Tom Bergeron Says the Dancing Sharks of Shark Week Are Beautiful Dancers

Shark Week is about to surface, and it’s starting off by showcasing the predators’ softer side.

Dancing with Sharks will launch Discovery Channel’s 2025 Shark Week, the iconic TV event that has been educating viewers about sharks and debunking misconceptions surrounding them for decades.

While Dancing with Sharks may sound impossible, the show plans to deliver on exactly what its title promises — a dancing competition where live sharks are the contestants.

PEOPLE spoke with the show’s host, Tom Bergeron, to learn what to expect from the program, premiering on July 20, and how experts were able to get massive predators to twirl and waltz.

Bergeron admits that he was both skeptical and curious when the offer to host Dancing with Sharks reached him.

“I had two reactions. The first one was, ‘What are you smoking?’ And the second one was, ‘Where do I sign up?'” he recalls.

The prospect of seeing hammerheads and tiger sharks do the tango in the waters around the Bahamas had an undeniable allure to Bergeron, as did the hosting role’s “affectionate wink to my previous dance show experience,” says the former Dancing with the Stars host.

Even with high hopes, Bergeron says the making of Dancing with Sharks “exceeded my expectations.”

The show’s crew achieved the impressive feat by collaborating with skilled shark handlers, who learned to dance with sharks by taking lessons from an underwater dance choreographer.

The result is a “fun, funny, dramatic, and educational hour of Shark Week television” that Bergeron is confident will leave viewers wowed by what sharks and brave handlers can do.

“It was more beautiful than I expected and more graceful than I expected,” he teases of the show.

Bergeron himself opted to stay on land for the special, but hasn’t ruled out meeting a dancing shark in the future.

“I had a coward clause in my contract, so I stayed on the shore. Having said that, though, if we ever do this again, I could see myself going down in one of those cages for a while. Just don’t tell my wife,” he jokes.

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Overall, filming Dancing with the Sharks was an entertaining and educational experience for Bergeron, who is excited to share the results with animal lovers.

“The fact that we’re kicking off Shark Week is a nice surprise,” he says.

Shark fans can watch the Dancing with the Sharks premiere and kick off Shark Week 2025 on July 20 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Discovery Channel.