MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Television viewers worldwide seem to have their noses out of joint following a televised race between Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and a great white shark in the Discovery Channel’s Phelps vs Shark: Great Gold vs Great White on Sunday, 23 July.
After the much-anticipated race, viewers realised the showdown was a computer simulation, which caused even more upset, because Phelps lost by only seconds.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, spent some time in Mossel Bay in June this year as part of the filming for the Shark Week series for Discovery Channel. During his stay, Phelps was due to spend five days out in the bay with local shark cage diving outfit, White Shark Africa.
Christo Kruger, owner of White Shark Africa, confirmed upon enquiry from the Mossel Bay Advertiser on 14 June that part of the filming would be a comparison between the swimming speed of the revered white shark with that of the great Olympian, as reported (Olympian Michael Phelps in Mossel Bay, 16 June 2017).
Kruger then also confirmed that Phelps did not actually swim with the great whites. According to Kruger the filming of Phelps’ water tests were done elsewhere. As part of the same episode, Phelps and his entourage were also in the Bahamas.
Due to bad weather conditions at the time, Phelps only spent three days with the White Shark Africa crew as opposed to the five booked.
Kruger was not available to comment this week, as he is currently abroad. Elton Polly, however, who captained the shark cage diving vessel during the filming, explained the method used.
"A decoy was used to lure the sharks and as soon as they approached, the decoy was pulled away to make the shark accelerate. Drones were then used to film the sharks accelerating. The footage was then analysed to determine the swimming speed."
Polly mentioned that Phelps was very keen on the shark cage diving experience. "He was amazed that an animal the size of a great white, could accelerate that fast."
Phelps’ comment on the uproar on social media regarding the simulation, published online by The Baltimore Sun, is as follows: “I had fun racing a shark and seeing those animals up close and personal. If somebody actually wants to get in the water and race side by side with a great white, go ahead. You’re not going to get the shark to swim in a straight line. And, yeah, it would be interesting to see. We’ll leave it at that.”
According to an online article from The Baltimore Sun, whatever tactics used by Discovery Channel to promote the Phelps vs Shark episode, it worked.
The showdown between the swimmer and the shark was seen by 4.78 million viewers overall on Sunday night.
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