Performer John Cena might have to change his wrestling slogan “You can’t see me” to “You can’t sea me” this year, as Discovery announced today that Cena is set to serve as host for this year’s Shark Week. Full details about Cena’s involvement in the festivities have yet to be released, as hosts have sometimes been known to host their own hour-long specials about sharks while others have offered audiences interstitials about sharks throughout the week, but bringing in such a massive star for the event is even more reason to tune in to Discovery. Shark Week is set to kick off on Discovery on July 7th.
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Per press release, “John Cena will host Discovery Channel’s annual celebration and investigation of shark habits and behaviors, which will kick off on Sunday, July 7th. The week-long event will include the next chapter in the hit show Belly of the Beast Pt. 2, which is a terrifying and fascinating real look at a great white shark feeding frenzy. Viewers can also sink their teeth into: Monster Hammerhead: Species X about a potential new hammerhead species, and Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood, which follows a great white terrorizing a local village.”
With MAX offering up not only originals and HBO programming, but also having merged with discovery+, fans will also be able to stream the highly anticipated specials that honor the beloved fish.
In last year’s Belly of the Beast: Feeding Frenzy, a group of researchers built a replica whale carcass that not only allowed for the deployment of food to draw in sharks, but also hadย room for a researcher to observe the subsequent feeding from the center of it. Dr. Austin Gallagher previously shared with ComicBook what made that project so challenging.
“I would say the most challenging thing was figuring out a way that would simulate a real whale carcass, but also doing it in a safe way for me and for the sharks, too. I’ve done quite a bit of research on the ecological importance of dead whales for white sharks,” Gallagher expressed. “They are everything for these white sharks. They sustain them on their migrations. They bring the largest white sharks in. It’s incredible. When white sharks get really big, it becomes hard for them to kill seals. They might actually be swimming around waiting, looking for these dead whales.”
He added, “We knew it was going to be an exciting thing to do. We ended up building something that simulated that. But getting inside was freaky, I’ll be honest. We wanted to make sure that that observational platform that I was going to be in would give good observations, but also we didn’t want the sharks to break it and then eat me. I didn’t want to die.”
Stay tuned for updates on Shark Week before it kicks off on Discovery on July 7th.
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