Actuality competitors TV sequence are getting extraordinarily area of interest of their ideas, from discovering the perfect glassblowers (Blown Away) to the perfect particular results make-up artists (Face Off).
However you already know what hasn’t had a run within the house? Shark pictures. UNTIL NOW.
Netflix’s All of the Sharks guarantees a correct problem for its members, tasked with a hands-off underwater scavenger hunt to take snaps of the ocean’s most formidable predators. The tagline is perfection: “If you want to win this show, you can’t just find some sharks — you have to find…ALL THE SHARKS.”
It is The Wonderful Race meets Pokémon Snap with sharks, and it is your summer time competitors actuality binge.
What’s All of the Sharks about?
“The rarer the shark, the more points you earn.”
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix
It is precisely what it says on the tin. All of the Sharks sees 4 groups of shark specialists travelling to shark-patrolled areas within the Maldives, Galapagos, Bahamas, South Africa, Japan, and Australia to trace and {photograph} as many sharks as they will.
“Each shark caught on digital camera earns you factors. The rarer the shark, the extra factors you earn,” host Tom Hird explains in the first episode. The quality of the photo isn’t necessarily the key, it’s just about getting the shark in the frame. At the end of the series, the team with the most points earns $50,000 for a marine conservation organisation of their choice. But the teams can win daily prizes for themselves like dive computers, regulators, limited edition free diving fins, and diving holidays.
All of the Sharks is hosted by Tom “The Blowfish” Hird, who describes himself as “heavy metal marine biologist, dive master, and proud owner of the finest beard in the ocean.” He is a jovial host whose means to announce final place prefer it’s the perfect factor on this planet appears to return from a real place.
Tom “The Blowfish” Hird, “heavy metal marine biologist.”
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix
Every location has a scale of rarity among the many numerous shark species the groups will try to {photograph} — all captured with wonderful cinematography by underwater digital camera operators Tom Park and Dean Spraakman, with underwater director of pictures Duncan Brake. The primary episode sends the staff to Fuvahmulah within the Maldives, the place the elusive Pelagic thresher shark minds its personal enterprise, unaware it is value 75 factors to the gamers. Tiger sharks listed below are solely value a measly three factors, because of the excessive density of their inhabitants on this location. This discrepancy between the simply discovered sharks and camouflaged rarities turns into a key tactic for factors between groups — whether or not to scoop up a whole lot of sharks or one uncommon shark.
Mashable Prime Tales
The groups get eight hours a day over a number of days to snap these sharks in every location, with full freedom to direct their boat captain to dive spots inside that map. The groups are geared up with each GoPros and enormous underwater digital camera rigs, however they will additionally use their smartphones above the floor. Inside every dive, the present not solely exhibits you the pictures every staff takes, however overlays of attention-grabbing stats about every shark, together with their measurement and life expectancy, and likewise their stage of threat of world extinction, from least concern (pajama shark, leopard catshark) to close threatened (banded hound shark) and critically endangered (hammerhead, Japanese angel shark, noticed ragged tooth shark).
Sitting nonetheless within the Galapagos, episode 6.
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix
Including to the scavenger hunt vibe, there are additionally “game changer” challenges mid-competition, when the groups should change course to snap sea turtles, pufferfish, and different non-shark species to realize a aggressive benefit.
However the actual marvel of the present is the members themselves, who actually know their shit.
The groups on All The Sharks know their sh*t
The Land Sharks, Rosie and Randy.
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix.
No spring chickens within the depths, the contestants are real shark specialists and skilled divers who can establish species in a second — this stage of shark Shazamming is spectacular to look at. Drama arises when the divers should take care of currents, rips, temperature, visibility, and different variables, together with a run-in with native fishermen, jellyfish stings, and flooded cameras. Plus, they have to try to hold their finds from one another to keep away from stolen factors. The present does help the groups in some episodes; in episode 4, in Cape Recife, South Africa, every staff is allowed to “chum the waters” with 50 kilos of uncooked fish to attract sharks — vegetarians, perhaps take your glasses off for these sequences. However what’s actually spectacular is how calm the divers are when an enormous shark (or 50, watch episode 3) glides previous them within the deep.
There are 4 groups of two vying for the prize. There’s The Land Sharks, wildlife biologist Randy and ecologist and apex predator specialist Rosie. Greatest associates Gills Gone Wild are a delight to look at, as marine biologist and ray knowledgeable Aliah and spearfisher and shark diver MJ take massive dangers with deep dives all through the present — Aliah’s fan-outs over sure species are delightfully infectious. There’s The Shark Docs, a pair of marine biologists: Chris, director of the Ocean First Institute nonprofit, and Brendan, fisheries ecologist. And UK staff Nice British Bait Off contains environmental journalist Sarah and underwater cameraman Dan.
Gills Gone Wild, Aliah and MJ.
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix
Every diver exhibits nice respect for the sharks they’re documenting, even when they’re taking part in a contest present. “For me, sharks represent resilience, represent adaptability, and also power,” says MJ in episode 3. “That just makes me feel more connected to them. I am a little misunderstood, just like they are.”
All of the Sharks reminds you the way numerous our oceans are
A significant encounter in episode 6.
Credit score: Courtesy of Netflix
It is not as deep as David Attenborough’s Ocean, however All of the Sharks does a stable job of reminding us simply what number of totally different species of sharks, rays, different marine life dwell beneath the waves. The manufacturing consulted shark specialists together with Dr. Clémentine Séguigne, Dr. Eric Clua, Dr. Thomas Vignaud, and Jan Bierwirth, and the analysis exhibits. Cowtail rays, Epaulette sharks, Wobbegongs, leopard catsharks — we get attractive close-ups of all of them.
The range of shark species that the gamers can probably {photograph} is mind-blowing. In episode 5 within the Bahamas island of Bimini, Hird introduces a species-diversity bonus for the staff who snaps the widest array of sharks. Japan boasts 127 species of sharks alone, with the groups looking for precise sharknados of banded hound sharks off the coast of Oshima Island in episode 3. And South Africa’s Port Elizabeth raises the bar in episode 4 with 200 species, together with the formidable nice white shark.
There is a vital stage of hazard to among the species, with the point-score for highly effective sharks like nice whites and bull sharks considerably greater than others for the mere threat issue. “The respect I have for sharks is huge, and that respect also comes with fear,” says MJ in episode 4, and it is a clever sentiment.
In case you’re into competitors actuality sequence and wish to stand up near sharks with out getting within the water, that is the right present for you. Watching these underwater specialists come head to head with hammerheads is a superb method to beat the warmth in your sofa, and also you may simply study one thing about our sharp-toothed oceanic neighbours.
All of the Sharks is now streaming on Netflix.
