Shocking new details emerge about shark attack on Sydney Harbour: 'It was eating me'
In a new Discovery series, How To Survive a Shark Attack, de Gelder puts himself in high-risk situations to test survival tactics and educate viewers on how to stay alive during an encounter with one of the ocean's deadliest predators.
Viewers will experience real shark attacks up close through a series of never-before-attempted experiments that teach life-saving tactics for surviving an encounter.
One experiment shows de Gelder on an upturned kayak with hungry sharks circling underneath.
In another exeriment De Gelder straps on fake limbs oozing with blood, then feeds them to real sharks mouths.
'Paul, I just want to go on the record and say that I'm not comfortable with this,' a producer warned off-camera.
He insists filming the program wasn't retraumatising and sees himself as a survivor rather than a victim.
'I've lived a pretty tumultuous life, and I don't really look at the bad things that have happened to me as anchor points that I need to latch onto and spiral into depression or have PTSD or anything like that,' he said.
Sixteen years ago, on February 11, 2009, de Gelder was taking part in a counter-terrorism military exercise in Sydney Harbour near Woolloomooloo when a nine-foot-long bull shark attacked him without warning.
The assault lasted just eight seconds, but it cost him an arm and a leg.
'No one saw the shark coming. It was eating me before everyone knew what was even happening,' he told news.com.au.
'I grabbed it by the nose and I tried to lever it off me, but that did absolutely nothing.
'I tried to punch it off ... but it took me under and started tearing me apart.
He pounded the 300kg beast with everything he had as it pulled him under once more, convinced this time it was the end.
'I was drowning in agony, being eaten alive and I realised there was nothing I could do, so I gave up.'
Then, in a move he still can't explain, the shark suddenly let go, leaving de Gelder floating in the harbour.
Despite the catastrophic injuries, he managed to swim back to the safety boat through a pool of his own blood.
Onboard, his colleagues desperately tried to stop the bleeding using T-shirts.
'Then it was thanks to my chief on the wharf, knowing that it wasn't stopping the blood, so he got one of the guys to pinch an artery closed with their fingers,' de Gelder said.
'The surgeon said if he hadn't done that, I would have died within another 30 seconds.'
He recalls the surreal moment it all began: 'I was on the surface, on my back, kicking my legs when all of the sudden, I felt this pressure on my leg. I turned around and I came face to face with a massive shark's head.
'And then my survival instincts kicked in and I thought, 'I've got to get out of this somehow.'
'I thought, I've seen Shark Week - I'll jab it in the eyeball. The shark actually had my right hand and I couldn't move it.
In his Shark Week special, de Gelder shares his top tips for surviving a shark attack. Some are straightforward, like avoiding murky water or areas with fishing activity, but others might surprise you.
One big myth he busts: don't punch a shark in the nose.
'Now, if you're in the jaws of the shark? At that point, you want to do all you can. In that case, I would go for the eyeballs, go for the gills, just fight for your life,' he says.
'But generally speaking, if you see a shark and it does approach you, you do not want to punch it in the nose.'
There are two main reasons. First, a shark's head is made of thick cartilage, so punching it can hurt your hand, and bleeding in the water is a bad idea.
Second, sharks are faster and more agile underwater than you. That punch could miss or even land your hand in its mouth, making it an easy meal.
Now 47, de Gelder says he doesn't view himself as a victim, but a survivor, and he's dedicated his life to protecting sharks in the wild.
'I'm not retraumatised by any of this,' he insists.
Shark Week begins Sunday 10 August at 7:30pm on Discovery (Foxtel, Fetch, Binge) and HBO Max. How To Survive a Shark Attack premieres Tuesday 12 August at 7:30pm.
