phelps11103571920x1080.jpg
Is that a CGI shark behind Phelps?

When Phelps vs. Shark was announced, people were just abuzz with possibilities on how they'd showcase it. Would they have them isolated in different lanes and swimming against each other? Would they show Phelps and then the shark? Could we get impossibly lucky and have a high stakes "Phelps swims for his life as shark tries to eat him?" Well, it turns out the answer to all of these questions was "no, stop being ridiculous, it's a digital shark." For the record, Phelps lost to the simulation.

Discovery played this whole thing weirdly under wraps, and now it's pretty clear why. Phelps vs. Shark wasn't Phelps vs. Shark as much as it was "look at how fast Michael Phelps is and then take our word on how fast sharks are." Sure, it was more scientific than that, but as someone that wanted to see Phelps swimming for his life (nothing against Phelps, I'd watch that no matter who it was), I felt like Ralphie when he decoded a message telling him to drink more Ovalteen. Clearly I wasn't the only one in that state of mind.

We did, at least, get this amazing shot:

At least we got some action in the totally real, not at all CGI Westeros, which raises another important question: Who at the Discovery Channel thought putting this up against Game of Thrones was a good idea? Although the collective disappointment was real, at least we'll always have our dreams about Phelps swimming from sharks.