‘Phelps Vs. Shark’, 5 Years Later: Shark Week’s Biggest Scam Revisited

Since Discovery Channel launched Shark Week in the 1980s, feasting on a slew of insightful, entertaining, at times terrifying shark programming has become an annual tradition. But in 2017, viewers turned on Shark Week faster than the predatory cartilaginous fishes attack seals — all because of Phelps Vs. Shark.

Fresh off the 2016 Olympics, where he won five gold medals, champion swimmer and longtime shark fan Michael Phelps teamed up with Discovery Channel to celebrate the festivities. Together, they created two original, ambitious programs for Shark Week’s 2017 lineup. In Shark School with Michael Phelps, the athlete would travel to a research station in Bimini and receive an expert-led crash course on sharks, while Phelps Vs. Shark: The Battle for Ocean Supremacy boldly promised that the “Great Gold” would race a “Great White” then vastly underdelivered. In honor of Phelps Vs. Shark‘s five year anniversary, we’re revisiting the show that many still consider to be Shark Week’s biggest scam.

Ahead of Phelps Vs. Shark, Discovery released a dramatic trailer that sparked serious hype — and ultimately became the origin of everyone’s disappointment. Suspenseful music plays as footage of Phelps and vicious looking sharks swimming alternate on screen. A voiceover explains, “One trained to be the best since the day he was born. The other has been perfected by evolution.” And after providing exactly zero details about the “race,” the trailer closes with the words, “The Great White Shark meets the Greatest of All Time.” Hmm…

When the big day finally arrived, viewers excitedly tuned in to watch Phelps challenge a live shark and felt profoundly betrayed to learn the Olympian would be racing visual simulations of sharks created with CGI technology instead. Now, deep down I don’t think anyone wholeheartedly thought America’s most decorated Olympian would be casually swimming alongside a live shark for a timed race. Nor did people want this man to put his life in danger for a TV special. The logistics of Phelps racing a living shark — especially since sharks typically don’t swim in straight lines — never made much sense. Yet, people still assumed that somehow, some way Phelps would be competing against a shark in real-time, because that’s precisely what Discovery’s vagueness implied would be happening. Instead, experts set out to measure the swimming speeds of sharks, fit Phelps with a special wetsuit and high-tech monofin to make him more fish-like, and recorded him showing his speed in the ocean — later adding in shark simulations to give the illusion of a live race.

As far as Shark Week events go, Phelps Vs. Shark wasn’t horrible. Michael and the team took a largely impossible idea and figured a workaround to make it sort of happen. Their effort was admirable, and Phelps did swim faster than anyone who criticized Phelps Vs. Shark ever could — in freezing waters, let’s not forget. He narrowly lost his race with a great white, but a simulated hammerhead ate his dust. That’s huge! Phelps did technically swim faster than a shark, even if that shark wasn’t right next to him. He had fun! He learned facts! He experienced the magic of CGI! And had people been given a clear picture that those things were in store for them before that hour-long Shark Week block, I don’t think anyone would have complained. But as you can see from that trailer, Discovery went to great lengths to build expectations while withholding details.

Five years later, people still angrily remember the Phelps Vs. Shark letdown whenever Shark Week rolls around. But did the program really deserve all that hate? After half a decade of deliberation I’ve reached a definitive conclusion: Yes and no. As a longtime Phelps fan, I was one of many who tuned into Discovery that Sunday eager to see how Phelps would go head to head with a shark. I was so eager that I started live tweeting the event, and after 40 minutes of squealing at my television, bursting into laughter, and losing six Twitter followers, I thought, “What the fuck was that?” I wasn’t alone.

After the backlash rolled in, Phelps went on Facebook Live to address his haters, saying, “The shark race was awesome. For those who were disappointed, I’m sorry for that but I absolutely had one of the most exciting two weeks of my life being able to dive with these animals and see these animals face up … really just honestly learn more about them,” Phelps explained. “Everything was either presented on air during multiple interviews that I did throughout Shark Week or the beginning of the show…This was something I always wanted to do, and I was honored to be able to do it. I’m sorry that you feel that way. I feel very different.”

In Phelps’ defense, he was more than just a good sport. He was transparent about what his race entailed every step of the way, unlike the network. Ahead of the special, Phelps repeatedly stated in interviews on shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Good Morning America that he would not be swimming in the water at the same time as a shark. The problem there was that not all Shark Week fans saw that outside press, so their only expectations came from Discovery. As far as I’m concerned, Discovery did Phelps dirty with that hazy, overzealous marketing. Phelps didn’t try to spin the show. He came, he put his fin on, he channeled his inner shark, and he swam. He didn’t deserve all the hate, but Discovery absolutely could have done more straightforward promotion.

In a statement to Deadline, Discovery said, “All the promotion, interviews and the program itself made clear that the challenge wasn’t a side by side race. During Michael’s pre-show promotion, as well as within the first 2 minutes of Phelps Vs Shark, this message was clear…” To quote the great Dakota Johnson, “Actually, no, that’s not the truth.” Phelps’ interviews made it clear, but that trailer above doesn’t. And sure, Phelps Vs. Shark broke things down at the start of the show, but by then the network had already tricked people into tuning in.

Five years later, it’s time we let Phelps off the hook for not racing a real shark and admit what he accomplished in the episode was pretty cool. What wasn’t cool was Discovery’s disappointing and borderline disingenuous promo plan. But we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Shark Week will always betray you.