Shark Fest-National Geographic TV/ Disney+/ Hulu

Ultra athlete and shark advocate, Ross Edgley goes head-to-head against four of the ocean’s most formidable sharks in one of the world’s MOST unique shark-sport science challenges.

He’s won the world record for the world’s longest assisted stage sea swim of nearly 1,800 miles. Now Ross is pushing himself even further. He’s going to test his speed, strength, endurance, and digestive system.

In four jaw dropping shark challenges,  Ross attempts a G-force turn like a hammerhead, to Polaris jump out of the water like a white shark, to out swim the mako — the world’s fastest shark– and finally, to feast & fast like a tiger.

“Shark v Ross Edgley was a lot of fun to make – it delivers a real mix of entertainment and humour, combined with genuine shark and human revelation. Above all, its a really joyous celebration of sharks.” Sarah Cunliffe, Executive Producer.

National Geographic – Premieres June 30 2024 at 10/9c United States
Nat Geo WILD – August 3 2024 at 9/8c United States
Disney+ and Hulu – July 1 2024 rest of world, check local timings

****UK transmission will air on 22^nd July at 8:00pm on National Geographic WILD**

Meet Ross Edgley

Ross Edgley is an adventurer and author best known for becoming the first person in history to swim all the way around Great Britain. After 2,000 miles and 157 days the World Open Water Swimming Association announced it as the World Swim of the Year 2018. It was then officially recognised as “The World’s Longest Staged Sea Swim.” Now considered a leading expert in mental fortitude and physical resilience, Ross has since published a series of Sunday Times No.1. Bestselling books titles; “The World’s Fittest Book” (2018) “The Art of Resilience” (2020), “Blueprint” (2022) and “The World’s Fittest Cookbook” (2022).

exert from https://www.rossedgley.com/biography

Our Shark Experts

Dr. Mike Heithaus is Dean of the College of Arts, Sciences & Education (CASE) and Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida International University (FIU). A marine ecologist, he specializes in predator-prey interactions and the ecological importance of sharks and other large marine species like dolphins and sea turtles, Mike joined FIU as an Assistant Professor in Marine Biology in 2003. His research includes investigating the ecological consequences of overfishing large predators, predator-prey interactions, and the ecology of seagrass ecosystems, coral reefs, and deep-sea communities of the Gulf of Mexico. He has published more than 160 scientific papers and book chapters & co-edited four books on sharks..

Dr. Alison Towner graduated from UK’s Bangor University with a BSc Hons degree in marine biology. After working as a PADI instructor, she joined the Dyer Island Conservation Trust in South Africa , started studying white sharks and never left. She received her doctorate from Rhodes University, South Africa and has authored multiple publications on white shark regional population dynamics, wound healing, movement ecology, tagging, as well as shark diet studies and global review papers. As a qualified SAMSA skipper, Alison continues with her research on white sharks in Gansbaai with a focus on tracking and telemetry. She has a special interest in the factors driving the movements of white sharks up and down the coast of South Africa. She is part of SAIMI (South African International Maritime Institute) and Rhodes University, Department of Icthyology.

Our sharks & where we filmed them

The Neptune Islands, off the coast of south Australia, are one of the best places in the world to see great whites. Ross travelled there with marine biologist and legendary underwater cameraman, Richard Fitzpatrick. They timed their trip to when the fur seals were breeding, when there’s a chance you can see large females, up to 18 foot long!

To film hammerheads and tigers Ross travelled to the Bahamas. Here, he met up with shark expert, Professor Mike Heithaus from Florida International University, to learn more about these amazing fish. The Bahamas are a great place to film sharks as the Government put laws in place to protect them. We wish more countries would do the same.

Duncan Brake and Nathalie Grace filmed all the amazing underwater scenes in the Bahamas.

Bimini Island  is one of the best places to  see the endangered great hammerhead. In January the hammers start to arrive from all over the SE coast of the United States. They over-winter in the warm waters here. Their numbers sadly have been  declining year on year. We were lucky to film a hammerhead know as Queen. She is a massive 14.7 ft/ 4.23m mature female!

We filmed the tiger shark scenes off ‘Tiger Beach’, Grand Bahama. The location’s name is a bit  misleading, its actually quite a remote offshore area. Many of the sharks we filmed were at least 11 feet long and female. They also  return year on year to the Bahamas, some making extraordinary journeys from all around the Atlantic to overwinter here.

The critically endangered Mako is  an oceanic shark. Their numbers have been badly devastated by overfishing. Now protected, they are extremely difficult to film. We had to rely on the amazing talent of underwater cinematographers, Morne Hardenberg in South Africa , and Joe Romeiro from Rhode Island, USA to get the remarkable footage we  included in  the film

To retell the story of how Ross had an amazing encounter with a basking shark on his world record swim around the UK, we used spectacular footage filmed by Bertie Gregory. It was filmed off the Hebrides in Scotland.

www.AtlanticEdgeFilms.com      www.joeromeiro.com https://www.bertiegregory.com/

www.cameramanunderwater.com  www.nathaliegracefilm.com https://biopixel.tv/

SHARKFEST 2024

Want to know more about our shows? Check out SUPERSIZED SHARKS It also premiers for National Geographic’s SharkFest 2024.