ITV Cancels Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters After One Series Due to Poor Ratings

ITV's reality show Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters, created to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie Jaws, has been cancelled after just one season due to low ratings and mixed viewer reception. The show featured celebrities such as Dougie Poynter, Sir Lenny Henry, Helen George, Lucy Punch, Ross Noble, Rachel Riley, and Ade Adepitan as they faced their fears by swimming with sharks in the Bahamas to promote shark conservation and change misconceptions about these creatures. Despite an initial audience of 1.5 million viewers, numbers dropped to around 1.25 million by the end of the three-episode run, and critics and viewers described the concept as boring, pointless, and unwatchable. The high production costs associated with flying celebrities to the Caribbean made a second series financially unjustifiable. ITV expressed pride in having raised awareness about shark conservation but confirmed no further series are planned. The show included notable moments such as comedian Ross Noble being bitten by a shark during filming, which drew some buzz but did not improve overall reception.