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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Kirsty McCormack

This Morning fans baffled as shark attack survivor says recovery group has 'nearly 6 members'

This Morning viewers were left feeling rather confused whilst tuning into Tuesday's show after one guest spoke about being attacked by a shark.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby spoke to Dave Pearson live from New South Wales as he recalled the time he was attacked by a shark whilst surfing in Australia almost a decade ago.

"It was a normal afternoon surf just like any surf and after three waves, my whole afternoon changed," Dave told Phillip and Holly.

"I was paddling back out and a shark decided I looked good enough to have a feed on, so it came up and grabbed my surfboard and my arm, we had a bit of a dance under water for a while. From then on, it was a bit of a fight for survival to get back onto the beach," he added.

Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby interviewed two people who have been attacked by sharks whilst surfing in Australia (ITV)

Asked if the attack was out of the blue, Dave replied: "I don't think any of us expect to be attacked. Nobody expects it and I guess if we were expecting it, none of us would be in the water."

When Holly asked how he managed to deal with the trauma that comes with being attacked by a shark, Dave revealed how the idea for his online support group, Bite Club, came about.

"I was really fortunate because in hospital while I was there, there was a girl who had been attacked a week prior to myself and the first thing I did when they disconnected all the tubes off me, was pop into her ward and say, ‘hi how are you doing?’ and it was that initial conversation that we both understood exactly where we were both coming from.

Dave Pearson spoke to Holly and Phillip live from New South Wales as he recalled being attacked by a shark (ITV)

"So it was that chance encounter that set me up to go ‘wow there’s something that we share between ourselves, even though we don’t know each other, that nobody else could seem to get'.

"There was just an instant connection with other survivors and I find that wherever I go," he added.

Later on in the chat, he told Holly and Phillip: "I just want to say a quick shout out to our members in England, we actually have nearly six members in the UK at the moment, so a quick shout out to all of them guys and hopefully they’re all doing well."

Holly was keen to find out how Dave came up with the idea of setting up an online support group for shark attack survivors (ITV)

But fans tuning in at home were baffled as to why there were "nearly six members" and took to Twitter to comment.

"Did he say nearly 6 members? How much did the shark bite off? #ThisMorning," one curious viewer asked.

Another tweeted: "How can you have nearly six members? Someone is currently being attacked by a shark and is in the process of joining? #ThisMorning."

A third viewer added: "Nearly 6 members in the UK" It's 5.3 people. Shark attack victims remember #ThisMorning."

Another confused person asked: "Nearly 6 members? So....5? #ThisMorning."

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV.

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