How to Survive a Shark Attack premieres Tuesday 12 August at 7.30pm.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Alien is a warning, isn't it?': Essie Davis on Alien: Earth and Tasmania's ecological crisis
Essie Davis didn't watch much horror growing up in Tasmania; the 55-year-old actor can still bitterly recall the moment when, aged four, she was left at home while her older siblings went to see Jaws at the local cinema in Hobart. 'I stood by the back door going, 'I will remember this day for the rest of my life!'' Davis recalls, speaking from her current family home, also in Tasmania. She finally saw the film on VHS years later, while dating a production designer she had met while performing at Belvoir St theatre. That designer was Justin Kurzel, now one of Australia's most celebrated directors – and also her husband. Back in the mid-90s, Kurzel's courtship rituals included a crash course in horror classics – Jaws was high on the list, followed closely by Ridley Scott's 1979 space slasher Alien. 'I love that first Alien film so much, I wish I'd seen it in a cinema,' Davis says. 'They're definitely a huge part of my film psyche.' It would take another few decades before Davis entered the Alien universe herself, in a new prequel series set shortly before the original film. Alien: Earth focuses on Wendy (Sydney Chandler), a 'forever girl' whose consciousness is transferred from her terminally ill human body to a synthetic one, making her a world-first 'hybrid'. Davis plays Dame Sylvia, one of the scientists responsible for Wendy's second life. In one of many allusions to Peter Pan, Hawley named the character after Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, the real-life mother of the boys who inspired JM Barrie to write his Neverland saga. The show's themes – and Sylvia's attempts to balance Wendy's humanity with her new, artificial immortality – felt particularly timely to Davis. 'AI was a thing that was coming, but it wasn't suddenly upon us,' she says. 'And then we had the writers' strike and the actors' strike, and then ChatGPT suddenly was in the schools in Tasmania, and I was just going, 'hang on a minute'. 'There's a tightrope of ethics and morality, and everyone has a different version of it. I really hope that people will enjoy this and get hooked into that quandary of genetic engineering and ethics and that strange quest to own everything and beat everyone and be younger than anyone.' Davis is a horror icon herself, thanks to a breakout role in Jennifer Kent's 2014 film The Babadook. The low-budget Australian production became a global hit, with fans including The Exorcist director William Friedkin, who placed the film alongside Alien as one of the scariest films he had ever seen. It remains a modern cult classic 10 years later. 'I remember watching a screening way before it was released, and just went, 'Oh, this is great, but it's not scary',' she says. 'And then we went to the Sundance film festival, and I sat up the back as people swore and leapt out of their seats.' Davis credits the film's enduring appeal – its top-hatted spook has even been embraced as an unlikely Queer icon – to something deeper than jump scares. 'It's not just a horror film,' she says. 'It's in fact a kind of psychological thriller about mental health and grief and parenting and love.' It remains a defining role for Davis, alongside her star turn in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries – the 1920s detective franchise that ran for three series and a film, based on the novels of Kerry Greenwood, who died in April. 'A terrible loss, but she's forever in us now,' says Davis. 'I was crying, working out whether I should do it or not,' she adds, of donning Phryne Fisher's signature black bob. 'I'm really glad I did, because that character was such a positive force, and it's just so fun to play someone so clever and positive and naughty and irreverent – and someone who really cares about social justice, and is not going to bow for anyone, and stands up for the underdog.' Along with roles in Game of Thrones, Baby Teeth and Netflix's One Day, Davis has also collaborated with her film-maker husband, responsible for films including Snowtown, Nitram, and television adaptations of Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang and most recently Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Davis appeared in the latter three. Their kids were old enough to be watching Alien for a high school English class when the script for Alien: Earth hit Davis's inbox; the series is led by Noah Hawley, the showrunner behind the award-winning small-screen adaptation of Fargo. She was intrigued; the show's depiction of a future Earth carved up and controlled by mega-corporations – Dame Sylvia is employed by Prodigy, a rival to the franchise's longstanding faceless villains, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation – particularly resonated with her. 'It's terribly prescient – the richest of corporations and the richest people taking over the world, essentially running the world,' she says. For Davis, the perils of corporate profits have been plain to see from her home in Tasmania, where she and Kurzel returned to raise their family. 