DEEP fear

What to expect when seven stars go diving with sharks in the Bahamas

- STEVEN PERKINS.

Seven household names are heading to the Bahamas in ITV1's fin-tastic five-part series Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters for face-to-face encounters with some of the most-feared predators in the ocean. Working with a team of shark experts who'll help them discern the truth from the myths, the stars - Ade Adepitan, Ross Noble, Helen George, Sir Lenny Henry, Lucy Punch, Dougie Poynter and Rachel Riley - are immediately dropped in at the deep end, but will they sink or swim? Here, each participant reveals why they couldn't resist this jaw-some experience...

ADE ADEPITAN

TVPRESENTER, 52

'This is the opportunity of a lifetime - when do you ever get asked to go and dive with sharks in the Bahamas?' says Ade. 'I'm a big environmentalist, too, and there's also an important message at the heart of the programme.

'I've scuba-dived before, but I'm not an expert. I'd only really done it for TV, so my experiences were few and far between, and it was still something where I had to hone my skills.

'The whole experience was great, because I now feel like a pretty competent scuba diver. I can put the equipment together, and you learn about buoyancy and how to breathe. I pride myself on the fact that for most of the dives we did, I was generally the first one in and the last one out!'

ROSS NOBLE

COMEDIAN, 49

'I can't speak for the others, but I've got a feeling most of us looked at [the pitch for] this show and went, “It's three weeks in the Bahamas, yes!” and then read the rest!' laughs Ross.