ITV’s latest reality show Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters has premiered – and viewers are perplexed by what they have seen.
In it, a group of seven British stars – including Lenny Henry, Amandaland’s Lucy Punch, comedian Ross Noble and Call the Midwife stalwart Helen George – are dispatched to the Bahamas, embarking on a trip to the island of Bimini.
While they’re staying at the exotic location, they must swim with sharks and eventually learn to love (or, at least, express some mild affection towards) “one of the most feared and persecuted animals on the planet”.
However, despite the bold premise, the show mostly failed to win over audiences, with some branding it “pointless” and “unwatchable”.
“This must be the worst piece of telly have ITV have ever made, and THAT is saying something,” said one disgruntled viewer.
Another unsatisfied person, complaining about Helen George’s behaviour, wrote: “This is pretty much unwatchable because there's one celebrity on there who wants the entire programme to be about 'me me me'”.
A third person joked: “Why are they putting the poor sharks through the trauma of these celebrities?”
Some, however, were slightly more receptive to the show.
One person remarked: “It’s not a schlocky competition-type show and I’m not really sure why it’s happening. So far, not particularly fun or interesting… I want it to ramp up a gear.”
Others were worried about the celebrities’ wellbeing after Ross Noble was bitten by a lemon shark towards the end of the episode, which caused the instructors to tell everyone to leave the sea for safety.
“This celebrity shark thing shouldn't be shown its far too dangerous one of them have already been bit! @ITV stop showing this now!” complained another viewer.
In a three-star review for The Independent, Katie Rosseinsky said that the show was unexpectedly moving, adding: “You start to feel strangely proud of George when she manages a few minutes in the underwater cage, having only a few hours earlier held her head under water for the first time in years.
“You shrug off the inherent ridiculousness of watching a bunch of people you vaguely recognisable from the telly squeal when they realise they’re in close proximity to a barracuda, or hearing the narrator say that a shark has decided to have an ‘exploratory bite’ of Noble. And you start rooting for them in this silly but somehow uplifting quest to challenge themselves – and do some good PR for a much-maligned creature in the process.”
In a statement given to The Independent, ITV said: “All activities were supervised by trained professional safety divers intimately familiar with the location. There was a 1:1 ratio of safety divers for every shark encounter to ensure the safety of the celebrities and crew in and around the water. And we worked closely with respected scientists, such as Dr Tristan Guttridge, for whom the welfare of the sharks is paramount. “
SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters is shown on Mondays at 9 pm on ITV1 and is also available to stream on ITVX.
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