Jeremy Wade recounts his most dangerous experiences filming nine seasons of his hit creature feature series for Animal Planet.
If you think sharks a laJawsare the most terrifying of sea creatures, think again.
“The thing about freshwater is, you could’t see what’s there.
Credit: Discovery
If there’s zero visibility, there’s not much point being pretty because no one can see you.
With those adventures, of course, has come a fair share of risk.
“A lot of the things I deal with are pretty scary.
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Fear makes you pay attentionit’s about absolute concentration.”
“If someone comes to help you, they’re gonna get zapped as well.”
“We got the kind of people who work on power lines,” he said.
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“Thick rubber boots and gloves.
We took a defibrillator.”
The arapaima is a very large freshwater fish that can weigh up to 400 pounds.
“He hit me in the sternum.
I could still feel that after six weeks.
I was very worried at the time that it might have damaged my heart.”
Thankfully, though, Wade lived to tell the tale, along with many others.
I never had anything like this before.”
Weather has always been a major wild card for Wade and his crew.
“Being out on the water, you’re very exposed,” he said.
“It bled quite a lot at the time.”
The obvious lesson here: Don’t base a creature’s risk factor only on its size.
The ninth and final season ofRiver Monsterspremieres this Sunday, April 23, at 9 p.m.
ET on Animal Planet.
