- So ,we went to Paradise Island
off the coast of Nassau in the Bahamas
with Discovery for Shark Week,
and we dove with sharks
with Paul De Gelder and Joe Romero,
who are, like, the top shark guys.
So we had these two badasses
and a whole team of badass divers with us,
and they brought us down
to the bottom of the ocean
to swim with sharks.
- You'll forget that we're
there, I promise you.
You'll be so enraptured with the beauty
of these animals that you'll forget
and feel like you don't even need us.
- Okay, well, I slipped
you both a 20 before this,
so we're not gonna let
me get eaten, right?
So, of the two guys
bringing us down there,
Joe and Paul are probably
the most qualified.
Paul was attacked by a shark
and lost his arm and leg,
so he has, like, already
been through what it's like
to, as he says, not look like food.
It's my first time swimming with sharks.
What is my, like, go-to move
to not getting eaten?
- We spoke about it yesterday.
What did I tell you not to do?
- Not to look like food.
That's incredibly vague though.
- Well, what does a fish do?
It swims away, it moves erratically.
That's food, so you don't want to do that.
You don't want to have
your hands flashing around.
You don't want to be wiggling your toes,
even though they'll be in fins.
Just be calm, breathe,
nestle down on your knees,
and just watch the show.
- If anyone's tussled with a shark
and come out on top,
I think that they can guide me down
to a relatively simple dive.
- I did it accidentally the other way.
- No, oh my god.
- I know, I'm screwing up
at a very simple stage.
This doesn't bode well for me.
So, this was great timing for me
to go down and swim with sharks,
being that I just saw and read Jaws
for the first time this year.
I knew in my head that the
sharks don't want to eat me.
They're not interested.
Most shark attacks are
just, you know, accidents.
You look like a seel, whatever,
but in my heart, did I
picture the Jaws music coming?
Yes, I did, yes.
That's what I was picturing.
So, going down, I was a little bit nervous
that I was going to die
not really with the sharks.
I was just more nervous
that, you know, my oxygen
tank would float up
to the surface and leave me down there,
but once we got underwater,
I had, like, a minute and
a half of freaking out,
which I'm sure was visible
to everyone around.
Everyone let me do my thing,
and then I was guided
very safely to the bottom,
and after that, it was crazy.
It was such an interestingly
calm experience
because the sharks are
just swimming around you,
bumping into you.
Just because they really don't care
there you're there, they are
just so doing their own thing,
they're going about their shark business,
and they're just like,
eh, that pink thing on the bottom
that can't breathe
underwater, what a noob.
Not interested.
So it was really crazy.
It felt like we were down there for hours,
but in reality, we were only down there
for probably, like, 40 minutes.
It was super zen.
All the sharks were really close to us,
really up in our business,
and you know, I just really had no feeling
that I needed to move at any point.
So they were drawing in the sharks
by holding up pieces of fish,
and kinda waving it about like a maestro,
and luckily for me, someone
was watching my body closer
than I was, because one of those pieces
of fish got picked up by a shark,
and then that shark dropped it,
and they dropped it right by my knee.
I didn't see it at all,
but I got yanked backwards
by one of the guys down there,
and I turned around and looked,
like, dude, what the hell?
Just yanked me.
I almost fell over,
and he pointed at the fish
that was right where my knee was.
I was like, "Okay."
So that was a little bit of a close call,
but can't blame the
shark that went for it.
There was, like, a cheeseburger,
basically, on my knee.
I owe my leg to that guy.
I probably should send him,
like, a thank you note,
or, like, a gift basket, or something.
This definitely changed
my opinion on sharks.
I always knew intellectually
that they're not really
interested in humans,
but also never wanted to
ever encounter one ever,
but after meeting them,
and, you know, spending time
with them down where they live,
and seeing just how uninterested they are
in attacking or being aggressive
unless, you know, you're
a fish or something
that they actually want to eat,
I'm just, like, reinvigorated
with wanting to tell people
that they don't really need
to be afraid of sharks,
and that we need to actually protect them.
They should be afraid of us
because we're the ones
who are killing them.
After this trip, I'm going
to be insufferable at parties
because I now have the
most interesting story,
and anyone else who tells any other story
is immediately going to get
one-up'd, so sorry, everyone.
You might not be able to
actually get down there
with the sharks, but you have
the next best thing coming
to your TV so soon.
Shark Week kicks off
July 28th on Discovery.
It's got so much awesome programming,
so you have to tune in
and see all the sharky goodness.
(gasps)
Oh my god.
That was amazing.
