William Shatner Faces His Biggest Fear At 90 – Sharks!

William Shatner proves once again he is not defined by his age with a daring Shark Week adventure: “Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek”. The 90-year-old Star Trek legend boldly goes into the water to swim with sharks despite being “deathly afraid”. 

Shatner is a literal icon in the world of entertainment. While best known as Captain Kirk, America fell in love with him during the 1980’s on ‘T.J. Hooker” and that love was later rekindled in Priceline commercials. He’s even an inductee to the WWE Hall Of Fame. 

Now the beloved Canadian is taking on possibly his biggest and boldest adventure yet.

Shatner readily admits that he is terrified of sharks. So, at 90, he decided to overcome that fear by facing it head on while the cameras were rolling.

He took off for the Bahamas and joined Josh Gates to film “Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek.”

William Shatner Is “Deathly Afraid” Of Sharks

“I am deathly afraid of sharks,” Shatner said. “I really am.”

The actor is an experienced scuba diver, but his fear of sharks always caused him to swim away from them. Now, he is heading right to them. 

“Gosh, I’ve done a lot of diving. I’ve been an open water diver for many years. I’ve done a lot of reefs and small fish and lobster and caves and even seen a submarine down there,” Shatner said to Newsweek.

“But every time anybody said, ‘oh, there’s a shark,’ you’re like, ‘where’s the shark? Maybe we should get up there,’ and you go back up to the boat because there’s a shark in the water!,” he continued. “To to absolutely go against that—to go against something you’ve been inculcated to beware of sharks, now to go into the opposite action of that was enlightening.”

How To Survive Sharks – Turn Them Upside Down

William Shatner was taught an important trick. Sharks’ weakness is being turned upside down. Petting their bellies puts them to sleep. 

That’s exactly what the “Star Trek” actor did. A bunch of large sharks were nearby when a smaller one was brought to him. 

“So now I’ve got a five-foot shark in my lap, and I’m petting it,” Shatner remembers. “And all this mayhem is going on over there.”

“So I was able to pet a shark and look at these giant sharks and have the experience of a lifetime,” he added. 

Shatner is not your typical 90-year-old. He is breaking all stereotypes by staying active and in this case swimming with sharks. He is using this time to face his fears and inspiring many others.

Mission accomplished! Fans of Star Trek and Shark Week alike will love this underwater adventure.

William Shatner’s episode “Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek” is airing on Discovery during Shark Week.

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