{"id":19827,"date":"2025-07-18T20:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19827\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T20:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T20:38:09","slug":"dancing-with-sharks-kicks-of-shark-week-on-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/19827\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dancing with Sharks’ kicks of ‘Shark Week’ on Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Fifty years ago, \u201cJaws\u201d<\/a> unlocked dread in millions about man-eating sharks. This summer, that fear may be somewhat reduced as they become contestants on a TV dance show.<\/p>\n

Former \u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d host Tom Bergeron<\/a> steps up for a marketing masterstroke by Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cShark Week\u201d<\/a> \u2014 \u201cDancing with Sharks,\u201d where humans and 20-foot-long hammerhead sharks do a little mambo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a decade and a half experience of hosting a dance show, but this one was different,\u201d Bergeron tells The Associated Press. \u201cI\u2019d often thought on \u2018Dancing With the Stars,\u2019 wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could incorporate another species? And here I\u2019ve finally got my dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the show, five scuba-diving shark handlers use bait to twirl and guide various sharks into mini-waltzes, in what\u2019s being billed as \u201cthe world\u2019s most dangerous dance competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

One contestant wraps his arms around a nerf shark and spoons it. Another takes off her air tank and does a double backflip. A third \u2014 a hip-hop loving shark handler \u2014 does an old school head spin on the ocean floor as sharks swirl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are some of the best shark handlers in the world. These are people who know the nuances of sharks, know how they move, know how to behave, know how to safely move with them, and they\u2019re guiding these sharks along as you would a partner,\u201d says Kinga Philipps, a TV correspondent and one of the three judges. \u201cIt is so fluid and beautiful, all they really had to do is put a little bit of music to it and they\u2019re actually dancing.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shark-a-thon<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

Jamie Ferguson interacting with a shark in a scene from \u201cDancing with the Sharks.\u201d (Warner Bros. Discovery via AP)<\/p>\n

Jamie Ferguson interacting with a shark in a scene from \u201cDancing with the Sharks.\u201d (Warner Bros. Discovery via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing with Sharks\u201d kicks off the week of programing, which includes shows on how to survive a shark attack, why New Smyrna Beach in Florida has earned the title of \u201cThe Shark Attack Capital of the World\u201d and whether a mysterious dark-skinned shark off the coast of California is a mako, mutant or possibly a mako-and-great white hybrid.<\/p>\n

The seven nights of new shows \u2014 and a related podcast \u2014 ends off the Mozambique coast with a once-a-year feeding frenzy that turns into a showdown between the sharks and their massive prey, the giant trevally.<\/p>\n

One highlight is Paul de Gelder\u2019s<\/a> \u201cHow to Survive a Shark Attack,\u201d which he has intimate knowledge about. He lost his right hand and leg in 2009 during an attack by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in the jaws of a shark, you want to fight for all of your life. You want to go for the soft parts. You want go for the eyeball. You want to go for the gills,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if you\u2019re not being attacked by a shark and you\u2019re just encountering a shark, then you just want to remain calm.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Gelder debunks one myth: Punching a charging shark will stop its attack. \u201cIf you really want to hurt your own hand, go ahead,\u201d he says. A better approach is to not thrash about and gently redirect the animal. \u201cThe secret I got taught many years ago was don\u2019t act like food and they won\u2019t treat you like food.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cShark Week\u201d has become a key part of the summer holiday TV schedule, a place where humans safe on land can see ancient apex predators unnervingly glide into view and snap open their jaws.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s highlights also include the hunt for a 20-foot great white that can leap into the air \u2014 \u201cAir Jaws: The Hunt for Colossus\u201d \u2014 and a show about male and female great whites competing in a series of challenges to determine which sex is the superior predator, naturally called \u201cGreat White Sex Battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Schneier, senior vice president of production and development at Discovery, says the shows are born from listening to what the diving and science community is seeing, like pro divers moving artistically with the sharks as they fed them, leading to \u201cDancing With Sharks.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized, well, there\u2019s something here that we can go further with,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re lucky that sharks continue to surprise us. Which helps us get kind of new stories and new things to focus on. That\u2019s been the mantra for us \u2014 the sharks are the stars, not the humans.\u201d <\/p>\n

As always, there is a deep respect for the creatures and strong science beneath the amusing titles, sharky puns, dramatic music and racy titles like \u201cFrankenshark\u201d and \u201cAlien Sharks: Death Down Under.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like putting your vegetables in a dessert,\u201d says Bergeron. \u201cYou get all the allure of a \u2018Dancing With Sharks\u2019 or other specific shows, but in the midst of that you do learn a lot about sharks and ecology and the importance of sharks in the ecosystem. It\u2019s all in your strawberry sundae.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discovery\u2019s \u201cShark Week\u201d has a rival \u2014 National Geographic\u2019s \u201cSharkFest,\u201d<\/a> which also has hours of sharky content. There\u2019s also the unconnected shark horror comedy \u201cHot Spring Shark Attack\u201d and a movie earlier this summer that added a serial killer to a shark movie \u2014 \u201cDangerous Animals.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Born from \u2018Jaws\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Janelle<\/p>\n

This image released by Warner Bros. Discovery shows Janelle Van Ruiten interacting with a shark in a scene from \u201cDancing with the Sharks.\u201d (Warner Bros. Discovery via AP)<\/p>\n

This image released by Warner Bros. Discovery shows Janelle Van Ruiten interacting with a shark in a scene from \u201cDancing with the Sharks.\u201d (Warner Bros. Discovery via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

\u201cShark Week\u201d was born as a counterpoint for those who developed a fear of sharks after seeing \u201cJaws.\u201d It has emerged as a destination for scientists eager to protect an animal older than trees.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Jaws\u2019 helped introduce this country and this world to a predator we\u2019re all fascinated with,\u201d says Schneier. \u201cBut we also feel \u2018Jaws\u2019 went too far. These are not creatures that are out to hurt humans by any means, but they have had 50-plus million years of evolution to get to this place where they are just excellent predators. It\u2019s fun to celebrate just how good they are at their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kendyl Berna, who co-founded the ecology group Beyond the Reef<\/a>, and is a veteran on \u201cShark Week,\u201d says studying the ancient beasts can teach humans about changes to the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of the programming this year speaks to what\u2019s happening with the rest of the world \u2014 climate change and how much that affects where sharks are and when they\u2019re there and what they\u2019re eating,\u201d she says. \u201cAs a keystone apex predator, sharks do set the tone for what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bergeron says being a part of \u201cShark Week\u201d for the first time and meeting some of the divers who interact with sharks has actually made him braver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m at a point where I could go down there with them and have the sharks swirling around me without a cage. But with a cage, I think I am ready to do that,\u201d he says. \u201cJust don\u2019t tell my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Fifty years ago, \u201cJaws\u201d unlocked dread in millions about man-eating sharks. This summer, that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[18212,1147,88,18211,2822,2808,793,18214,18213,79,9460,18210,795,201,965],"class_list":{"0":"post-19827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal-attacks","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-fish","12":"tag-fl-state-wire","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-joseph-schneier","16":"tag-paul-de-gelder","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-sharks","19":"tag-tom-bergeron","20":"tag-u-s-news","21":"tag-wildlife","22":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}