'It is terrifying what is happening to our beautiful place here in Tassie, and the total corporate capture of our government by big industry,' she says of the controversy around the state's fish farming industry, of which she has become one of many high-profile critics, alongside Richard Flanagan and former ABC journalist turned political candidate Peter George. These days, Davis doesn't have to go to the cinema to witness coastal dread. 'When you look out over the water from Bruny Island, everywhere you look you see rows and rows of fish pens, and huge, industrial factory ships,' she says. 'We had mass fish mortalities, rotting salmon washing up on our beaches. And 53 cormorants got shot because they were fishing out of the pens.' Davis says the public opposition to such practices 'began as lots of individuals around Tasmania making constructive criticism, and asking for a bit of negotiation on pollution'. It was being ignored by salmon companies and successive governments, she says, that connected and galvanised the far-flung island community. What began as a movement, Davis says, has now become an 'insurrection', evident in the rise of Peter George, who was elected to Tasmania's state parliament as an independent days after our interview. 'But we're not going to stop,' she says. 'We're just going to keep on until we have people representing the people of Tasmania and not just corporations and party politics. 'I guess Alien is a warning, isn't it?' she adds. 'A warning of what greed and money and this kind of pursuit of immortality can do to a planet.' Alien: Earth launches on Disney+ on 12 August in Australia and the US and on 13 August in the UK
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Luke Littler jumping for joy at Australian Darts Master after experiencing ‘things that we probably won't ever do again'
LUKE LITTLER hopes he is jumping for joy at the Australian Darts Masters – after a day feeding kangaroos and cuddling koalas. The Nuke made hard work of his first appearance Down Under this summer as he eventually knocked out New Zealander Haupai Puha 6-5 following minimal practice. 4 4 The round-one tie went to a deciding leg and Littler, 18, averaged only 91.80 – well below his best – and squandered 13 of his 19 checkout attempts. Being nine hours ahead of the UK, the jetlag has been an issue since he arrived in the country and he said he needed a decent kip. Yet he has tried to make most of the popular tourist attractions, visiting Sydney's Opera House and then seeing the exotic animals at the Wollongong Zoo with girlfriend Faith. Littler said: 'How's the jetlag? Oh, it's awful. Same as last year. Not slept too much over here. 'I think I just stay up as long as you can until it's a suitable time to go to bed and that's what I've been trying to do. I feel okay now. Hopefully, I will sleep well. 'I went to the Opera. I went to the zoo in Wollongong. There were koala bears, we fed kangaroos, fed goats, and yeah, there were just loads of them all. 'I think for us players, I think it's good to get out of the hotel. 'Like 85-90% of the time, we're just stuck in a hotel, so it's good to get out and experience things that we probably won't ever do again.' Wellington-born Puha, 40, will be kicking himself for not knocking out wasteful Littler, especially as he led 2-0 and 4-3 in the race to six legs and threw first in the decider The world No.94, who is set to lose his Tour Card, averaged 88.29 as Littler, like he did during his World Matchplay-winning run, started off sluggishly. His record of never losing in the first round of one of these global tournaments remains intact – for now at least. There is a determination to lift this £30,000 World Series of Darts crown given he was pumped 8-1 in the final 12 months ago by Gerwyn Price. Littler – who now plays top Aussie Damon Heta – said: 'It was a slow start but that's what happens when you don't practise from the Matchplay. Not picked up a dart. 'It wasn't the best from myself. That's what happens in the first game, it's not always the prettiest. I had to grind it out. 4 4 'It's never easy against anyone and it's always good to just get off to a good start. 'I've just been chilling out and doing what I usually do. But now I'm here, it's down to work.' Luke Humphries 's lack of match practice showed as he came from behind to beat New Zealander Jonny Tata 6-3. When the world No.1 nailed the winning double five, he pointed to the skies but he declined to elaborate on the meaning. Asked about the significance of his actions, Cool Hand Luke said: 'Yeah, I can't talk about it right now. You'll find out. It's just bad news today that's all. 'I will enjoy these events with my dad. It's been hard for my dad recently. 'He has been going through a lot with other things that everyone will find out about soon. 'It has not been easy for him. So, it's nice to come over here and have a bit of time out. 'I'm on holiday straightaway, for 10 days, after I come back from New Zealand. After that I will put the practice in.' Humphries, 30, now plays Belgian Mike De Decker, who complained about the cold conditions in his 6-2 win over Australian Brandon Weening. The Real Deal, who averaged a pitiful 80.33, says he will wash his hands in hot water before the quarter-final clash, over the best of 11 legs, on Saturday at the WIN Entertainment Centre. No.1 seed Stephen Bunting will play Josh Rock and Gerwyn Price, who wore an Australia gold-coloured shirt, faces Chris Dobey in the other quarters as all eight PDC stars progressed.
