My Strange Shark Addiction (2026) Movie Script
[Casey] I think about sharks
all the time.
[Emily] They really have such
a strength in them.
Ehh, I love you so much!
All right, it's time to go see where
my wife's gonna let me put this.
[Emily]
I have 106 shark tattoos.
[Dr. Mike] If you're really
obsessed with sharks,
the ultimate goal is
maybe to become one.
I actually made
a pair of dentures
that has real shark teeth in it.
[laughs]
I have a shark boyfriend,
named Alan.
I really have no idea
how much I've spent.
[woman] I would love to get
my face tattooed.
Should I get him a ring?
My wife's crazy.
We are going to put
a shark on your lap.
Worst case scenario for me,
I get eaten.
[Capt. Jerry] You ready.
Every Saturday, the best day
of the week for me,
I go diving, and we always go
to the same spots,
and we see the same sharks.
Typical sharks that we see here
around St. Thomas
are the Caribbean reef sharks,
nurse sharks, and then we also
have the occasional
lemon shark.
[Ashley] There's excitement.
You know, there's a little bit
of danger.
So...
it's amazing.
Oh!
[laughing]
[Capt. Jerry] All right.
Alan showed up.
Alan was there, and he still
loves me so much.
My name is Ashley.
I live in St. Thomas,
and I have a shark boyfriend,
named Alan.
I swear, Jerry,
he is so gorgeous.
One big, giant muscle.
It's a relationship.
-Yeah, yes, it is.
-I feel --
I feel quite confident.
It is a relationship.
It was -- it was a moment.
It was that -- it was
that picture right there.
You can see by my body position,
I'm like dumbfounded.
I don't -- I just love him,
and it makes me so happy.
He's so fun.
He's got a little just cute [bleep]
personality,
like, "Whoo, she's here!"
And he comes swimming around
and bumps into my camera
and he will do it more
than one time.
You know, I think
it's a game to him,
but I really do think
that we share kind of like
the same energy.
-Aren't we so cute together?
-[Capt. Jerry] Yes.
Our island is
a little bit crazy,
but this is very...
odd that someone has a shark
for a boyfriend.
We're going on 25 weeks
in a row.
It's a thing -- yes,
I know it's a thing!
Should I get him a ring?
I don't care what anybody's.
We have a relationship.
I've got to be honest, it's --
I love my wife dearly.
But, you know, she's got
this obsession with Alan,
the shark, and I'm like,
"Honey, I mean, it's an animal."
Oh, honey, I saw something
I'd never seen before.
Alan, he was laying
on the bottom of the boat,
just, like, hanging out.
And he was breathing.
It's called buccal breathing.
I swung around and I let
all the air out by BC,
so I could lay down right
beside him, with my shark!
Oh, dear God.
When did you first learn
about Alan?
It's probably been --
it's probably been
right at a year.
At first I supported it,
but you know what?
Sometimes it's just,
it freaks me out.
This might be getting a little
bit out of control because
our house is getting covered
in sharks, like, pictures --
You don't like
the shower curtains?
Could you even pick Alan out of
a, like, a shark lineup?
Absolutely!
Absolutely.
He's got a little mark right
behind his eye
on his left-hand side.
I know exactly who he is.
All right.
I -- maybe I -- maybe
it is a bit extreme,
but I love Alan.
I mean, he's such a big part
of my life.
I mean, when I go to sleep
at night, I think about,
I wonder what he's doing.
I wonder if he's thinking
about me.
[Erich] Honey, a shark is not
thinking about you.
My wife's crazy!
Absolutely crazy.
I know you're making it
sound stupid.
No, we have a thing.
Like, when he looks in my eyes,
he sees me.
He sees me.
I really don't know
how to describe it,
but just pure [bleep] bliss.
There's just
no feeling like it.
Honey, when you're out swimming,
you don't really try
to touch Alan, do you?
Well...
probably not my smartest move,
I've tried, but
I'm not going to.
I'm not going to.
-I just want you to be safe.
-I will be safe.
I'm always safe.
So, for our anniversary,
to make it so special,
we're going to go dive
and I can introduce you to Alan!
OK, so wait a minute.
This Saturday
is our anniversary,
and you're saying
that we're going to go
just so I can meet
your boyfriend?
Well, yeah.
I'm going to go regardless,
even though
it's our anniversary or not,
and since it's our anniversary,
I want you to come with me.
I wanted to have fun
on our anniversary.
I didn't want to spend it
with Alan.
You want me to be
happy, right?
You are not going
to steal my sunshine.
So whatever.
Hair flip.
-People are seeing our shark.
-Yeah.
They might be like,
"Everyone, look, I got that
shark on top of the car."
Yeah, you definitely get some
looks when you have a shark jaw
on the side of your minivan
and when you've got a nine-foot
fish on your roof.
I mean, it definitely
is an attention-getter.
But, you know, in our family,
it's just kind of
a normal weekday.
Everyone who comes
to our house is like,
"Wait, why are there
so many sharks?"
My first thought when I go
to their house is,
why aren't there any sharks?
I'm Dr. Mike Foley.
I'm a dentist, and
I'm obsessed with sharks.
I'm married to my beautiful
wife, Catherine.
I've got three kids,
and I'm trying to make them
shark experts too.
It's hard to put an exact date
on my love of sharks,
because it's been since
I can remember,
and it has spiraled
out of control.
I collect everything
related to sharks.
I collect teeth.
I collect artwork.
I collect jaws.
I collect movie props.
I've got a great white
shark bust.
I've got a ten-foot mako shark,
a five-foot mako shark,
an eight-foot tiger shark,
and then there's one more
hiding in my son's room,
a little four-foot
scalloped hammerhead.
My hand skills in dentistry
allowed me to set new teeth
in areas where broken
teeth existed.
I really have no idea
how much I've spent over the years
on these items,
but if I had to estimate,
I would imagine six figures.
Where do you think
it should go in the house?
In between Teddy's room
and Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.
OK, what about in Mommy
and Daddy's bedroom?
Um, no.
Mom's pretty accepting
of things.
All right, Charlie,
I'm gonna let you out.
Mommy!
All right, buddy,
you're almost free.
Join your friends inside.
The dentist, to me,
loves everything about sharks.
When you look
at a megalodon tooth,
for every inch
of diagonal length,
typically is thought
to translate
into ten-foot of shark length.
And so a tooth like this
came from a shark
that was 45 feet long.
I mean, they'd eat a person
without even having to chew.
I would love to be able to work
on a megalodon as a dentist.
They'd be so easy.
You could basically crawl
in their mouth,
you'd have the ultimate access
to their teeth and their jaws.
That would be incredible.
But sharks don't really have
to worry about trips to the dentist.
If you have a tooth problem
as a shark, just give it
two weeks, you'll probably
have a new tooth
in its location.
Problems solve themselves.
All right, it's time to go see where
my wife's gonna let me put this.
When you bring home 100-pound
shark jaws that you need
to turn sideways to fit through
a door, you know,
a nine-foot shark stops looking
strange to them.
Hey, Catherine.
I brought home another stray.
OK, where's this one gonna go?
Maybe here for now,
but maybe putting it
over the fireplace
or the bedroom.
Not in our bedroom, no.
You know, I've always known
that Mike was into sharks.
Our very first date was
in Gainesville, Florida.
Fossil hunting, looking
for shark teeth.
So I guess I've always known.
I just didn't know how many
sharks would end up
in our house.
We got to get her cleaned up.
This is, what,
number five, or...?
Yeah, it's five or six.
I don't like to count them.
It started as one enormous,
you know, ten-foot shark,
and then they just kind of
kept coming.
-Did we need more?
-Yeah.
We did? Oh, my God.
Yeah, see?
Teddy's always got my back.
It's only nine feet.
Yeah, she's beautiful.
I always tell my friends,
at least he doesn't play
video games.
Where'd you get this one from?
You know, my typical
internet marketplaces.
You know, it was a quick
two-hour drive.
-OK.
-White teeth.
It does have white teeth.
OK, remember people are coming
over soon, so I think you need
to figure out where
that's going to go.
Yeah, we'll tuck it up.
I don't know.
Maybe I'll clean up this table.
We'll set it underneath
the chandelier.
I think that looks great --
look at it.
-It already matches in here.
-It does.
It does match.
I'll give you that.
[Dr. Mike] Yeah.
But I don't think
the dining room table is
the permanent location.
We'll, I'll figure it out
before the party, no problem.
Teddy.
What is she doing out there?
There are definitely sharks
in that water.
The last time I was in the ocean
was over 15 years ago.
No way.
Not happening.
I don't even like
getting my feet wet.
Won't get ankle deep in it.
I panic, I freeze, I shut down,
and I try my best to avoid it.
No, no, no, you come to me.
I'm Casey, I'm from
Medford, Oregon,
and I have a dire shark-phobia.
I think about sharks
all the time.
It is very debilitating
to my life.
Get, no, get out of there.
I am afraid of all sharks.
I see sharks as just
man-hungry beasts,
like there is no chance for me,
they're out to get me,
essentially.
When I hear the word shark,
I think death.
What motivated you to come
and see me?
I'm 30 years old.
I've got two kids,
and I can't even read them
a book about sharks.
