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Episodes We Love: How to Fight a Shark

37:08

July 04, 2025

A great white shark fin is seen as it swims past a researchers boat as they chum the ocean looking for sharks in Gansbaai , South Africa, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016. Extensive research by Rutzen and his marine biologist partner, Sara Andreotti, has found that great whites off the South African coast are rapidly heading for extinction.(AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

This episode originally aired on July 12, 2024. It has been updated to more clearly represent communication with Kayleigh Grant about a conversation with Kristian Parton.

When Endless Thread producer Grace Tatter heard a friend assert that she could ward off a shark because of TikTok, Grace was both concerned for her friend's safety, and curious. Why are there so many videos about "redirecting" sharks on TikTok, and how accurate are they?

Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dive into the controversial world of SharkTok, where influencers are trying to show a different side of sharks by getting up close and personal with them.

Show notes:

Mermaid Kayleigh (Instagram)
Welcome to Shark Bytes (YouTube)
Steven Spielberg on the BBC's Desert Island Disks
A diver's extremely close visit with a great white shark went viral. Marine biologists say don't copy her. (Washington Post)

This content was originally created for audio. An auto-generated transcript is available on Apple Podcasts. Heads up that some elements (i.e. music, sound effects, tone) are harder to translate to text.