Nine’s extreme new reality series Shark! came to a dramatic conclusion on Tuesday night, with another of the show’s celebrity contestants unable to complete the heart-stopping final challenge.
The six-part series brought together six Aussie celebs to face their fears with a series of increasingly daring shark dives in the Bahamas.
One episode earlier, Olympic swimming champ Ariarne Titmus announced she would not take part in the show’s final challenge, a dive with Tiger sharks at a site where there have been multiple fatal shark attacks in the past.
Not only was she quitting the challenge, but she was quitting the show entirely, explaining to her fellow contestants that she didn’t want her fear and trepidation to put them off as they took the plunge.
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In Wednesday’s episode, influencer Tammy Hembrow also bowed out of the final challenge – but not by choice. Hembrow had been complaining of numbness and pain in her hand, an issue another contestant thought might be due to a pinched nerve. But the show’s medical team suggested a more serious possible culprit: Decompression sickness, which left untreated, could be fatal.
“It’s a possible dive-related injury where the gases haven’t properly been released from your body,” a medic told her.
“We’ve been given some advice to have you on oxygen for a couple of hours and see how the symptoms go. Obviously we’ve got to be really risk-averse and make sure we’re not putting you in any danger at all, so unfortunately that does mean that you won’t be able to dive tomorrow,” the medic advised.
The show’s executive producer Chloe Baker was also on hand to walk Hembrow through the situation on camera.
“I know this is really upsetting because this was the end goal, but your safety is the most important thing to us. If we put you out on that boat tomorrow and something goes wrong, we’re two hours away from shore,” Baker told her.
“We’re going to get you assessed at the hospital tomorrow. I know that’s really upsetting … I’m so sorry.”
Tammy was shown crying in bed as the medical team got her oxygen supply ready.
In the end, former Home and Away star Lynne McGranger also chose not to go on the dive expedition, a decision that was quickly explained in the finale as her choosing to stay on land to keep Hembrow company.
That left The Block host Scott Cam, actor Matt Nable and former NRL player Sam Thaiday as the only three of the show’s six contestants to complete the final challenge.
The show has aired as shark attacks once again dominate the news cycle, with a woman left critically injured after being attacked by a shark off Sydney’s Coogee Beach on Saturday.
Leah Stewart, 35, was mauled by what is believed to have been a 3.5m great white shark.
She remains in a critical but stable condition at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Just weeks ago, Nine pulled the premiere of Shark! in Western Australia following a fatal shark attack at one of the state’s beaches.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.news.com.au ’