Can't watch shark movies.
My son loves sharks.
He points them out
all the time.
Like, this is something
I have to overcome.
-OK.
-I cannot let this eat me alive.
[Casey]
I came all the way to Florida
from Oregon to meet
Dr. D'Arienzo
because he helps people
overcome their shark phobias,
and I'm really hoping
he can help me.
The positive thing is you have
made a decision
to work through this.
-Absolutely.
And you're ready to do
something about it.
So typically when
you're treating somebody
for a shark-phobia, you start
with pictures and videos
because they know
that it's not real.
It's safe, even though
it's creating that same
physiological experience.
Oh, that shot right
there, actually.
I have this nightmare
where I'm sinking into
a vast blue ocean.
-OK.
And a shark kind of comes into
focus, and then just as
it gets right to me is usually
the point that I wake up.
Was that the triggering
beginning of this phobia?
Actually, when I was being
taught how to swim
when I was four years old,
I was always convinced
there were sharks,
whether freshwater, saltwater,
especially if I couldn't see
in the water.
People that have shark-phobias,
it's also known as galeophobia.
Some people,
their phobia is so strong
that even the word "shark"
triggers a panic attack.
I have not been in the ocean
in at least 15 years.
Do you even go into ankle-deep
water when you go to the beach?
-No.
-No?
Because I want you to tell me
rationally what could happen
in ankle-deep water?
In the ocean, tides are going
to trip me up, loose sand,
and I'm suddenly food
to the ocean
and what lies beneath.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK.
If my girlfriend was
on her period,
I wouldn't want to go in
for the sake of
the smell of blood in the water.
Sharks can smell blood
miles away.
Being with somebody
who might be bleeding,
whether it's myself or somebody
else, that really concerns me.
I do notice that you are
shaking a little bit.
A little bit.
What I want to do is see
what your heart rate looks
like right now.
-OK.
-Here we go.
We're going to put that
on there.
See what your heart rate
looks like.
He was very tense, and I could
tell that he was engaged
in some shallow breathing,
and I could even see
his chest beating very quickly.
So you're at about a 95.
We're just gonna bring your
heart rate down a little bit.
What I want you to do,
I want you to focus
on some belly breathing.
-OK.
OK, I want you to inhale
through your nose,
and hold, and exhale
out of your mouth.
Pause, and let's just
do that a few times.
OK, it's coming down
a little bit.
We went down a couple
beats a minute.
How are you feeling right now?
A little more centered,
I'd say.
-A little more centered.
-Yeah, absolutely.
If we can control our body,
we can control our thoughts.
Absolutely.
We are going to immerse you
in different shark
and water experiences.
Gradual steps of things that
are more easy to things
that become more difficult.
Potentially swimming with them,
touching them...
to help you get better.
Worst case scenario for me,
I get eaten.
[Emily] We are at Venice Beach,
Florida, and that is known as
the Sharktooth capital
of the world.
I love sharks so much.
I live in Maine, but I travel
to Florida every single weekend
just to live my shark life.
It takes about six hours with
the flights to get down here,
but it's well worth it
for the sharks.
My preferred name is
Shark Lady Emily.
I will respond to Emily,
but my real name is
Shark Lady Emily.
And I have 106 shark tattoos.
After my divorce,
I started to really kind of
gravitate towards sharks.
They made me really happy,
and I was very passionate
about them.
They really have such
a strength in them.
I ended up getting
the whale sharks
when I had my two interactions
with those whale sharks.
And then I was like,
"Ooh, that's a great idea.
"Maybe I should have more
interactions with sharks
and get them tatted."
And that was where it rolled
into the obsession.
So I have two great whites,
one on my lower back
and one on behind my neck.
But then I also have a couple
of zebra sharks.
I have a couple of epaulettes,
lemon sharks,
sand tiger sharks.
I have a school of 13
hammerheads on my back.
I have two tiger sharks,
the famous Emma,
who is down in the Bahamas.
And then also Freckles,
I have them tattooed on
my thigh, along with a couple
of other deep water shark
species that are on my back.
I've spent well over $20,000
on my tattoos.
People started to be like,
"Wow, you're a crazy shark lady,
aren't you?"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I am.
I'm a crazy shark lady."
Clearly, it is.
How many different species
are on there?
Oh, I have 71 species
and 106 so far.
I'm getting two more to complete
the record, for the record.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
I submitted my application
for Guinness World
for the most individual shark
tattoos tatted on a female.
Right now, we are at 106,
and I have two more to tattoo
on me, so we'll go for
108 individual sharks.
Even after I get
the world record,
I will not stop getting
shark tattoos.
A lot of my tattoos
are actually personal.
So I do --
I worked with these guys.
I tagged these guys.
I like sharks.
I spent money on my tattoos,
so I might as well show them.
I have at least two more to go.
I'm not sure,
but I really want it on my face.
That's what she wants to do.
I personally wouldn't get any
on my face, but kudos to her.
Living my shark life,
I won't stop, so...
Yeah, absolutely.
I would love to get my face
tattooed, although everybody
I speak to is against it.
So, we'll see what happens.
-Hey, Doc, how you doing?
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Hey, guys,
good to see you.
How you doing Casey?
-Great to see you again --
not too bad.
-You too, buddy.
-This is Hayleigh, by the way,
my lovely girlfriend.
-I'm Dr. D'Arienzo.
-Good to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.
Are you here to support him?
-Yeah.
-Yeah, she's my rock.
She helps me through
all these problems.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
I love that.
We have a big day for you,
lots of shark
immersive experiences.
Do you think you can
handle that?
I'm a little anxious,
but I think, you know,
we're here for a reason,
so I'm going to do my best.
-All right, let's do it.
-Let's go.
Whenever we are resolving
a phobia, we start with things
that are easier to do,
to things that become more
and more difficult.
Welcome.
Welcome to Big Shark Bay.
Thanks for having us.
-Of course.
-I'm Casey.
-Kee.
-Nice to meet you, Kee.
-Hayleigh.
-And Hayleigh.
Very nice meeting you.
I'm the biologist here
at the aquarium.
-I've got five nurse sharks
in this habitat...
-Five?
...and I would love to
introduce you to some of them.
You know, they're a little
closer than what I'm used to.
When I see sharks,
I freeze most of the time.
I get very tense.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Now, remember,
do your breathing.
And it helps to learn
about them, right?
I think so.
That's a big boy.
[Kee] Yeah.
One cool thing about
a nurse shark is that they have
a strong enough suction power
that they can pull an entire
conch out of its shell.
I can feel my heart
rate increase,
and I start to panic
a little bit.
Palpitations, shortness of
breath, and I will inevitably
start sweating.
This is the closest I've been
to a shark in my life.
How are you feeling?
I'm a little anxious, a little
panicking Skywalker, but...
On the outside,
I look cool as a cucumber.
On the inside, I've got
a tornado going in my heart,
a thousand thoughts
going in my brain.
What if I get too close
to the shark?
What if this?
What if that?
It's all just swirling
around me.
Do you need a tissue
for your sweat?
I might.
Oh, thanks.
-Are you feeling OK?
-You know, my heart rate's up.
I think that's part of
the I'm sweating so much,
but, you know.
You want to pet that one?
-Pass.
-We're both here to help you.
Just remember
your breathing, OK?
Nice and easy.
Which one do you want to pet?
You got this.
My anxiety's up there,
but you know what?
I will pet the biggest one.
That's what I'm here for,
so let's do it.
-The biggest shark?
-All right, I like it.
-Let's do it.
-All right.
I am feeling very anxious
knowing that, you know,
just a couple feet away from me
is something that could
swallow me whole without
thinking about it.
-Wow, look at that one.
-It's a big one.
[Kee] That's Miss Baby.
She's over seven foot right now.
-Yeah.
-[Hayleigh] You got this.
So we actually have these sharks
trained to a audible sound.
When the shark hears their cue,
they know to meet me at the gate.
We'll give her a little bit more
time, see if she's interested.
-Plot twist. She has a phobia of me.
-She might.
[Kee] They can definitely tell
some nervous energy.
-How are you feeling about this?
-A little...
I would say I'm about back up
to an eight at this point,
and try to remember why...
why I'm here.
-Look at that. There we go.
-[Kee] Look at them!
Have you had an incident
or experience of
any sort of ill variety?
So the nurse shark is
a fantastic species.
You shouldn't have any fear
about these beautiful animals.
And I make sure that this is
100% safe the entire time,
and I can move a hand faster
than you can blink.
So you want to give it a go?
I don't know.
I don't know if I can.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Casey.
-That's enormous.
I don't know.
-You can do this, man.
-You got it.
So I'm going to lift her up.
You'll be able to gently then
pet anywhere along on the back.
Just keep telling myself
this moment will pass
and try to get
through it that way.
All right.
All right.
[Hayleigh]
Wow.
-[Casey] She's got
a sandy feel to her.
-[Kee]Yeah.
[Kee] We can do her belly roll.
There we are.
[Casey] Oh, she got
a little red belly.
[Kee] There we go.
Yep, she's always had this mark,
and you can gently pat her
anywhere on the belly.
All right.
You know, the only way
to overcome a phobia
is through exposure.
