{"id":587931,"date":"2026-09-02T12:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/587931\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T12:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T12:32:11","slug":"fury-after-melbourne-radio-hosts-question-shark-survivors-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/587931\/","title":{"rendered":"Fury after Melbourne radio hosts question shark survivor&#8217;s account"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">A trio of Melbourne radio hosts are under fire after accusing shark attack victim Leah Stewart of putting &#8220;a lot of mayo&#8221; on her tale of survival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Stewart, 35, was swimming at Sydney\u2019s Coogee Beach on June 13 when she was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/08\/24\/remarkable-recovery-sydney-shark-attack-survivor-thanks-supporters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mauled by a 3.5m great white shark<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The mother of one suffered severe injuries in the attack, including fractures, blood loss and losing part of her left arm. She was placed on life support and underwent multiple surgeries. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, the schoolteacher said, as she came face-to-face with the shark and its \u201cblack little beady eyes\u201d, she thought to herself, &#8220;Well, which limb am I willing to lose?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I\u2019m right-handed, so I decided, \u2018Let\u2019s do a left hook\u2019.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">As she was dragged underwater, survival mode kicked in as Stewart thought of her one-year-old daughter August.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;She&#8217;s not going to have a mum. She&#8217;s going to grow up without a mum,&#8221; Stewart recalled thinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I twisted myself around, and I just started punching it over and over and over again, just punch, punch, punch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;It was like fighting a dinosaur. It was so big. It was like punching a brick wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I think I must have got a really good one in. And so, it let me go.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">On Monday, The Fox 101.9 radio hosts Kate Langbroek, Brendan Fevola and Nick Cody questioned Stewart&#8217;s retelling of the event. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve never been in this position, and I wouldn&#8217;t understand what would go on, but if a shark was attacking you, you wouldn&#8217;t have much time to think,\u201d Fevola said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;You&#8217;re not thinking all that, are you?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Langbroek agreed, adding: &#8220;No, most people say you don&#8217;t even know what&#8217;s happening.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The hosts then discussed a portion of the interview where Stewart weighed up which limb she was more willing to lose. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;I was on the couch with my wife Alex going, &#8220;She&#8217;s lying! Too much time to think!&#8217; You&#8217;re not thinking all that, are you?&#8221; Fevola said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;Come on, oh right or left? Like bro, you are amazing \u2013 you punched a shark in the face and survived \u2013 but you&#8217;re not thinking all that. That&#8217;s a lot of mayo.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">But the former AFL player admitted had he been in the same position, he &#8220;would have had a heart attack and would have been eaten&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Some listeners were appalled by the hosts&#8217; comments, with one calling for Fevola to &#8220;have some compassion&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;This is astounding \u2013 no one has any idea what this lady has been through or how we would react if in the same situation \u2013 shameful,&#8221; one listener said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">&#8220;She needed to try and remain calm for her own survival and for the sake of her daughter. Is that so hard to understand?&#8221; another said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">A listener said they &#8220;used to love Fox FM, can\u2019t stomach it in the morning anymore&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trio of Melbourne radio hosts are under fire after accusing shark attack victim Leah Stewart of putting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[50,85,42,1073,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-587931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-animals","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-media","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}