> 00:11:22,250
sharks, that was awful.

391
00:11:22,708 --> 00:11:24,375
This was even like 100 times worse.

392
00:11:25,041 --> 00:11:26,208
It was 100 times worse.

393
00:11:26,666 --> 00:11:28,583
And if this is what happens on a regular

394
00:11:28,583 --> 00:11:30,625
basis, absolutely awful.

395
00:11:30,958 --> 00:11:33,208
This should not be a thing that is done

396
00:11:33,208 --> 00:11:34,666
at any point in time.

397
00:11:35,083 --> 00:11:35,750
The people should be

398
00:11:35,750 --> 00:11:37,375
ashamed of what they're doing.

399
00:11:37,583 --> 00:11:40,083
I can't believe this was on national TV,

400
00:11:40,083 --> 00:11:41,500
to be honest, or international TV.

401
00:11:41,875 --> 00:11:42,916
Absolutely horrible.

402
00:11:43,125 --> 00:11:43,875
So that's my review.

403
00:11:44,125 --> 00:11:45,833
I would love to hear your thoughts on

404
00:11:45,833 --> 00:11:47,041
Dancing with Sharks.

405
00:11:47,416 --> 00:11:48,416
You know, what'd you think?

406
00:11:48,416 --> 00:11:49,625
Did you think it was even entertaining?

407
00:11:50,083 --> 00:11:51,583
Really up to know what people thinking.

408
00:11:51,791 --> 00:11:53,208
Not attacking anybody, of course.

409
00:11:53,208 --> 00:11:54,500
Everybody has their own opinion.

410
00:11:54,541 --> 00:11:56,083
I don't love what they're doing with

411
00:11:56,083 --> 00:11:57,208
sharks and harassing them.

412
00:11:57,208 --> 00:11:59,250
I feel like they're just encouraging

413
00:11:59,250 --> 00:12:00,750
people to say, hey, we can

414
00:12:00,750 --> 00:12:01,750
actually touch sharks and

415
00:12:01,750 --> 00:12:02,708
put them in a tonic state.

416
00:12:03,125 --> 00:12:04,458
And it's actually cool to do that.

417
00:12:04,458 --> 00:12:06,208
It's not as awful to do that.

418
00:12:06,583 --> 00:12:07,458
Do not do that.

419
00:12:07,791 --> 00:12:09,500
Do not listen to these programs when they

420
00:12:09,500 --> 00:12:10,166
say this is something

421
00:12:10,166 --> 00:12:10,958
that should be done.

422
00:12:11,250 --> 00:12:12,250
It's absolutely awful.

423
00:12:12,791 --> 00:12:13,916
Horrible example, but I'd

424
00:12:13,916 --> 00:12:14,916
love to hear what you think.

425
00:12:14,958 --> 00:12:15,666
Honestly, what'd you

426
00:12:15,666 --> 00:12:16,416
think of the episode?

427
00:12:16,958 --> 00:12:18,541
Please let me know in the comments if

428
00:12:18,541 --> 00:12:19,083
you're watching this on

429
00:12:19,083 --> 00:12:20,083
YouTube or you can go to

430
00:12:20,083 --> 00:12:22,125
speakupforblue.com forward slash contact.

431
00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:23,125
Email me.

432
00:12:23,375 --> 00:12:24,125
Fill out the form or

433
00:12:24,125 --> 00:12:25,250
goes to my personal email.

434
00:12:25,250 --> 00:12:27,750
You can also go on Instagram and DM me at

435
00:12:27,750 --> 00:12:29,000
how to protect the ocean.

436
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:30,250
And of course, don't forget to join the

437
00:12:30,250 --> 00:12:31,375
undertow by going to

438
00:12:31,375 --> 00:12:33,083
speakupforblue.com forward slash

439
00:12:33,166 --> 00:12:34,666
join the undertow.

440
00:12:34,916 --> 00:12:36,166
That's speakupforblue.com

441
00:12:36,166 --> 00:12:37,666
forward slash join the undertow.

442
00:12:37,666 --> 00:12:39,250
It's in the links in the show notes.

443
00:12:39,500 --> 00:12:40,833
But other than that, I want to thank you

444
00:12:40,833 --> 00:12:41,875
so much for joining me

445
00:12:41,875 --> 00:12:43,833
on today's episode of the

446
00:12:43,833 --> 00:12:45,041
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

447
00:12:45,250 --> 00:12:46,291
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin

448
00:12:46,291 --> 00:12:47,875
from the True North Stronger.

449
00:12:47,875 --> 00:12:48,625
Have a great day.

450
00:12:48,625 --> 00:12:49,500
We'll talk to you next time.

451
00:12:49,875 --> 00:12:50,458
And happy conservation.