This is exactly what he's doing,
and when we do that,
we reprogram, rewire our brain.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, good job.
I mean, you just
touched a shark.
Yeah, I definitely haven't
done that at all.
-Was it exciting?
-Nerve-wracking, but yes.
I was, uh...
it wasn't as bad
as I expected.
-I think, I mean, that's --
-Yeah
-I think I'm doing all right.
-Uh-huh.
Are you ready for
the next experience?
I know that something more
extreme, something bigger
is coming next, so the anxiety
goes up a little higher.
I don't know what's coming
or if I'm gonna be
able to face it.
[knocking]
-Hey, how are you?
-David, thanks for joining us.
Jonah, how you doing?
Come on in.
Watch the shark.
He's a little bit sharp.
My family just moved
to Bethesda, Maryland,
and today we're hoping to have
some of our neighbors over
just to kind of say hi,
to let them kind of learn about
our family a little bit more.
This is our almost
10-foot mako shark.
He's got real teeth.
Guess what?
I brought home a new one
this week,
and we're still trying to figure
out where he's going to go.
Come take a look.
I think the sharks are such
a part of me at this point
that no one in the family even
thinks it's that strange,
but you never really know
what your neighbors think.
So, Jonah, I've got teeth
from megalodon sharks.
Do you know it had over 200
pounds of teeth in its mouth?
That's incredible.
I think they're less likely
to think it's normal.
And then I'm a dentist,
and so I actually made a pair
of dentures that has real shark
teeth in it.
If you're really obsessed
with sharks, the ultimate goal
is maybe to become one.
I wanted to do the Pretty Woman
thing where, you know,
you snap at it.
[laughs]
Isn't that scary?
First time getting to see
all of the shebang here.
This is quite something.
Mike likes sharks.
Hey, Charlie,
can I eat with you guys?
I've started a little bit down
the pathway of body modification.
A couple months ago, I made some
shark teeth for myself to wear.
[girl] Oh, my goodness!
[kids] Ew!
It's really fun to demonstrate
how these shark teeth function.
-Eww! Don't come close to me.
-No!
-Ew!
-[kid speaks indistinctly]
-They're so creepy.
-Mmm!
Why are you doing that?
It works really great.
You'll scratch your lip.
The kids' reaction to my teeth,
maybe not what I was expecting.
Out!
-Do you wanna touch them?
-No!
I thought maybe
they'd be more excited by it,
but I guess it does kind of turn
you into a little bit of a monster.
Take your teeth out.
-All right.
-[Charlie] OK.
Thank you for taking them out.
It's grossing me out.
All right, I'll put them away.
I'll put them away.
I think it became
a little bit more problematic,
especially my two-year-old.
He didn't like that at all.
I think maybe he was worried
I was becoming a shark.
-You don't want a pair?
-No.
I don't think they're great.
Do you think they're great?
-No.
-No? [laughs]
-Do not mess with him.
-No, not baby Teddy.
Do you know what
that shark's called?
That's a bull shark.
That's one of the sharks that
you do have to be kind of
careful about.
Charlie, that's a hammerhead.
That's like what
we brought home.
One of the parts of dentistry
that I enjoy the most is
that you become an educator.
And that passion for education
exists within my shark
hobby too.
Hammerheads use their heads
like metal detectors.
So, see how
he's sweeping the sand?
He's looking for like flounders
or stingrays.
He's feeling for little
electrical impulses
from the muscles of fish.
And his suit --
look at that, he's got something
stuck in his teeth.
He needs me.
Isn't that cool?
All right, so are you guys
tired of watching sharks?
-Yeah!
-Yeah!
-You wanna see the shark laser?
-Yeah!
I made a laser shark.
Three, two, one.
-[David] I wanna see the laser.
-[laughing]
No one's built a shark laser
and I thought,
I'm tripping over
sharks at my house.
This would be easy.
This is my shoulder-mounted,
high-powered laser shark.
It's a five-foot mako.
I think my favorite
species of shark
is probably the mako shark,
just because they look
like a military weapon.
When you see that laser shark
coming, you know exactly
what that thing is
and what it does.
Up here is the business end.
460-nanometer wavelength,
blue laser.
We'll be firing it
at our friend here.
All right, three, two, one.
Oh, there it goes.
-Oh, my God!
-Yes!
Oh, my God!
I think I've sort of...
jumped the shark a little bit.
[Jonah] I'm doing it.
[David] All right, well,
you gotta let Dr. Mike
show you how it's done, bud.
I was happy to see that some
of the kids wanted
to participate.
Three, two, one.
-Whoa!
-What? Jonah!
-[chuckling]
-[kids] Wow!
-We did it!
-Cool!
I had no idea what I was
getting myself into,
but I'm glad I'm here,
because this is amazing to see.
Go, Sabrina!
Oh!
[kids]
Wow!
Wow.
My passion for sharks is
in my DNA at this point,
and I just don't see
the passion ever...
ever going out.
I'm OK with it as long as
we don't end up with
a megalodon in our backyard,
because that would be
a little too much.
-[Ashley] Happy anniversary.
-Oh, man.
So today is our anniversary.
And Erich's gonna
meet my boyfriend.
It's a big day.
Because it's our anniversary.
Jerry!
Jerry!
[Capt. Jerry] Good morning.
How we doing?
-Fabulous.
-Let's go see Alan.
Oh.
[Erich]
What a way to spend
our anniversary, hun.
Just gonna drop it.
-That feels like it's hooked.
-[Erich] Yes, sir.
-[Capt. Jerry] All right.
-[Ashley] Oh, my God.
-This is going to be so cute.
-[Capt. Jerry] Looks good.
Brand new pink suit
just for Alan.
-He's going to love it.
-I hope so.
We're going to go down there.
We're going to see Alan
and his buddies,
all Caribbean reef sharks.
You're going to be wearing
comms today.
And we can talk
throughout the dive.
-Okie dokie.
-Sounds good?
And let's go have a good time.
-And a happy anniversary.
-Happy anniversary.
[Capt. Jerry] There you go.
[Ashley]
You hear me?
[Erich]
Hear you loud and clear.
When you drop down,
it's the best feeling
in the entire world.
It's [bleep] magic, right?
[Erich]
I don't see any sharks.
-Where are all the sharks?
-[Ashley] They will come.
I know they will come.
I don't know
why they're not here.
[Erich]
Wait, what's that?
[Ashley] Look!
You can see the shark
circling around.
Look!
[Erich] Is that him?
Is that Alan?
[Ashley] No.
That is a negative.
[Erich] Where's Alan?
[Erich] I have no idea.
I don't know where he is.
I don't think he's coming.
I swear he's here every week.
Alan, where are you?
-Oh, my God.
-Hi!
-Hi, how are ya?
-Good, how are you?
-Oh, it's been so long.
-[Emily] It has been a second.
-And is this the last?
-[Emily] It is the last of it.
We're finishing up the Guinness World
Record right now.
Today, I'm coming to see Emma
to add two more sharks.
We're gonna add
the black-mouthed cat shark
and the Atlantic big-eyed
six-gilled shark.
This guy had, like,
a weird hump to its back.
Yeah, well, because they're
deep-water, so they actually
lost their dorsal fin.
So we're thinking the leg.
Or maybe the face this time.
-Emily.
-Come on, Emma.
What will your mom think?
I know her.
I mean, anybody can do what
they want with their bodies,
but face tattoos are a whole
different ballgame.
I want her to be able to get
jobs in the future.
-All right, maybe just the leg.
-Well, let's get started.
[Emily] All right, great.
All right, we'll start
with the six-gilled.
[Emily] This shark
that you're tattooing now,
he's a living fossil.
They've been around for about
250 million years,
and they have six gill slits.
-That's wild.
Only seven species of sharks
have six or seven gill slits,
and all the rest have five.
So these guys are,
like, unchanged for millions
and millions of years.
Emily is definitely
obsessed with sharks.
The oceanic whitetip.
They're very, very fast
and extremely kind of scary.
They will swim away from you.
You will blink and they will
already be in your face.
That's how quick they are
and how curious.
-Sounds like horror movie stuff.
-Yeah.
I'd be more scared of those
than I would great whites.
Apparently them and the tiger sharks
were responsible
for the USS Indianapolis.
That stuff freaks me out.
I'm still kind of nervous
for you to go to Australia.
Are you? Oh, I'm so excited.
So in two weeks,
I'll be heading down to Australia
to cage-dive with great whites.
You know that it's one of
my favorite species,
even though it's a little
cliche, but...
-Are you nervous?
-No, not even a little bit.
-I'm more excited. Only...
-When I saw the videos, I'm just...
It's... I would piss myself.
It's bad.
The great white is something,
a species I will not ask you
to put on my face.
-So don't worry about that.
-Oh! Yeah.
I think that would just be
a little too basic for you, you know?
-All right, on to the next.
-[Emily] All right.
[Emma] But this one has,
like, fun patterns.
Why is this one --
Yeah, so the blackmouth catshark
is actually a pretty deep
water shark, but it has a lot
of pattern on it because it is
on the muddy bottom floor.
There's so much information
being looked at,
learned about these sharks.
-[Emma] Right.
They've been on the earth for
over 400 million years,
and so it's just
constant adaptations.
