For the first time in his life, Shaquille O’Neal tries to have a close encounter with sharks in the Discovery Channel documentary special Shaq Does Shark Week, which aired Sunday. It’s part of the show’s annual “Shark Week,” programming event, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on the air.
Sharks in the Shaq Cage!@SHAQ kicks off #SharkWeek, TONIGHT at 9p on @Discovery. #ShaqWeek pic.twitter.com/ga6FPF9O6p
— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) July 22, 2018
The 7-foot-1 basketball superstar was obviously nervous as he put his Scuba gear and dove into shark-infested waters. It only took minutes for O’Neal to get panic and quickly resurfaced when a shark swam just a few feet away from his area.
“They’re trying to kill me!” the NBA legend yelled.
One of the marine researchers gives assurance to O’Neal, saying, “You’re the biggest thing down there. There’s not many things down there that are bigger than seven feet.”
After encouraging him by the team, O’Neal finally gathered his courage and put his fears behind as he once again went back down into the shallow waters, where he spent some quality time with the beautiful sea creatures.
The basketball icon, who admits he’s “terrified of sharks,” later got into a shark cage to observe the mighty predators that are scarier than the reef sharks he’d been swimming with before. But things went wrong when a shark actually got inside his cage, forcing him to be immediately removed from the water.
“The space between the [cage’s] bars was different than normal and the shark was able to wiggle into the cage,” Will Packer, one of the episode’s exec producer told The Post. “Shaq hasn’t moved that fast since he was in the NBA.”
