‘That’s the easy way out’: Why Olympian Ariarne Titmus decided to face her greatest fear

In the pool, four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus is the epitome of strength, composure and determination. But in the ocean, she’s a trembling mess, unable to wade past the breakers for fear of what lurks beneath. Fortunately, there is a celebrity-specific exposure therapy for such a phobia – Nine’s new reality series, SHARK!. Off the Bimini islands in the Bahamas, Titmus works through her terror of the marine apex predator alongside Scott Cam, Matt Nable, Lynne McGranger, former NRL player Sam Thaiday and influencer Tammy Hembrow.

“When I first got the opportunity, I was flat-out ‘No! Not happening’,” says Titmus of the show, based on a now-cancelled British format. “There was just no way I was putting myself in that position. But then I thought ‘That’s the easy way out’. And I’ve never been someone to shy away from a challenge.”

Her parents, Seven sports broadcaster Steve Titmus and mum Robyn, begged her not to.

“They were of the mindset ‘How can they possibly guarantee that nothing’s going to happen? They can have as much safety as possible, but you’re still in the open ocean with wild animals’,” recalls Titmus. “I had to update them every day. They were ticking down the days.”

From the first episode, Titmus’ trepidation is palpable. Standing on the beach, she fights back tears as host Paul de Gelder, a former Navy diver and bull shark-attack survivor, underscores the very real dangers of their challenges (which begin with cage diving and progress to exposed scuba diving), repeatedly gesturing to his prosthetic right hand and leg. An impassioned speech about the ancient species by British marine conservationist Annie Guttridge does little to reassure the Olympic swimmer.

“I’ve never been so petrified in my life,” says Titmus. “I really don’t want people to think that I’m overreacting or putting on a performance. It took every ounce of myself to do the challenges. It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done.”

She refused to join the others in a preparatory exercise involving hand-feeding a fever of stingrays. It’s the fluttering and wriggling of living things that Titmus cannot stand. Even in the chlorinated environment of her previous career, she wasn’t safe.

“My coach used to put crickets in my swimming bag to scare and annoy me,” she says. “He’d use it to motivate me, to provoke me, so I could prove him wrong in the pool. And if there was a bug in the pool, the others would push it my way. Everyone knew that I had a fear of creepy-crawlies. So yeah, I’m not so good with animals, other than dogs.”

As with Ten’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! (on which Titmus is unlikely to appear given that such creatures must not only be endured but ingested), there is camaraderie among this famous cast. “There’s no drama whatsoever. The drama is the sharks. I don’t think you could get through an experience like that if you didn’t have each other’s backs.”

She bonded with the “mother hen of the group”, McGranger, whose exit from Seven’s Home and Away coincided with Titmus’ retirement from swimming. “I was starstruck when I met her, but soon I realised that she’s just Lynnie. And she’s such a card. She has the most wicked sense of humour. We would always be in fits laughing.”

Despite the panic that overwhelmed her on more than one occasion, Titmus has a newfound appreciation for sharks.

“I learnt how sharks work and why they’re important,” she says. “They’re not there to eat everyone. I have a great understanding of them and how incredibly strong and powerful they are, and what they really are capable of if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Since filming, Titmus has taken her first ocean swim, around the cove in Noosa. “It was really satisfying for me to do that, and I wasn’t afraid. I was really proud of myself.”

Shark! premieres at 7pm on Sunday, May 31, on Nine (the owner of this masthead).

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