-I think we are all set.
-OK.
[Emma] Check it out.
[Emily] I love it!
[Emma] Oh, that is
perfect placement.
And the eye on that one!
-[Emily] Holy cow!
-[Emma] Yeah, it's perfect.
The big-eyed
and the six-gilled.
One, two, three, four,
five, six.
-Nailed it!
-You nailed it!
-[Erich] Let's go up.
-[Ashley] We haven't
found Alan yet.
-[Erich] I'm almost out of air.
-I put this all together.
Supposed to meet husband.
Maybe he didn't get the memo.
I'm going to check over here.
I love my wife and do anything
in the world for her,
and I'm just hoping
to see her world.
But we'll see what happens.
[Ashley]
Alan? Alan? Alan?
Are you in here?
Honey, look.
Look!
-[Erich] Is that him?
-[Ashley] It's Alan!
Look how beautiful
he is from below.
He's going right over me.
[Erich] Make sure it's him.
[Ashley] Ah! Eh!
It is totally him.
Alan, I have someone
special for you to meet.
This is Erich.
[Erich] I can take him.
I think he knew. I think he knew
it was a big day.
And he knew it was going
to meet my husband.
And he couldn't handle it
without his friends.
So he went and he brought
a bunch of his friends.
And Erich got to meet Alan.
You had fun, didn't you?
It was a great
anniversary dive.
-I love you so much.
-[Erich] Beautiful shark, hon.
-This is amazing.
-[Ashley] Alan, come back.
[Erich] I'm pretty sure
he's jealous of me.
I think he understands that
I do feelings for another,
but I don't think he feels
threatened because,
you know, you blow bubbles
and he doesn't.
I love you, honey.
Happy anniversary.
[Erich]
Happy anniversary, honey.
Love you too.
I see it now, hon.
You guys hold fins and swim off
into the sunset.
Ashley doesn't know this,
Alan's a girl.
I'm gay?
[laughing]
Who knew?
Male sharks have claspers
on the underside.
That is their reproductive
organ.
Alan has no claspers.
I don't care.
I'm in love with her.
That's OK.
Doesn't change the love.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Today, I brought
Casey to the Theater of the Sea
in Islamorada, Florida,
for his final test.
This is his last step in
exposure therapy,
and the sharks are no longer
behind the glass.
Hey, Taylor.
How you doing?
-Hi, guys. Good to see you.
-Good, how about you.
I have no idea what
we're doing today.
I'm actually very
anxious about it.
My legs, I can't stop shaking.
I have no idea what's going on
or really what to expect.
-Hayleigh.
-Hayleigh.
-Casey.
-Casey.
-Awesome. Nice to meet you..
-Nice to meet you.
Again, my name is Taylor,
and I'm the fish and reptile
supervisor here.
Are we all ready to meet some
nurse sharks?
-We'll see -- yeah.
-Yeah?
People do come in
fearful of sharks.
I never blame anybody for
misunderstanding sharks,
and I think of it as my job
to help them understand them.
They're awesome.
They're gentle giants,
if I do say so myself.
We do have seven nurse
sharks here.
We have five smaller ones
and then two of our big ones.
They're actually
bottom dwellers,
and they are
nocturnal.
One of the coolest things about
nurse sharks, they actually use
their suction to suction up
food in the wild,
so it's actually one of
the experiences that you will
get to feel.
And we are actually going to
have you on that bench right
there in the water.
We are going to put
a shark on your lap.
Yeah, do you feel
comfortable doing so?
Everything in me is telling me
to walk away right now.
Casey, what are you
feeling right now?
I don't know. I don't know.
-I don't know if I can do it.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Let's talk
about this, OK?
[Casey] I don't want to be here.
This feels insane. Feel stupid.
I don't think I could do it.
[Casey]
I don't think I could do it.
Let's take a little walk, OK?
Can we do that?
What is the concern?
Uh, I mean, this is as
up-close and personal
as they could get.
It's a little much.
OK.
For somebody that was petrified
of sharks, this has been
an intense sequence of exposure,
so I did anticipate
at some point there'd be
a breaking point.
What is the worst thing that
you're thinking about right now?
I think just being submerged
within the proximity.
Danger feels more real, I guess,
more three-dimensional.
You've learned that they're not
a dangerous creature
generally, right?
I mean, especially
these nurse sharks...
Yeah.
...right, are the least aggressive
type of shark.
-So we've heard.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Uh-huh.
All those skills that
we've reviewed, right?
We gotta focus on the breathing,
be here in the moment, right?
If we control the body,
control the mind.
This is going to rewire you
so you and Hayleigh
can take the kids on vacation
at the beach, too.
I mean, your kids would love to
see something like this, right?
-They're going to be
so proud of you.
-Yeah.
Definitely.
I mean, this is as hands-on
as it can get, and I...
Ugh, yeah.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] This is
the natural progression.
It just feels like
a whole new game.
-OK, I know this is intense.
-My heart is racing.
I know it is.
Let's be in the moment.
I want you to focus
on the birds.
OK, focus on Hayleigh.
Give Hayleigh a hug.
It'll be OK.
And Casey, remember too that,
you know, you don't have
to do this either, right?
It's a choice to do it.
Yeah, I mean, I don't,
but for me, I have to.
OK.
And if you're able
to accomplish this,
that fear is going to be
extinguished.
-OK.
-OK?
-You ready?
-Yeah, yeah, I think so.
-All right. Let's do this.
-[Hayleigh] Yeah?
I'm nervous for Casey because
he's going to be submerged
in the water with a shark.
And I already know that
he's going to be very tense,
going through a lot of emotions,
and hopefully Doc and I can
help him through this.
I'm gonna be guiding you
straight down to this bench.
You'll sit about halfway down
the bench, keeping your hands
out of the water.
Are you ready to get in?
-Yeah.
-[Annie] All right, perfect.
You're doing great. Perfect.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, good job, buddy.
And then right about there,
you can take a seat for me.
You got it.
Perfect.
Awesome job.
Getting in the water
and being that close,
I completely shut down.
I started freezing
and panicking.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Relax.
You're doing great.
It felt like walking into
an armed stranger's house,
not knowing what to expect
or how I was going to come out
of it, or if I would.
And I'm going to have you put
your hands straight up
in the air like you're riding
a roller coaster.
-All right.
-[Annie] Perfect.
Now, Maria is just going
to rest right in your lap.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Oh, look at that.
-[Hayleigh] Good job.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Casey.
-Perfect.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Just keep
breathing, Casey.
You're going to put your hands
straight down.
That hand right there
is perfect.
This hand, you're going
to wrap around her
like you're giving
her a big hug.
Now you might feel little
wiggles, just like that.
That is totally OK.
That's just her
getting comfortable.
Bigger wiggles.
I'll let you know to put
your hands straight up
in the air again.
All right?
How you feeling?
There's a pool of diarrhea
forming inside of me.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, relax all that tension.
Relax.
-You're doing great.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Easy does it.
I want you to focus on just
being in the moment,
feeling the shark.
How does that feel?
Like she might be
as anxious as I am.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] She may be.
This how we extinguish this
fear, and you're doing it, man.
Casey's doing quite well,
given the extreme fear
and phobia that he presented.
-Good?
-Yeah.
So we were ready to move into
a more intense experience,
actually feeding a shark.
So you're going to feel
a really big pop in a second.
-All right?
That's just her eating.
-Yeah.
She eats with a suction.
So here it goes.
-Two, one.
-Three, two, one.
Nice.
Very nice job.
Nice job, Casey.
You're doing great.
Did you ever think you'd be
able to do this?
No, not a chance.
Wow.
What is your anxiety
level right now?
It's about down to a six, I'd say.
[Hayleigh] That's good.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] I mean,
that's amazing.
-[Casey] She's incredible.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Right?
You look like you're really
in the moment.
Doing my best.
You're doing such a great job.
All right, hands straight up
in the air.
Perfect. Good job.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Wow.
-Nice job.
-All right, thank you.
I feel immensely
proud of myself.
I didn't think I had it
in me to even try.
I thought it was just going
to be a little pocket of shame
that I kept hidden from
everybody else for ever, really.
But now I've made the step
to immerse myself
and really get through it.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] My man.
Thank you so much
for being here.
-I think you need
to hug Hayleigh.
-You did it!
You did it!
Look at you.
Sorry if I got you wet.
It's OK.
I don't care.
I think Casey is
going to do great.
He's going to be able to get
into the water.
Him and Hayleigh are going to be
able to take a honeymoon
in Hawaii.
You know, all these things that
he could have never done before
if he wouldn't have
faced this fear.
I'm still shaking, but I think
it's because --
it's like the accomplishment.
-I did do it.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Yes.
So do you still have the same
fear of sharks?
I think they're still
in an apprehension,
but it's appropriate now.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK.
It doesn't feel as debilitating
as it once did.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK, perfect.
You're doing so amazing.
It's been six weeks since
we got back from Florida,
and I no longer feel like sharks
are out to get humans.
I got to enter the ocean for
the first time in 15 years.
And we are even planning a beach
vacation with the kids
and I'm really excited about it.
-How do you feel?
-I feel much better.
Aw.
all the time.
