Though the most decorated Olympian swimmer of all time, Michael Phelps, recently told Fox5 News that he has "no itch to come back" for more Olympic competitions in the pool. However, he is isn't quite ready to throw in his racing towel just yet.
Shark Week swim-off
On Sunday, July 23r, the Discovery Channel's renowned Shark Week featured a swim-off between Phelps and a Great White Shark. Before the big premier, social media hype had everyone excited. It was a fun guessing game as people questioned exactly how they would create an ocean-based race that wouldn't involve Phelps being eaten by a shark.
Would there be a glass racing box built inside the ocean's water? Would they film Phelps and the shark racing separately then crop them side-by-side to declare the winner?
Everyone found their answers once the show aired that night. And boy, was the audience disappointed.
Viewers let down
MSN explained that the thumbs down reviews weren't based on the statistical reality that even a man like Phelps can't out-swim a shark. Phelps clocked only a 6 mph swim against the shark's 25 mph. No, viewers were upset because they expected Phelps to race a real, blood-pulsing, black-eyed shark. After the simulation, Twitter exploded with letdowns, one account referring to the show's race as "More like Shark WEAK."
Others tweeted that even though they thought it was almost impossible for Phelps to actually race a real shark, seeing a computer-programmed shark wasn't worth the advertisement's build-up.
Videos, pictures and news articles showcased Phelps out in the deep waters with diving professionals, climbing into shark cages and coming up close and personal to Great White Sharks. So, naturally, once the show aired a fake shark, the hype wasn't worth it.
Phelps took to Twitter, too, but with a positive outlook on how the premier went.
He tweeted that he looks forward to a warm-water re-match next year; he recalled how swimming with sharks has always been a part of his bucket list. Even though his tweet quickly rated over 11,000 likes and countless retweets, many see a re-match as pointless. Many wouldn't dare call the event a genuine match, anyway.
With such poor reviews from disappointed fans, who's to say that Shark Week junkies will see another swim-off? Discovery Channel's promise for a "man versus animal" showdown couldn't follow-through, so it might be too much to ask devoted Shark Week fans and Twitter gurus to follow this idea until next year.
