On Sunday the Discovery Channel aired "Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White." Fans of both Phelps and Shark Week tuned-in to watch Phelps swim against a great white. Many viewers found it infuriating when they discovered the shark Phelps raced was a digital shark.
The Discovery Channel claims it should have been a given that he was not going to compete against an actual shark. Nonetheless, according to the reaction on Twitter, viewers were disappointed. Many felt the show's promo was misleading. As a result, the show's audience began Tweeting their frustration with both Discovery Channel and with Phelps' portrayal of the upcoming event; an experience billed as Phelps, in a customized wet suit with a single fin, going "fin to fin" with a great white.
The reality: Phelps swam against a computer-generated shark, and he lost. Shark Week will air until August 8th.
Was the Discovery Channel's promo bogus?
Over the past few weeks "Phelps vs. Shark" was widely touted as a major event, where Michael Phelps -a decorated Olympian and medal winner - would try to out-swim a shark. This episode was a big deal as Phelps holds the record for Olympic gold medals.
Commercials for the show flaunted Phelps in his single fin wet suit, a wet suit billed as unique and one that would give Phelps a fair chance. Unfortunately for viewers, about an hour into the program, Tristan Gutteridge - an ecologist and featured scientist on the show - announced that they could not put Phelps in the ocean with a great white and that a computer-generated model would be used.
Fan's Tweets express frustration
Even though Phelps stated in pre-show interviews that he did not intend on getting into the open ocean to compete against a living great white shark, viewers felt duped. Here is why. The show's promos did not make this fact clear.
On the contrary, the commercials were shot in a way that could lead a potential viewer to believe that Phelps was going to race a great white shark in the ocean.
Throw common sense to the wind? The Discovery Channel made a claim and did not deliver. The question is this; should viewers have said to themselves, "how likely is it that Michael Phelps, one of America's most famous athletes, is going to race a great white shark in the ocean?"
Instead, of believing the promos and hype, viewers ought to have allowed their rational minds to rewrite advertisers' slick emotional commercials.
Advertisements portrayed a dangerous great white in the ocean alongside an image of Phelps in his custom wet suit swimming for his life. Fans ought to have said to themselves "no way is this going to happen." Nevertheless, viewers did not, and the Tweets reflect their frustration. Maybe the good-news is Phelps lost, so probably it is a blessing his race with a great white was all just special effects.