[Emily] They really have such
a strength in them.
Ehh, I love you so much!
All right, it's time to go see where
my wife's gonna let me put this.
[Emily]
I have 106 shark tattoos.
[Dr. Mike] If you're really
obsessed with sharks,
the ultimate goal is
maybe to become one.
I actually made
a pair of dentures
that has real shark teeth in it.
[laughs]
I have a shark boyfriend,
named Alan.
I really have no idea
how much I've spent.
[woman] I would love to get
my face tattooed.
Should I get him a ring?
My wife's crazy.
We are going to put
a shark on your lap.
Worst case scenario for me,
I get eaten.
[Capt. Jerry] You ready.
Every Saturday, the best day
of the week for me,
I go diving, and we always go
to the same spots,
and we see the same sharks.
Typical sharks that we see here
around St. Thomas
are the Caribbean reef sharks,
nurse sharks, and then we also
have the occasional
lemon shark.
[Ashley] There's excitement.
You know, there's a little bit
of danger.
So...
it's amazing.
Oh!
[laughing]
[Capt. Jerry] All right.
Alan showed up.
Alan was there, and he still
loves me so much.
My name is Ashley.
I live in St. Thomas,
and I have a shark boyfriend,
named Alan.
I swear, Jerry,
he is so gorgeous.
One big, giant muscle.
It's a relationship.
-Yeah, yes, it is.
-I feel --
I feel quite confident.
It is a relationship.
It was -- it was a moment.
It was that -- it was
that picture right there.
You can see by my body position,
I'm like dumbfounded.
I don't -- I just love him,
and it makes me so happy.
He's so fun.
He's got a little just cute [bleep]
personality,
like, "Whoo, she's here!"
And he comes swimming around
and bumps into my camera
and he will do it more
than one time.
You know, I think
it's a game to him,
but I really do think
that we share kind of like
the same energy.
-Aren't we so cute together?
-[Capt. Jerry] Yes.
Our island is
a little bit crazy,
but this is very...
odd that someone has a shark
for a boyfriend.
We're going on 25 weeks
in a row.
It's a thing -- yes,
I know it's a thing!
Should I get him a ring?
I don't care what anybody's.
We have a relationship.
I've got to be honest, it's --
I love my wife dearly.
But, you know, she's got
this obsession with Alan,
the shark, and I'm like,
"Honey, I mean, it's an animal."
Oh, honey, I saw something
I'd never seen before.
Alan, he was laying
on the bottom of the boat,
just, like, hanging out.
And he was breathing.
It's called buccal breathing.
I swung around and I let
all the air out by BC,
so I could lay down right
beside him, with my shark!
Oh, dear God.
When did you first learn
about Alan?
It's probably been --
it's probably been
right at a year.
At first I supported it,
but you know what?
Sometimes it's just,
it freaks me out.
This might be getting a little
bit out of control because
our house is getting covered
in sharks, like, pictures --
You don't like
the shower curtains?
Could you even pick Alan out of
a, like, a shark lineup?
Absolutely!
Absolutely.
He's got a little mark right
behind his eye
on his left-hand side.
I know exactly who he is.
All right.
I -- maybe I -- maybe
it is a bit extreme,
but I love Alan.
I mean, he's such a big part
of my life.
I mean, when I go to sleep
at night, I think about,
I wonder what he's doing.
I wonder if he's thinking
about me.
[Erich] Honey, a shark is not
thinking about you.
My wife's crazy!
Absolutely crazy.
I know you're making it
sound stupid.
No, we have a thing.
Like, when he looks in my eyes,
he sees me.
He sees me.
I really don't know
how to describe it,
but just pure [bleep] bliss.
There's just
no feeling like it.
Honey, when you're out swimming,
you don't really try
to touch Alan, do you?
Well...
probably not my smartest move,
I've tried, but
I'm not going to.
I'm not going to.
-I just want you to be safe.
-I will be safe.
I'm always safe.
So, for our anniversary,
to make it so special,
we're going to go dive
and I can introduce you to Alan!
OK, so wait a minute.
This Saturday
is our anniversary,
and you're saying
that we're going to go
just so I can meet
your boyfriend?
Well, yeah.
I'm going to go regardless,
even though
it's our anniversary or not,
and since it's our anniversary,
I want you to come with me.
I wanted to have fun
on our anniversary.
I didn't want to spend it
with Alan.
You want me to be
happy, right?
You are not going
to steal my sunshine.
So whatever.
Hair flip.
-People are seeing our shark.
-Yeah.
They might be like,
"Everyone, look, I got that
shark on top of the car."
Yeah, you definitely get some
looks when you have a shark jaw
on the side of your minivan
and when you've got a nine-foot
fish on your roof.
I mean, it definitely
is an attention-getter.
But, you know, in our family,
it's just kind of
a normal weekday.
Everyone who comes
to our house is like,
"Wait, why are there
so many sharks?"
My first thought when I go
to their house is,
why aren't there any sharks?
I'm Dr. Mike Foley.
I'm a dentist, and
I'm obsessed with sharks.
I'm married to my beautiful
wife, Catherine.
I've got three kids,
and I'm trying to make them
shark experts too.
It's hard to put an exact date
on my love of sharks,
because it's been since
I can remember,
and it has spiraled
out of control.
I collect everything
related to sharks.
I collect teeth.
I collect artwork.
I collect jaws.
I collect movie props.
I've got a great white
shark bust.
I've got a ten-foot mako shark,
a five-foot mako shark,
an eight-foot tiger shark,
and then there's one more
hiding in my son's room,
a little four-foot
scalloped hammerhead.
My hand skills in dentistry
allowed me to set new teeth
in areas where broken
teeth existed.
I really have no idea
how much I've spent over the years
on these items,
but if I had to estimate,
I would imagine six figures.
Where do you think
it should go in the house?
In between Teddy's room
and Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.
OK, what about in Mommy
and Daddy's bedroom?
Um, no.
Mom's pretty accepting
of things.
All right, Charlie,
I'm gonna let you out.
Mommy!
All right, buddy,
you're almost free.
Join your friends inside.
The dentist, to me,
loves everything about sharks.
When you look
at a megalodon tooth,
for every inch
of diagonal length,
typically is thought
to translate
into ten-foot of shark length.
And so a tooth like this
came from a shark
that was 45 feet long.
I mean, they'd eat a person
without even having to chew.
I would love to be able to work
on a megalodon as a dentist.
They'd be so easy.
You could basically crawl
in their mouth,
you'd have the ultimate access
to their teeth and their jaws.
That would be incredible.
But sharks don't really have
to worry about trips to the dentist.
If you have a tooth problem
as a shark, just give it
two weeks, you'll probably
have a new tooth
in its location.
Problems solve themselves.
All right, it's time to go see where
my wife's gonna let me put this.
When you bring home 100-pound
shark jaws that you need
to turn sideways to fit through
a door, you know,
a nine-foot shark stops looking
strange to them.
Hey, Catherine.
I brought home another stray.
OK, where's this one gonna go?
Maybe here for now,
but maybe putting it
over the fireplace
or the bedroom.
Not in our bedroom, no.
You know, I've always known
that Mike was into sharks.
Our very first date was
in Gainesville, Florida.
Fossil hunting, looking
for shark teeth.
So I guess I've always known.
I just didn't know how many
sharks would end up
in our house.
We got to get her cleaned up.
This is, what,
number five, or...?
Yeah, it's five or six.
I don't like to count them.
It started as one enormous,
you know, ten-foot shark,
and then they just kind of
kept coming.
-Did we need more?
-Yeah.
We did? Oh, my God.
Yeah, see?
Teddy's always got my back.
It's only nine feet.
Yeah, she's beautiful.
I always tell my friends,
at least he doesn't play
video games.
Where'd you get this one from?
You know, my typical
internet marketplaces.
You know, it was a quick
two-hour drive.
-OK.
-White teeth.
It does have white teeth.
OK, remember people are coming
over soon, so I think you need
to figure out where
that's going to go.
Yeah, we'll tuck it up.
I don't know.
Maybe I'll clean up this table.
We'll set it underneath
the chandelier.
I think that looks great --
look at it.
-It already matches in here.
-It does.
It does match.
I'll give you that.
[Dr. Mike] Yeah.
But I don't think
the dining room table is
the permanent location.
We'll, I'll figure it out
before the party, no problem.
Teddy.
What is she doing out there?
There are definitely sharks
in that water.
The last time I was in the ocean
was over 15 years ago.
No way.
Not happening.
I don't even like
getting my feet wet.
Won't get ankle deep in it.
I panic, I freeze, I shut down,
and I try my best to avoid it.
No, no, no, you come to me.
I'm Casey, I'm from
Medford, Oregon,
and I have a dire shark-phobia.
I think about sharks
all the time.
It is very debilitating
to my life.
Get, no, get out of there.
I am afraid of all sharks.
I see sharks as just
man-hungry beasts,
like there is no chance for me,
they're out to get me,
essentially.
When I hear the word shark,
I think death.
What motivated you to come
and see me?
I'm 30 years old.
I've got two kids,
and I can't even read them
a book about sharks.
Can't watch shark movies.
My son loves sharks.
He points them out
all the time.
Like, this is something
I have to overcome.
