TV presenter Simon Reeve 'left with huge scar’ after run-in with whale shark the ‘size of a bus’ while filming
16 January 2024, 20:44 | Updated: 16 January 2024, 21:35
Simon Reeve says he has been left with a 'very large scar' after getting too close to a whale shark 'the size of a single-decker bus'.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The presenter, 51, known for his travel documentaries, said the shocking encounter left him reflecting on the fact it “could have been much worse”.
Reeve had been filming off the coast of New Guinea in the southwestern Pacific Ocean for an upcoming series when he encountered a shoal of whale sharks.
He said he jumped in with the whale sharks after spotting them in the water because he thought “they were cute and lovely”.
“I’d seen them from a distance and thought they were cute and lovely – even if they were the size of single-decker buses,” he told OK!
But despite their enticing appearance, the presenter had a nasty shock.
“I reckoned they would be soft and rubbery but actually it was like being hit by a ton of concrete when one of them collided with me.
“I suffered a very large scar across my leg and it could have been so much worse. I’d been an absolute fool for getting so close.”
Fortunately for Reeve, whale sharks do not feed on humans.
It comes ahead of the release of the presenter’s series about areas of the world where nature is still in control.
The whale shark, which is the largest non-mammal on earth, feeds primarily on a diet of tiny plankton and small fish.
They can grow up to 60 feet in length and weigh as much as 20 tonnes. Despite the name’s indication, they are not whales, as the term is used to refer to their size.
Reeves continued on his upcoming series: “It's the most important series I have ever filmed because it's about parts of the world so huge they help govern and shape our weather systems and climate and yet there's a danger we might lose them,' he said of the new show.
“I drove down roads in the Congo in the almost certain knowledge that within a couple of years 20 kilometres either side would be cut down for profit.
‘Trees are the lungs of the planet, so for the sake of its future we have to find a way of stopping that happening.”
