NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� whose voice helped fuel the hit movie recently found herself facing plenty of real hunters 鈥� watching from the ocean floor as about 16 reef sharks went on a feeding frenzy.
She was scared, sure. But more than that, she was brought to tears.
鈥淚 thought I鈥檇 be a bit more petrified, but I was enamored. I was in awe. It was witnessing nature,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put it into words the emotions and the feelings that you experience.鈥�
Viewers can watch Rei Ami 鈥� and hear her sing a new K-pop song inspired by her experience with sharks while off the Korean Peninsula 鈥� as kicks off Sunday.
leap deep into the world of the ancient predators, from a record-setting dive attempt into shark-infested waters to trying to find out what triggers giant bull sharks to confront humans.
鈥淕rowing up, I always watched 鈥楽hark Week,鈥欌�� says Rei Ami. 鈥淵ou see those epic commercials, with the great white jumping out and eating the chum and the tuna. That鈥檚 ingrained in my brain forever.鈥�
joins her to start the week off with the show 鈥淜-Pop Shark Heroes鈥� on Sunday. But while she went on two cage dives and two free dives with hammerheads and reef sharks and bull sharks, he preferred to stay out of the water.
鈥淚鈥檓 more of the of the shark 鈥極dyssey鈥� 鈥� just overseeing it,鈥� Jeong jokes. 鈥淛ust overlooking everything. High and dry. That鈥檚 when I do my best work.鈥�
It鈥檚 a shark-a-thon
The seven nights of new shows ends Aug. 1 with a look at how great whites are moving further up the East Coast and an examination of how thresher sharks use their tails to stun and kill prey.
One highlight is watching high diver Molly Carlson leap 50 feet (15 meters) from a helicopter into a Plexiglas cage in the ocean surrounded by circling reef sharks. She’s OK with jumping from enormous heights, but sharks terrify her.
鈥淭here was zero chances of me ever swimming with sharks. This was just not on my radar,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 always been my thing, and so for me to be invited to be on 鈥楽hark Week,鈥� I was like ‘Why me?’鈥�
Viewers will see Carlson, who has been frank about her struggles with anxiety, overcome her lifelong fear of sharks. Carlson hopes she can motivate others.
鈥淚f I can inspire that next 16-year-old girl who wants to just hide in her room and never come out because she鈥檚 scared of so many things, then I鈥檓 absolutely going to find a way to do this,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e allowed to be scared and do it anyways. And so I think that was the big purpose behind this project for me.鈥�
This year鈥檚 highlights also include an attempt to locate a rumored 15-foot (4- meter) mako off the coast of Southern California, which would make it the largest ever documented.
Marine biologist Kendyl Berna, a 鈥淪hark Week鈥� veteran who co-founded the ecology group , says her team of scientists were betting on the fact that a marine heat wave has made mako prey in those waters abundant, allowing the sharks to get bigger.
鈥淪harks are the cockroaches of the sea because they鈥檝e been around for 450 million years. They鈥檙e older than dinosaurs, they鈥檙e older than trees. Sharks have just been around, but the form that they鈥檙e taking constantly changes,鈥� she says.
鈥楽hark Week鈥� is fun but also educational
鈥淪hark Week鈥� has become a key part of the summer holiday TV schedule, a place where humans safe on land can see ancient apex predators unnervingly glide into view and snap open their jaws, fueling nightmares.
As always, there is a deep respect for the creatures and strong science beneath the amusing titles, sharky puns, dramatic music and racy titles like 鈥淐hum Island: Catching a Killer鈥� and 鈥淪harkzilla Takes New York.鈥�
鈥淲hile 鈥楽hark Week鈥� is very entertaining and thrilling, it is at the core very educational. And I think there鈥檚 still so much misinformation regarding sharks and how they behave,鈥� says Rei Ami.
鈥淭hrough these episodes, people can understand, there鈥檚 really no reason to fear them, you know? And I hope that message gets received.鈥�
Discovery鈥檚 鈥淪hark Week鈥� has a rival 鈥� which also has hours of sharky content. And there’s Amazon Studios鈥� new movie 鈥淭he Devil鈥檚 Mouth,鈥� which has bull sharks terrorizing college students in a flooded cave system.
鈥淪hark Week鈥� also has practical advice about what to do when you find yourself face-to-snout with a shark, a rising concern from Korea to Brooklyn as interactions increase. The advice is clear: Stop splashing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 even more imperative that humans know how to act and react in a situation when they are in the waters and they see a shark,鈥� says Rei Ami. 鈥淚t would really, I think, help the public to understand how these apex predators work and behave.鈥�
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