Discovery ChannelIt’s ‘Shark Week’ and to celebrate the good folks over at Discovery Channel set up a race between Michael Phelps and a Great White Shark.
Except, they kind of didn’t and people are not happy.
In the segment, which you can see below, Discovery had the 23-gold-medal-winning Phelps swim along a 100m section of water.
PA ImagesThe catch is that they had the shark swim in the exact same stretch of water by luring it with a dead seal.
They then digitally imposed the shark into the water with Phelps to give the impression that they were swimming together.
However, fans were not fooled and people were less than happy.
I know it's stupid to think michael phelps was actually going to be racing against a real shark but I'm stupid and upset
— Nicole (@nicoleee_adams) July 24, 2017
Some people even said that the shark should be disqualified for poor CGI.
To be fair, I’m not sure why people thought Phelps would race an actual shark, next to him in open water – I doubt they would’ve been allowed to broadcast that!
Yet people are annoyed, saying the advertising of the race – which included a one-hour build-up on the Discovery Channel – did not live up to the hype.
smh Michael Phelps isn't actually racing a shark. He's just racing a simulation of a shark. Biggest scam of 2017
— Marcus (@M_Frosti) July 24, 2017
In the video, Phelps racked up a time of 38.1 seconds, with the aid of a fin and flipper.
The shark beat him by two seconds, coming in at 36.1 seconds.
The editing of the segment is still pretty impressive and it does look real enough to imagne how it would’ve actually gone down, but it’s pretty obvious why people feel cheated.
Check out the video here:
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Credit: Discovery Channel
Michael Phelps seemed pretty okay with the outcome of the race, saying:
Honestly, the first thought that went through my head when I saw the shark – there’s probably very little chance for me to beat him.
They swim so fast, it’s almost like a bullet.
I don’t like taking silver medals but I’ll take one against a Great White.
PA ImagesI can’t help but feel cheated.
Rematch?