-OK.
-I cannot let this eat me alive.
[Casey]
I came all the way to Florida
from Oregon to meet
Dr. D'Arienzo
because he helps people
overcome their shark phobias,
and I'm really hoping
he can help me.
The positive thing is you have
made a decision
to work through this.
-Absolutely.
And you're ready to do
something about it.
So typically when
you're treating somebody
for a shark-phobia, you start
with pictures and videos
because they know
that it's not real.
It's safe, even though
it's creating that same
physiological experience.
Oh, that shot right
there, actually.
I have this nightmare
where I'm sinking into
a vast blue ocean.
-OK.
And a shark kind of comes into
focus, and then just as
it gets right to me is usually
the point that I wake up.
Was that the triggering
beginning of this phobia?
Actually, when I was being
taught how to swim
when I was four years old,
I was always convinced
there were sharks,
whether freshwater, saltwater,
especially if I couldn't see
in the water.
People that have shark-phobias,
it's also known as galeophobia.
Some people,
their phobia is so strong
that even the word "shark"
triggers a panic attack.
I have not been in the ocean
in at least 15 years.
Do you even go into ankle-deep
water when you go to the beach?
-No.
-No?
Because I want you to tell me
rationally what could happen
in ankle-deep water?
In the ocean, tides are going
to trip me up, loose sand,
and I'm suddenly food
to the ocean
and what lies beneath.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK.
If my girlfriend was
on her period,
I wouldn't want to go in
for the sake of
the smell of blood in the water.
Sharks can smell blood
miles away.
Being with somebody
who might be bleeding,
whether it's myself or somebody
else, that really concerns me.
I do notice that you are
shaking a little bit.
A little bit.
What I want to do is see
what your heart rate looks
like right now.
-OK.
-Here we go.
We're going to put that
on there.
See what your heart rate
looks like.
He was very tense, and I could
tell that he was engaged
in some shallow breathing,
and I could even see
his chest beating very quickly.
So you're at about a 95.
We're just gonna bring your
heart rate down a little bit.
What I want you to do,
I want you to focus
on some belly breathing.
-OK.
OK, I want you to inhale
through your nose,
and hold, and exhale
out of your mouth.
Pause, and let's just
do that a few times.
OK, it's coming down
a little bit.
We went down a couple
beats a minute.
How are you feeling right now?
A little more centered,
I'd say.
-A little more centered.
-Yeah, absolutely.
If we can control our body,
we can control our thoughts.
Absolutely.
We are going to immerse you
in different shark
and water experiences.
Gradual steps of things that
are more easy to things
that become more difficult.
Potentially swimming with them,
touching them...
to help you get better.
Worst case scenario for me,
I get eaten.
[Emily] We are at Venice Beach,
Florida, and that is known as
the Sharktooth capital
of the world.
I love sharks so much.
I live in Maine, but I travel
to Florida every single weekend
just to live my shark life.
It takes about six hours with
the flights to get down here,
but it's well worth it
for the sharks.
My preferred name is
Shark Lady Emily.
I will respond to Emily,
but my real name is
Shark Lady Emily.
And I have 106 shark tattoos.
After my divorce,
I started to really kind of
gravitate towards sharks.
They made me really happy,
and I was very passionate
about them.
They really have such
a strength in them.
I ended up getting
the whale sharks
when I had my two interactions
with those whale sharks.
And then I was like,
"Ooh, that's a great idea.
"Maybe I should have more
interactions with sharks
and get them tatted."
And that was where it rolled
into the obsession.
So I have two great whites,
one on my lower back
and one on behind my neck.
But then I also have a couple
of zebra sharks.
I have a couple of epaulettes,
lemon sharks,
sand tiger sharks.
I have a school of 13
hammerheads on my back.
I have two tiger sharks,
the famous Emma,
who is down in the Bahamas.
And then also Freckles,
I have them tattooed on
my thigh, along with a couple
of other deep water shark
species that are on my back.
I've spent well over $20,000
on my tattoos.
People started to be like,
"Wow, you're a crazy shark lady,
aren't you?"
And I'm like, "Yeah, I am.
I'm a crazy shark lady."
Clearly, it is.
How many different species
are on there?
Oh, I have 71 species
and 106 so far.
I'm getting two more to complete
the record, for the record.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
I submitted my application
for Guinness World
for the most individual shark
tattoos tatted on a female.
Right now, we are at 106,
and I have two more to tattoo
on me, so we'll go for
108 individual sharks.
Even after I get
the world record,
I will not stop getting
shark tattoos.
A lot of my tattoos
are actually personal.
So I do --
I worked with these guys.
I tagged these guys.
I like sharks.
I spent money on my tattoos,
so I might as well show them.
I have at least two more to go.
I'm not sure,
but I really want it on my face.
That's what she wants to do.
I personally wouldn't get any
on my face, but kudos to her.
Living my shark life,
I won't stop, so...
Yeah, absolutely.
I would love to get my face
tattooed, although everybody
I speak to is against it.
So, we'll see what happens.
-Hey, Doc, how you doing?
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Hey, guys,
good to see you.
How you doing Casey?
-Great to see you again --
not too bad.
-You too, buddy.
-This is Hayleigh, by the way,
my lovely girlfriend.
-I'm Dr. D'Arienzo.
-Good to meet you.
-Nice to meet you.
Are you here to support him?
-Yeah.
-Yeah, she's my rock.
She helps me through
all these problems.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
I love that.
We have a big day for you,
lots of shark
immersive experiences.
Do you think you can
handle that?
I'm a little anxious,
but I think, you know,
we're here for a reason,
so I'm going to do my best.
-All right, let's do it.
-Let's go.
Whenever we are resolving
a phobia, we start with things
that are easier to do,
to things that become more
and more difficult.
Welcome.
Welcome to Big Shark Bay.
Thanks for having us.
-Of course.
-I'm Casey.
-Kee.
-Nice to meet you, Kee.
-Hayleigh.
-And Hayleigh.
Very nice meeting you.
I'm the biologist here
at the aquarium.
-I've got five nurse sharks
in this habitat...
-Five?
...and I would love to
introduce you to some of them.
You know, they're a little
closer than what I'm used to.
When I see sharks,
I freeze most of the time.
I get very tense.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Now, remember,
do your breathing.
And it helps to learn
about them, right?
I think so.
That's a big boy.
[Kee] Yeah.
One cool thing about
a nurse shark is that they have
a strong enough suction power
that they can pull an entire
conch out of its shell.
I can feel my heart
rate increase,
and I start to panic
a little bit.
Palpitations, shortness of
breath, and I will inevitably
start sweating.
This is the closest I've been
to a shark in my life.
How are you feeling?
I'm a little anxious, a little
panicking Skywalker, but...
On the outside,
I look cool as a cucumber.
On the inside, I've got
a tornado going in my heart,
a thousand thoughts
going in my brain.
What if I get too close
to the shark?
What if this?
What if that?
It's all just swirling
around me.
Do you need a tissue
for your sweat?
I might.
Oh, thanks.
-Are you feeling OK?
-You know, my heart rate's up.
I think that's part of
the I'm sweating so much,
but, you know.
You want to pet that one?
-Pass.
-We're both here to help you.
Just remember
your breathing, OK?
Nice and easy.
Which one do you want to pet?
You got this.
My anxiety's up there,
but you know what?
I will pet the biggest one.
That's what I'm here for,
so let's do it.
-The biggest shark?
-All right, I like it.
-Let's do it.
-All right.
I am feeling very anxious
knowing that, you know,
just a couple feet away from me
is something that could
swallow me whole without
thinking about it.
-Wow, look at that one.
-It's a big one.
[Kee] That's Miss Baby.
She's over seven foot right now.
-Yeah.
-[Hayleigh] You got this.
So we actually have these sharks
trained to a audible sound.
When the shark hears their cue,
they know to meet me at the gate.
We'll give her a little bit more
time, see if she's interested.
-Plot twist. She has a phobia of me.
-She might.
[Kee] They can definitely tell
some nervous energy.
-How are you feeling about this?
-A little...
I would say I'm about back up
to an eight at this point,
and try to remember why...
why I'm here.
-Look at that. There we go.
-[Kee] Look at them!
Have you had an incident
or experience of
any sort of ill variety?
So the nurse shark is
a fantastic species.
You shouldn't have any fear
about these beautiful animals.
And I make sure that this is
100% safe the entire time,
and I can move a hand faster
than you can blink.
So you want to give it a go?
I don't know.
I don't know if I can.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Casey.
-That's enormous.
I don't know.
-You can do this, man.
-You got it.
So I'm going to lift her up.
You'll be able to gently then
pet anywhere along on the back.
Just keep telling myself
this moment will pass
and try to get
through it that way.
All right.
All right.
[Hayleigh]
Wow.
-[Casey] She's got
a sandy feel to her.
-[Kee]Yeah.
[Kee] We can do her belly roll.
There we are.
[Casey] Oh, she got
a little red belly.
[Kee] There we go.
Yep, she's always had this mark,
and you can gently pat her
anywhere on the belly.
All right.
You know, the only way
to overcome a phobia
is through exposure.
This is exactly what he's doing,
and when we do that,
we reprogram, rewire our brain.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, good job.
