Video: Phelps vs. Shark Disappoints; Remember When Kobayashi Took on a Grizzly Bear?
OutdoorHub Reporters 07.24.17
Phelps didn’t race against an actual great white shark, and viewers aren’t happy.
If you caught the highly anticipated kickoff event of ‘Shark Week,’ well, it might have been a bit of a letdown. It turns out – and this really shouldn’t have surprised a lot of people – Phelps was never going to go toe to toe (or toe to fin) with a real-life shark.
Sure, the Discovery Channel hyped it up like the gold medal swimmer was going to face off against Jaws himself, but like The Washington Post said, it wasn’t long into the program that viewers heard this from their televisions:
“Clearly, we can’t put Michael in one lane and a white shark on the far lane. We’re gonna have to do a simulation.”
Right away, Twitter ignited with backlash:
Michael Phelps race against a computer generated shark will go down as one of TV’s most hyped flops. #gullibleTVviewers
— PhantomAcct (@phantomacct) July 24, 2017
I honestly feel so robbed that I just watched an hour of a stupid show to see Michael Phelps race a FAKE shark. #fakenews
— Hannah Bowen (@HannahGBowen) July 24, 2017
phelps racing a fake shark is like when ur teacher says there’s gonna be a sub but shows up the next day
— 🐝💨✨ (@reqnna) July 24, 2017
And what really BIT about the whole thing? Phelps lost. . .
IT WAS A FAKE SHARK. Phelps raced a fake shark….and lost.
I feel cheated #SharkWeek2017 pic.twitter.com/nEABV6PRNZ— Jessica Morrey (@JessicaMorrey) July 24, 2017
Here’s a video of the race in case you missed it:
We bring this up because it reminds us of when Takeru Kobayashi faced off against a giant grizzly bear in a hot dog eating contest.
Now, Kobayashi also lost to the enormous bear, but it was a REAL bear, not a computer generated version. You can watch that showdown in the video below:
My favorite part is when the announcer says, “I think I saw a flash of fear in his eyes when the bear walked out on stage.” – No kidding, it’s a freaking grizzly bear!
At the end of the day, the lesson learned here is: even the fastest swimmers and biggest eaters of the human species don’t stand a chance when it comes to the animal world.
