Latest news with #SHARK!
Daily Mirror
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Rachel Riley admits she wrote her will before filming dangerous TV show
The Countdown star wrote her will before she started filming new ITV series SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters, and refused to even tell her daughters about the show Rachel Riley has revealed she took the precautionary step of writing her will before filming ITV 's daring new reality series SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters. The Countdown star is joining a star-studded line up, including Helen George, Lucy Punch, Sir Lenny Henry, Ross Noble, Ade Adepitan, and Dougie Poynter, for the thrilling wildlife series set in the shark-filled waters of the Bahamas. Although she has had her fair share of experience with filming TV shows, Rachel confessed to feeling genuine fear before embarking on the underwater adventure. She told the Daily Mail's Weekend Magazine: "I wrote my will before we went. This trip made me want to make sure everything was signed, just in case. They're wild animals. You're scuba diving. Anything could happen." SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters challenges its famous participants to confront their fear of sharks by completing a series of hair-raising underwater tasks. The show is filmed around the island of Bimini, a destination that is known for being the shark capital of the world. With SHARK! ITV has attempted to blend high-stakes entertainment with an important message about marine conservation. Rachel went on to share a disturbing memory from a holiday she went on with her husband, former Strictly Come Dancing professional Pasha Kovalev, that sparked some of her shark-related fears. She added: "We were in the Galapagos islands and we saw a bright pink thing in the water. We thought it was a discarded life jacket. It was a sea lion that had just been bitten in half by a bull shark, and it was trying to crawl out of the water. We had been snorkelling off the boat in those same waters." Rachel decided against telling her young daughters, Maven, five, and Noa, three, about what her new TV venture entailed until after filming began. "I didn't tell them what I was going away to do because I didn't want to scare them," she admitted. "It was only when I was in Bimini on a video call by the water that I said, 'Do you want to see some sharks?' They said, 'Yeah!' If you fall in the water with a bull shark you're a goner, but the girls said, 'You've got to go swimming with them, Mummy!' They were too young to have any fear about what I was doing." The Countdown star looked back on the frightening experience, shuddering: "Swimming with sharks was like being with the Mafia. Everything is fine while everything's fine and everyone's laughing, but they could turn in an instant and there would be nothing you could do about it." ITV has promised viewers adrenaline-filled scenes where the celebrities gradually work their way up from swimming with safer shark species to facing hammerheads, bull sharks, and even tiger sharks. Besides testing the courage of the show's stars, SHARK! aims to educate both participants and viewers on the ecological significance of sharks. ITV's Head of Entertainment Commissioning, Katie Rawcliffe, proudly stated that the project offers audiences a unique blend of "once-in-a-lifetime challenges" mixed with vital environmental messaging.
Daily Mirror
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Strictly and Call the Midwife stars to swim with sharks in new ITV show
The new reality show will see celebrities tasked with completing hair-raising challenges in shark infested waters ITV has announced the line up for its brand-new wildlife-meets-entertainment series SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters, and the casting is nearly as exciting as the show's premise. SHARK! is set to air this year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of arguably the most famous shark attack film of all time, Jaws. In the ITV reality series seven well-known figures, including Strictly Come Dancing's Ade Adepitan and Call the Midwife's Helen George, will dive headfirst into shark-infested waters in the Bahamas. Also joining the cast are Sir Lenny Henry, comedians Ross Noble and Lucy Punch, McFly bassist Dougie Poynter, and Countdown co-host Rachel Riley. Each celeb will be tasked with facing their fear of sharks through a series of adrenaline-filled challenges they will have to complete underwater. The series has been filmed on the island of Bimini, which is known as the shark capital of the world. Thankfully celebs will get the chance to slowly build up their shark tolerance by starting off with swimming alongside safer species, before progressing to hammerheads, bull sharks, and even the formidable tiger shark. The show is being produced by Plimsoll Productions, who hope to blend entertainment with a strong message about conservation. Alongside their nail-biting adventures, the celebs will also learn about the ecological importance of sharks, which play a critical part in keeping our oceans healthy. A synopsis for the ITV show teased: "The celebrities will confront their greatest fear – sharks. Their first-hand experiences will provide immeasurable excitement and new perspective; they'll come to appreciate sharks' valuable place in our ecosystem, recognising that a world without these creatures is more frightening than one with them." Katie Rawcliffe, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at ITV, shared: "We're super excited to be combining the work of Plimsoll – a Blue Chip natural history production company – with the expertise of ITV Entertainment. SHARK! Celebrity Infested Waters promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime challenge for some of the bravest celebrities out there." Karen Plumb, Head of Factual Entertainment at Plimsoll Productions, added: "The team at Plimsoll is uniquely positioned to pioneer this format that blends conservation with wildly entertaining pop culture. "Our fish-out-of-water spin – delivering 50 years after Jaws – will transform the world's perception of these critical predators before it's too late." As well as facing their fears underwater, the cast will be tasked with land-based challenges designed to push their physical and emotional boundaries, all while learning from leading marine experts about the threats sharks face in today's oceans.
