Dave Salmoni is an animal behaviorist who made a small name for himself in Into the Lion's Den. That show tracks Salmoni as he heads to South Africa and slowly creeps closer to some of the resident lions. By getting physically nearer to the animals, Salmoni believes he can come to understand the cats and why they attack humans. I never saw the episode, but it seems the show was only moderately received.
I did, however, watch last night's episode called Sharks: Are They Hunting Us?, in which Salmoni gives himself a month to learn to dive, half-assedly educate himself about sharks, and travel to South Africa to dive outside the cage with great whites. By leaving the protection of the cage, Salmoni claims he will be able to know whether sharks are vicious man-eaters hell-bent on human flesh, or simply poor, misunderstood creatures. Splicing together some of the most brutal and gory shark footage he could find -- as well as mischaracterizing one shark event -- Salmoni manipulates the emotions of viewers in order to sensationalize his quest.
I'm so tired of people going out of their way to show how dangerous sharks are, and then spending 10 seconds (while the credits are rolling) concluding that, in fact, sharks are just doing what sharks do: living, eating, and protecting themselves. Ultimately, what remains in the public's mind are those hyperbolic images of gnashing teeth, blood-streaked waters, and frightened human faces. People immediately forget the conclusion. Why on earth Discovery gave this nitwit one hour of prime time during Shark Week is completely and utterly incomprehensible.
Clearly, Salmoni is from the same school of thought as David Blaine, in which the two believe that showmanship takes precedence over expertise. Although he boasts about how he's learning about sharks, the only "research" Salmoni presents during the hour is the ratio of attacks-to-deaths attributed by various species of shark. He gives about 30 seconds of screen time to internationally-known shark expert George Burgess, and devotes much of the episode to blathering on in his video diary about how scared he is to do what he's doing.
After getting certified to dive by Stuart Cove's, he feeds reef sharks and is terrified by the experience. Later, he heads to South Africa, where he enlists Mike Rutzen, a white shark expert, to take him diving with the animals. After enjoying a cage dive with a great white, he swims freely with a tiger shark -- in my mind, the high point of the show. Finally, he heads out with Rutzen and spends about 5 minutes outside the cage, clinging to a rock on the bottom of Shark Alley, looking like he just pooped his wetsuit, as 3 great whites pass overhead. When he returns to the boat, he declares that great whites are not hunting humans. He knows, because he's been outside the cage with them. What a farce...
...and what a waste of time. He fails to give adequate screen time to Burgess, who might have explained why shark attacks have increased or why sharks behave the way they do. Instead, he re-plays over and over -- in slow-motion -- the 3-second segment of tape during which a reef shark gets caught up in his regulator's hose. Of course the shark thrashed, Salmoni: it was confused and wanted to protect itself.
I'm sure Salmoni pitched this as the story of an Everyman who knows nothing about sharks, learns to dive, does some research, spends some time outside a great white cage, and ultimatley advances the "kindler/gentler" theory of sharks. He knew his conclusion before he began filming, and he exaggerated the dangers to make himself appear more courageous. What crap. Instead -- despite his protests to the contrary -- Salmoni reinforces the same sad stereotypes of sharks and makes shark researchers the world over have to begin again at Square One explaining why shark attacks happen. I'm disappointed that I spent the hour watching this drivel; I'm ashamed that Discovery aired it; and I hope Salmoni fades away into the netherworld of pop-culture's dim memory and we never ever have to hear about his lame-brained stunts again.
Did you watch? I dare you to tell me you thought it was worthwhile.
Hopefully, tonight's episode of Shark Rebellion will be less stupid.
1. I think you, Willy, are a jealous a**hole...seriously- if you were not jealous then why would you take time to write this whole big,long thing about Dave Salmoni and his shows?
Posted at 9:42PM on Mar 4th 2008 by Pamela