I mean, you just
touched a shark.
Yeah, I definitely haven't
done that at all.
-Was it exciting?
-Nerve-wracking, but yes.
I was, uh...
it wasn't as bad
as I expected.
-I think, I mean, that's --
-Yeah
-I think I'm doing all right.
-Uh-huh.
Are you ready for
the next experience?
I know that something more
extreme, something bigger
is coming next, so the anxiety
goes up a little higher.
I don't know what's coming
or if I'm gonna be
able to face it.
[knocking]
-Hey, how are you?
-David, thanks for joining us.
Jonah, how you doing?
Come on in.
Watch the shark.
He's a little bit sharp.
My family just moved
to Bethesda, Maryland,
and today we're hoping to have
some of our neighbors over
just to kind of say hi,
to let them kind of learn about
our family a little bit more.
This is our almost
10-foot mako shark.
He's got real teeth.
Guess what?
I brought home a new one
this week,
and we're still trying to figure
out where he's going to go.
Come take a look.
I think the sharks are such
a part of me at this point
that no one in the family even
thinks it's that strange,
but you never really know
what your neighbors think.
So, Jonah, I've got teeth
from megalodon sharks.
Do you know it had over 200
pounds of teeth in its mouth?
That's incredible.
I think they're less likely
to think it's normal.
And then I'm a dentist,
and so I actually made a pair
of dentures that has real shark
teeth in it.
If you're really obsessed
with sharks, the ultimate goal
is maybe to become one.
I wanted to do the Pretty Woman
thing where, you know,
you snap at it.
[laughs]
Isn't that scary?
First time getting to see
all of the shebang here.
This is quite something.
Mike likes sharks.
Hey, Charlie,
can I eat with you guys?
I've started a little bit down
the pathway of body modification.
A couple months ago, I made some
shark teeth for myself to wear.
[girl] Oh, my goodness!
[kids] Ew!
It's really fun to demonstrate
how these shark teeth function.
-Eww! Don't come close to me.
-No!
-Ew!
-[kid speaks indistinctly]
-They're so creepy.
-Mmm!
Why are you doing that?
It works really great.
You'll scratch your lip.
The kids' reaction to my teeth,
maybe not what I was expecting.
Out!
-Do you wanna touch them?
-No!
I thought maybe
they'd be more excited by it,
but I guess it does kind of turn
you into a little bit of a monster.
Take your teeth out.
-All right.
-[Charlie] OK.
Thank you for taking them out.
It's grossing me out.
All right, I'll put them away.
I'll put them away.
I think it became
a little bit more problematic,
especially my two-year-old.
He didn't like that at all.
I think maybe he was worried
I was becoming a shark.
-You don't want a pair?
-No.
I don't think they're great.
Do you think they're great?
-No.
-No? [laughs]
-Do not mess with him.
-No, not baby Teddy.
Do you know what
that shark's called?
That's a bull shark.
That's one of the sharks that
you do have to be kind of
careful about.
Charlie, that's a hammerhead.
That's like what
we brought home.
One of the parts of dentistry
that I enjoy the most is
that you become an educator.
And that passion for education
exists within my shark
hobby too.
Hammerheads use their heads
like metal detectors.
So, see how
he's sweeping the sand?
He's looking for like flounders
or stingrays.
He's feeling for little
electrical impulses
from the muscles of fish.
And his suit --
look at that, he's got something
stuck in his teeth.
He needs me.
Isn't that cool?
All right, so are you guys
tired of watching sharks?
-Yeah!
-Yeah!
-You wanna see the shark laser?
-Yeah!
I made a laser shark.
Three, two, one.
-[David] I wanna see the laser.
-[laughing]
No one's built a shark laser
and I thought,
I'm tripping over
sharks at my house.
This would be easy.
This is my shoulder-mounted,
high-powered laser shark.
It's a five-foot mako.
I think my favorite
species of shark
is probably the mako shark,
just because they look
like a military weapon.
When you see that laser shark
coming, you know exactly
what that thing is
and what it does.
Up here is the business end.
460-nanometer wavelength,
blue laser.
We'll be firing it
at our friend here.
All right, three, two, one.
Oh, there it goes.
-Oh, my God!
-Yes!
Oh, my God!
I think I've sort of...
jumped the shark a little bit.
[Jonah] I'm doing it.
[David] All right, well,
you gotta let Dr. Mike
show you how it's done, bud.
I was happy to see that some
of the kids wanted
to participate.
Three, two, one.
-Whoa!
-What? Jonah!
-[chuckling]
-[kids] Wow!
-We did it!
-Cool!
I had no idea what I was
getting myself into,
but I'm glad I'm here,
because this is amazing to see.
Go, Sabrina!
Oh!
[kids]
Wow!
Wow.
My passion for sharks is
in my DNA at this point,
and I just don't see
the passion ever...
ever going out.
I'm OK with it as long as
we don't end up with
a megalodon in our backyard,
because that would be
a little too much.
-[Ashley] Happy anniversary.
-Oh, man.
So today is our anniversary.
And Erich's gonna
meet my boyfriend.
It's a big day.
Because it's our anniversary.
Jerry!
Jerry!
[Capt. Jerry] Good morning.
How we doing?
-Fabulous.
-Let's go see Alan.
Oh.
[Erich]
What a way to spend
our anniversary, hun.
Just gonna drop it.
-That feels like it's hooked.
-[Erich] Yes, sir.
-[Capt. Jerry] All right.
-[Ashley] Oh, my God.
-This is going to be so cute.
-[Capt. Jerry] Looks good.
Brand new pink suit
just for Alan.
-He's going to love it.
-I hope so.
We're going to go down there.
We're going to see Alan
and his buddies,
all Caribbean reef sharks.
You're going to be wearing
comms today.
And we can talk
throughout the dive.
-Okie dokie.
-Sounds good?
And let's go have a good time.
-And a happy anniversary.
-Happy anniversary.
[Capt. Jerry] There you go.
[Ashley]
You hear me?
[Erich]
Hear you loud and clear.
When you drop down,
it's the best feeling
in the entire world.
It's [bleep] magic, right?
[Erich]
I don't see any sharks.
-Where are all the sharks?
-[Ashley] They will come.
I know they will come.
I don't know
why they're not here.
[Erich]
Wait, what's that?
[Ashley] Look!
You can see the shark
circling around.
Look!
[Erich] Is that him?
Is that Alan?
[Ashley] No.
That is a negative.
[Erich] Where's Alan?
[Erich] I have no idea.
I don't know where he is.
I don't think he's coming.
I swear he's here every week.
Alan, where are you?
-Oh, my God.
-Hi!
-Hi, how are ya?
-Good, how are you?
-Oh, it's been so long.
-[Emily] It has been a second.
-And is this the last?
-[Emily] It is the last of it.
We're finishing up the Guinness World
Record right now.
Today, I'm coming to see Emma
to add two more sharks.
We're gonna add
the black-mouthed cat shark
and the Atlantic big-eyed
six-gilled shark.
This guy had, like,
a weird hump to its back.
Yeah, well, because they're
deep-water, so they actually
lost their dorsal fin.
So we're thinking the leg.
Or maybe the face this time.
-Emily.
-Come on, Emma.
What will your mom think?
I know her.
I mean, anybody can do what
they want with their bodies,
but face tattoos are a whole
different ballgame.
I want her to be able to get
jobs in the future.
-All right, maybe just the leg.
-Well, let's get started.
[Emily] All right, great.
All right, we'll start
with the six-gilled.
[Emily] This shark
that you're tattooing now,
he's a living fossil.
They've been around for about
250 million years,
and they have six gill slits.
-That's wild.
Only seven species of sharks
have six or seven gill slits,
and all the rest have five.
So these guys are,
like, unchanged for millions
and millions of years.
Emily is definitely
obsessed with sharks.
The oceanic whitetip.
They're very, very fast
and extremely kind of scary.
They will swim away from you.
You will blink and they will
already be in your face.
That's how quick they are
and how curious.
-Sounds like horror movie stuff.
-Yeah.
I'd be more scared of those
than I would great whites.
Apparently them and the tiger sharks
were responsible
for the USS Indianapolis.
That stuff freaks me out.
I'm still kind of nervous
for you to go to Australia.
Are you? Oh, I'm so excited.
So in two weeks,
I'll be heading down to Australia
to cage-dive with great whites.
You know that it's one of
my favorite species,
even though it's a little
cliche, but...
-Are you nervous?
-No, not even a little bit.
-I'm more excited. Only...
-When I saw the videos, I'm just...
It's... I would piss myself.
It's bad.
The great white is something,
a species I will not ask you
to put on my face.
-So don't worry about that.
-Oh! Yeah.
I think that would just be
a little too basic for you, you know?
-All right, on to the next.
-[Emily] All right.
[Emma] But this one has,
like, fun patterns.
Why is this one --
Yeah, so the blackmouth catshark
is actually a pretty deep
water shark, but it has a lot
of pattern on it because it is
on the muddy bottom floor.
There's so much information
being looked at,
learned about these sharks.
-[Emma] Right.
They've been on the earth for
over 400 million years,
and so it's just
constant adaptations.
-I think we are all set.
-OK.