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Melbourne Cup winner and The Voice star Robbie Dolan looking to take Ascot by storm at Shergar Cup
WHEN three of the four judges on The Voice turned their chairs around for Robbie Dolan, it was like no feeling he'd ever experienced. Dolan had barely finished the second verse of James Bay's 'Let It Go' when they hit their buzzers to put him through to the next round of the Australian version of the hit singing contest. 3 3 3 In the ultimate understatement, he said after finishing his audition: 'That was pretty cool.' Fast forward a few years and he was driving 90-1 shot Knight's Choice to a shock, short-head Melbourne Cup victory. That was a good deal cooler. Since winning the 'race that stops a nation', eight years after he moved Down Under, the Irishman's feet have barely touched the ground. It's a far cry from his early days as a jockey, when he was apprentice to Yorkshire-based trainer Adrian Keighley, who was operating in Ireland at the time, and struggling for his big break. For so many in the racing industry, Australia has become the land of opportunity and it was no different for Co Kildare man Dolan. As it turned out, not just on the riding front. Dolan, 29, said: 'Somebody sent in a video of me singing and one of The Voice producers emailed me and asked me if I'd be interested in going on the show. 'One thing led to another and I got to the next stage and then the next stage, before I knew it I was in the final 10 or 15 singers. "I think 25,000 auditioned and only 100 or so people get to the stage where you sing in front of the judges. I knew I could sing a bit but you've seen it on the X-Factor years ago, people tell you you can sing and they end up being terrible. I didn't want to be that guy! 'Thankfully it went well. Rita Ora was my mentor and she was a legend. The only judge who didn't turn round for me was Keith Urban.' He grinned: 'Do you reckon he'd have turned around for me if the show was filmed after I won the Melbourne Cup?' What a great question. He is definitely getting recognised when he is out in Sydney or Melbourne since his career-defining win last November. Winning the Melbourne Cup is enough of a boost to any jockey's profile, but when a video of Dolan duetting with Ronan Keating after the race went viral, it went to another level. 'That was good craic,' he says. While he still makes a few quid on the side singing, it's the riding that has his full attention and winning Australia's biggest race has had a profound impact. Dolan said: 'The Melbourne Cup has changed my life, it's one of those rare races that's more than just a race. 'There are only a few of them in the world that are like it, the Melbourne Cup, the Arc, the Kentucky Derby. 'I didn't think I'd get the opportunity to ride in it, and then to win it on my first try was very special. 'After the race you get recognised walking around, and it's really driven me to get off my backside and do more, because I want that feeling again. 'I wouldn't be here if I didn't win it, when you win those big races doors open and you have to jump at the opportunities when they come.' By 'here' he means Ascot for the Shergar Cup, where he will ride as part of team GB and Ireland alongside Hollie Doyle and Joanna Mason. He will have five rides in today's unique team competition, which will be broadcast around the globe. He said: 'It's an honour to be here riding against some of the world's best. 'I watched it as a kid growing up, watching the likes of Mick Kinane and Kieran Fallon and Richard Hughes riding here. It means a lot and I can't wait.' He'll have a flying visit back home to Ireland tomorrow before returning to Australia next week. He said: 'I aim to be having a pint of Guinness by 3pm. I haven't had any in Australia. It doesn't travel well.' The same cannot be said of Robbie Dolan. Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who:
