A new reality series on ITV will feature celebrities confronting sharks.
Forget camping out in the woods or placing their bodies on the queue for SAS selection; in 2025, SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters will feature a number of celebrities facing off against some of the sea’s most dreaded animals.
In the Bahamas, the shark capital of the world, these stars will test their boundaries to confront nature’s ‘villains’.
Their own experiences will bring both excitement and fresh perspectives, and the goal is for them to understand sharks’ important role in the food chain and in our environment, realising that a world without these reputedly scary creatures would be disastrous.
Steven Spielberg, the director of Jaws, has previously voiced worry that his picture caused a ‘feeding frenzy of crazed sports fisherman’ after its premiere in 1975.
In the series, the gang will be challenged to dive with several shark species, each of which will be larger and more dangerous than the last.
Bimini, the Bahamas island where the programme will be recorded, is home to about seven to ten distinct shark species, including hammerheads, bull sharks, and tigers.
Furthermore, the group will endure fear-inducing trials while learning firsthand about the crucial role sharks play in the ocean.
Although some well-known faces will leap at the chance to participate, Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid made it clear on today’s Good Morning Britain that they have no plans to join up.
Richard said the premise sounded like something ‘out of a futuristic novel’ and expressed his concerns something ‘could go very wrong’.
Meanwhile Susanna said she was still on edge decades after watching Jaws.
‘[That movie] made us all terrified to be in the bath. Let alone, go into the sea! And ITV’s going to do a show where it’s called Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters,’ she said.
‘I’ll tell you what, I won’t be doing it! You could not pay me to swim with sharks. I presume there will be some sort of cage involved at some stage?”
However, while Richard made it clear he wouldn’t be one of the stars, he did add he ‘can’t wait’ to tune in.
Plimsoll Productions head of factual entertainment Karen Plumb said that the format would ‘blend conservation with wildly entertaining pop culture’.
‘We’re constantly looking for innovative approaches to wildlife storytelling and are certain that our fish-out-of-water spin – delivering 50 years after Jaws – will transform the world’s perception of these critical predators before it’s too late,’ she said.
ITV’s head of entertainment commissioning Katie Rawcliffe said the series would be a ‘once in a lifetime challenge for some of the bravest celebrities out there’.
Celebrity casting is currently underway.
Source My Celebrity Life.