[Emma] Check it out.
[Emily] I love it!
[Emma] Oh, that is
perfect placement.
And the eye on that one!
-[Emily] Holy cow!
-[Emma] Yeah, it's perfect.
The big-eyed
and the six-gilled.
One, two, three, four,
five, six.
-Nailed it!
-You nailed it!
-[Erich] Let's go up.
-[Ashley] We haven't
found Alan yet.
-[Erich] I'm almost out of air.
-I put this all together.
Supposed to meet husband.
Maybe he didn't get the memo.
I'm going to check over here.
I love my wife and do anything
in the world for her,
and I'm just hoping
to see her world.
But we'll see what happens.
[Ashley]
Alan? Alan? Alan?
Are you in here?
Honey, look.
Look!
-[Erich] Is that him?
-[Ashley] It's Alan!
Look how beautiful
he is from below.
He's going right over me.
[Erich] Make sure it's him.
[Ashley] Ah! Eh!
It is totally him.
Alan, I have someone
special for you to meet.
This is Erich.
[Erich] I can take him.
I think he knew. I think he knew
it was a big day.
And he knew it was going
to meet my husband.
And he couldn't handle it
without his friends.
So he went and he brought
a bunch of his friends.
And Erich got to meet Alan.
You had fun, didn't you?
It was a great
anniversary dive.
-I love you so much.
-[Erich] Beautiful shark, hon.
-This is amazing.
-[Ashley] Alan, come back.
[Erich] I'm pretty sure
he's jealous of me.
I think he understands that
I do feelings for another,
but I don't think he feels
threatened because,
you know, you blow bubbles
and he doesn't.
I love you, honey.
Happy anniversary.
[Erich]
Happy anniversary, honey.
Love you too.
I see it now, hon.
You guys hold fins and swim off
into the sunset.
Ashley doesn't know this,
Alan's a girl.
I'm gay?
[laughing]
Who knew?
Male sharks have claspers
on the underside.
That is their reproductive
organ.
Alan has no claspers.
I don't care.
I'm in love with her.
That's OK.
Doesn't change the love.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Today, I brought
Casey to the Theater of the Sea
in Islamorada, Florida,
for his final test.
This is his last step in
exposure therapy,
and the sharks are no longer
behind the glass.
Hey, Taylor.
How you doing?
-Hi, guys. Good to see you.
-Good, how about you.
I have no idea what
we're doing today.
I'm actually very
anxious about it.
My legs, I can't stop shaking.
I have no idea what's going on
or really what to expect.
-Hayleigh.
-Hayleigh.
-Casey.
-Casey.
-Awesome. Nice to meet you..
-Nice to meet you.
Again, my name is Taylor,
and I'm the fish and reptile
supervisor here.
Are we all ready to meet some
nurse sharks?
-We'll see -- yeah.
-Yeah?
People do come in
fearful of sharks.
I never blame anybody for
misunderstanding sharks,
and I think of it as my job
to help them understand them.
They're awesome.
They're gentle giants,
if I do say so myself.
We do have seven nurse
sharks here.
We have five smaller ones
and then two of our big ones.
They're actually
bottom dwellers,
and they are
nocturnal.
One of the coolest things about
nurse sharks, they actually use
their suction to suction up
food in the wild,
so it's actually one of
the experiences that you will
get to feel.
And we are actually going to
have you on that bench right
there in the water.
We are going to put
a shark on your lap.
Yeah, do you feel
comfortable doing so?
Everything in me is telling me
to walk away right now.
Casey, what are you
feeling right now?
I don't know. I don't know.
-I don't know if I can do it.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Let's talk
about this, OK?
[Casey] I don't want to be here.
This feels insane. Feel stupid.
I don't think I could do it.
[Casey]
I don't think I could do it.
Let's take a little walk, OK?
Can we do that?
What is the concern?
Uh, I mean, this is as
up-close and personal
as they could get.
It's a little much.
OK.
For somebody that was petrified
of sharks, this has been
an intense sequence of exposure,
so I did anticipate
at some point there'd be
a breaking point.
What is the worst thing that
you're thinking about right now?
I think just being submerged
within the proximity.
Danger feels more real, I guess,
more three-dimensional.
You've learned that they're not
a dangerous creature
generally, right?
I mean, especially
these nurse sharks...
Yeah.
...right, are the least aggressive
type of shark.
-So we've heard.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Uh-huh.
All those skills that
we've reviewed, right?
We gotta focus on the breathing,
be here in the moment, right?
If we control the body,
control the mind.
This is going to rewire you
so you and Hayleigh
can take the kids on vacation
at the beach, too.
I mean, your kids would love to
see something like this, right?
-They're going to be
so proud of you.
-Yeah.
Definitely.
I mean, this is as hands-on
as it can get, and I...
Ugh, yeah.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] This is
the natural progression.
It just feels like
a whole new game.
-OK, I know this is intense.
-My heart is racing.
I know it is.
Let's be in the moment.
I want you to focus
on the birds.
OK, focus on Hayleigh.
Give Hayleigh a hug.
It'll be OK.
And Casey, remember too that,
you know, you don't have
to do this either, right?
It's a choice to do it.
Yeah, I mean, I don't,
but for me, I have to.
OK.
And if you're able
to accomplish this,
that fear is going to be
extinguished.
-OK.
-OK?
-You ready?
-Yeah, yeah, I think so.
-All right. Let's do this.
-[Hayleigh] Yeah?
I'm nervous for Casey because
he's going to be submerged
in the water with a shark.
And I already know that
he's going to be very tense,
going through a lot of emotions,
and hopefully Doc and I can
help him through this.
I'm gonna be guiding you
straight down to this bench.
You'll sit about halfway down
the bench, keeping your hands
out of the water.
Are you ready to get in?
-Yeah.
-[Annie] All right, perfect.
You're doing great. Perfect.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, good job, buddy.
And then right about there,
you can take a seat for me.
You got it.
Perfect.
Awesome job.
Getting in the water
and being that close,
I completely shut down.
I started freezing
and panicking.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Relax.
You're doing great.
It felt like walking into
an armed stranger's house,
not knowing what to expect
or how I was going to come out
of it, or if I would.
And I'm going to have you put
your hands straight up
in the air like you're riding
a roller coaster.
-All right.
-[Annie] Perfect.
Now, Maria is just going
to rest right in your lap.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Oh, look at that.
-[Hayleigh] Good job.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Casey.
-Perfect.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Just keep
breathing, Casey.
You're going to put your hands
straight down.
That hand right there
is perfect.
This hand, you're going
to wrap around her
like you're giving
her a big hug.
Now you might feel little
wiggles, just like that.
That is totally OK.
That's just her
getting comfortable.
Bigger wiggles.
I'll let you know to put
your hands straight up
in the air again.
All right?
How you feeling?
There's a pool of diarrhea
forming inside of me.
[Dr. D'Arienzo]
Casey, relax all that tension.
Relax.
-You're doing great.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Easy does it.
I want you to focus on just
being in the moment,
feeling the shark.
How does that feel?
Like she might be
as anxious as I am.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] She may be.
This how we extinguish this
fear, and you're doing it, man.
Casey's doing quite well,
given the extreme fear
and phobia that he presented.
-Good?
-Yeah.
So we were ready to move into
a more intense experience,
actually feeding a shark.
So you're going to feel
a really big pop in a second.
-All right?
That's just her eating.
-Yeah.
She eats with a suction.
So here it goes.
-Two, one.
-Three, two, one.
Nice.
Very nice job.
Nice job, Casey.
You're doing great.
Did you ever think you'd be
able to do this?
No, not a chance.
Wow.
What is your anxiety
level right now?
It's about down to a six, I'd say.
[Hayleigh] That's good.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] I mean,
that's amazing.
-[Casey] She's incredible.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Right?
You look like you're really
in the moment.
Doing my best.
You're doing such a great job.
All right, hands straight up
in the air.
Perfect. Good job.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] Wow.
-Nice job.
-All right, thank you.
I feel immensely
proud of myself.
I didn't think I had it
in me to even try.
I thought it was just going
to be a little pocket of shame
that I kept hidden from
everybody else for ever, really.
But now I've made the step
to immerse myself
and really get through it.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] My man.
Thank you so much
for being here.
-I think you need
to hug Hayleigh.
-You did it!
You did it!
Look at you.
Sorry if I got you wet.
It's OK.
I don't care.
I think Casey is
going to do great.
He's going to be able to get
into the water.
Him and Hayleigh are going to be
able to take a honeymoon
in Hawaii.
You know, all these things that
he could have never done before
if he wouldn't have
faced this fear.
I'm still shaking, but I think
it's because --
it's like the accomplishment.
-I did do it.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] Yes.
So do you still have the same
fear of sharks?
I think they're still
in an apprehension,
but it's appropriate now.
-[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK.
It doesn't feel as debilitating
as it once did.
[Dr. D'Arienzo] OK, perfect.
You're doing so amazing.
It's been six weeks since
we got back from Florida,
and I no longer feel like sharks
are out to get humans.
I got to enter the ocean for
the first time in 15 years.
And we are even planning a beach
vacation with the kids
and I'm really excited about it.
-How do you feel?
-I feel much better.
Aw.