Mike Rowe Almost Died in a Shark Suit 🤯
Mike Rowe recounts a near-fatal incident while testing a shark suit underwater where he ran out of air 45 feet down, couldn't remove his face mask due to a bicycle helmet attachment, and nearly lost consciousness before being rescued by a TV guide crew member.
Summary
Mike Rowe describes an extremely dangerous situation that occurred while filming a segment involving a custom shark suit designed to protect divers from sharks. The production team created the shark suit, chummed the water to attract sharks, and Rowe entered the ocean wearing the suit along with a face mask and bicycle helmet screwed into the equipment. Once underwater at approximately 45 feet, Rowe discovered he had depleted his air supply in just 18 minutes despite having enough air for 40 minutes. Faced with no air remaining, a 45-pound steel suit providing no buoyancy, and his final breath being an exhale, Rowe found himself in a life-threatening situation. When a TV guide crew member attempted to share their regulator to provide emergency air, Rowe discovered he could not remove his face mask because the bicycle helmet was screwed directly into it. As he waited for assistance, his peripheral vision began to gray out, indicating he was losing consciousness from oxygen deprivation. The crew managed to rip off all the gear in time to save his life. Despite this harrowing near-death experience, Rowe notes that they had to film the scene again the next day.
Key Insights
- Rowe burned through 40 minutes of air in only 18 minutes underwater, revealing a critical miscalculation in air consumption or tank capacity planning
- The bicycle helmet attachment to the face mask prevented Rowe from removing his mask and accessing emergency air from a crew member's regulator during the crisis
- At 45 feet depth with a 45-pound steel suit and depleted air, Rowe had no buoyancy control and could not ascend or descend, trapping him at depth
- Rowe's peripheral vision grayed out as he waited for the crew to remove his gear, indicating he was moments away from losing consciousness due to oxygen deprivation
- Despite nearly dying during the shark suit experiment, the production decided to continue and film the scene again the next day
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] We make a shark suit and we try it on. Jeremiah throws some chum over the side and the sharks show up. I jump in. I've got my face mask on. I've got a bicycle helmet screwed into the shark suit and my mask. The sharks are everywhere. It's all dark and purply and I'm pulling myself down on a rope. I get down there and the sharks come and they're everywhere. And then the craziest thing, man, my chest started to get tight. And I took a deep breath and exhaled and I went to get another breath. Nothing. The TV guide swims up to me. I basically burned through 40 minutes of air in 18 [0:32] minutes.…
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