Shark Week Star on How He Went From a Victim to an Advocate for the Sea Creatures

Discovery’s Shark Week, the granddaddy of all summertime shark stunts, is back for its 36th installment, with actor-wrestler John Cena hosting. Another notable personality involved: Shark conservationist Paul de Gelder (above), who has brought his expertise to previous specials, returns in five new programs.

(Credit: Discovery)

One of those is Great White Serial Killer, in which de Gelder helps locals in a Mexican fishing village identify the great white shark behind three attacks in three years — two of them fatal. De Gelder himself survived a horrific attack when a bull shark grabbed him from below.

“It removed my hamstring and my right hand in the same bite,” de Gelder tells us, “and I was forced to swim back to my safety boat with one hand and one functioning leg through a pool of my own blood.”

If anyone would be justified in fearing sharks, it’s de Gelder. But the opposite is true. “Before I was attacked, I basically hated sharks. I didn’t understand…how important they were,” he says. “But the more I learned, the more I realized how little we actually have to fear from them and how much they have to fear from us. So now I feel it’s my duty to speak up for this animal that doesn’t have a voice.”

Shark Week, Premieres Sunday, July 7, 8/7c, Discovery