Shark Week takes a bite out of TV screens every summer, and Discovery’s 2025 line-up is chock full of fins and fun.
Three programs feature Kinga Phillips, a veteran journalist and shark conservationist. Phillips also became the first female host of her own show on Shark Week with ‘Tiger Queen’ in 2021. To chat more about what fans can expect for this year’s line-up, Phillips sat down with Metro to dive deeper into the enormous world of sharks and why she’s so fascinated with them.
What led you to work on Shark Week?
Sharks have been a fascination for me for a long time. I’ve worked in TV for 25 years and I’ve worked in shark conservation for probably the last 15. It was really this natural step in that direction. I have a huge passion for sharks and I respect so much of what Shark Week does— they’ve basically brought sharks into the living rooms of so many people and have gotten them fascinated about them. It was something I really wanted to participate in. It’s a big family of shark lovers here.
How did it feel to become the first solo female host of Shark Week?
I was very excited about that. I actually cried the day that I found out that that was going to be the case because it’s so special. Obviously as a woman, that’s a huge honor. There have been plenty of amazing [female] scientists and celebrities, but it was just so cool getting to do it as my own show.
What ignited your initial fascination with sharks?
The movie ‘Jaws’—I watched it, and because I was so young, I was like, I’m never going in the ocean again. I don’t want to go in a pool, I don’t want to go in the bathtub. And then I just started to think about why am I so scared of them?
The fascination grew and as I got older, I decided I wanted to get in the water with them. So I went out to Hawaii, did a cage dive and went, ‘Oh my gosh. They’re not trying to eat me and pull me out of this cage and all this stuff the media’s told me about them.’ It actually isn’t true. That’s when I started working with Shark Allies and shark conservation and the rest is history.
What can you tell me about the programs you’re involved with for this year’s Shark Week?
They’re all completely different shows. ‘Dancing with Sharks‘ is so shark positive, so fun. It’s working with some of the best handlers in the world and having these sharks come to them in an open ocean. The sharks are coming in when they want, leaving when they want, but truly, they’re dancing. It’s extraordinary what’s happening in the show, and I got to be one of the judges.
‘Caught! Sharks Strike Back’ is a super interesting and detail oriented show. As shark conservationists and shark experts, we were shown clips of shark incidents and shark encounters. Everyone’s got a camera now, so all of these are being filmed and they’ve been sent in to us. A lot of them had gone viral and we were asked to break down the shark behaviors and what happened in all these clips. Anyone who’s interested in shark behavior is really going to enjoy that.
Then, ‘Attack of the Devil Shark’ is a fascinating show. That stemmed out of the fact that I went to Saba Island two years ago, there were some incredible population of sharks there. I heard about these two unfortunate attacks, but also, forensic analysis showed that it was the same shark that had attacked both victims. There’s something interesting going on here. So I got to bring Shark Week back, and we got to study why this population of sharks has a very unique behavioral structure.
It seems like a lot of what you cover delves into the world of shark behaviors. What’s something about that subject that you think people would find surprising?
One of the things that shocks people the most when they learn about sharks is that they expect sharks to be fish with no personality, and that they just follow their instincts and do their thing. The reality is that sharks have distinctly unique personalities. I’ve been in the water with three tiger sharks at once, and all three of them have completely different personalities.
It’s like if you had three dogs or three cats and one likes to hide under the bed and the other one is climbing up in everyone’s lap and one is swinging from the chandelier—sharks are the exact same way. So it’s really interesting to be around these animals because one, you’ve got to have your head on a swivel because you never know what personality you’re going to get. And two, it’s just intriguing to understand that these big fish really do have distinct personalities.
Is every day of filming a different experience?
There are always extraordinary moments in every show, and that’s just a product of nature being in control. There are some moments that appear scary on camera and they were scary in real life. There are moments where they happen and you handle them, and then later you go back to your hotel room and you go, wow, that really could have ended badly.
It’s all organic, it’s all natural. Every day that we go out, we don’t know if we’re going to see sharks, we don’t know if they’re going to show up. We’re lucky when they do. So it’s always fun. You just feel like you’re on an expedition and you have this authentic amazement. We’re in a scene and all of a sudden someone yells, there’s a shark. You have to drop everything you’re doing and run and deal with the shark because they’re the stars of the show. So it’s a lot of fun.
Overall, what do you hope audiences take away from this year’s Shark Week?
Sharks are a phenomenon in and of themselves, and I think there’s a lot of psychology behind why Shark Week has been so successful and popular for 37 years. I hope that people walk away with a fascination and intrigue and an interest in learning more about sharks.
That’s really what counts. Some of the shows are fun, entertaining and dramatic, some shows are very scientific and some shows are just silly and cool. But in each one, there are seeds of education and seeds of information. So I just want people to get excited about it, and to go out and learn more because you protect what you love. And when you’re interested in something, you tend to love it.
Shark Week premieres Sunday, July 20 on Discovery.
