Kelli Bender is the Pets Editor for PEOPLE Digital and PEOPLE magazine. She has been with the PEOPLE brand for more than eight years, working as a writer/producer across PEOPLE's Lifestyle, Features, and Entertainment verticals before taking on her current role. Kelli is also an editor on PEOPLE's Stories to Make You Smile and serves as an editorial lead on PEOPLE's World's Cutest Rescue Dog Contest and Pet Product Awards. Before joining PEOPLE, Kelli helped AOL and Whalerock launch a pet lifestyle site called PawNation. She is a pet parent to a cat named Wallace, and her professional and personal devotion to animals has taken her to three dog weddings ... so far.
Before the television event kicks off with its first-ever Master of Ceremonies — Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson — Shark Week is giving PEOPLE a peek at what to expect. Based on this clip, it's safe to say that Shark Week is bringing the thrills for its 34th year on Discovery.
The segment above comes from Shark Week's Great White Open Ocean, a new Shark Week program set to premiere at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery and discovery+. Great White Open Ocean, follows shark diving expert Jimi Partington as he works to overcome the post-traumatic stress disorder he developed following a near-fatal run-in with a great white shark in 2020.
For the show, Partington — a dive master and expedition leader at Shark Diving Xperts and Islander Charters in Manchester, U.K. — goes out in the open ocean in a plexiglass raft to view great white sharks up close.
In the clip from the program, Partington encounters an equally curious great white who decides to burst through the diver's raft. While a shocking moment to watch, Partington assures that no humans or animals were harmed during the encounter.
""I've spent the last decade in the water observing and studying great whites, without any incidents, so obviously, this encounter was quite a surprise! I think the shark was simply curious about what I was, which is how they investigate objects by bumping and sometimes biting. We see this type of behavior with kayaks, surfboards, and even boats. I chose to put myself in that position, and I was aware of the risks. The good news: I wasn't hurt, and thankfully the shark wasn't either," Partington told PEOPLE about the tense moment.
Don't miss a minute of Shark Week 2022; tune into its premiere on Discovery Channel on July 24 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and keep up to date on the event on SharkWeek.com. Great White Open Ocean will premiere at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery and discovery+.
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