New Delhi, April 28, 2015: Jeremy Wade, freshwater detective, biologist and extreme angler, is breaking the surface and diving into the lairs of aquatic beasts with a new season of the RIVER MONSTERS.
Animal Planet’s best-performing series ever for five years is back, and biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade is taking viewers along on the mysterious adventure of a lifetime. This May, the month-long exploration starts on Monday, May 4 at 8 pm with a two-hour special called “Amazon Titanic.” Re-told by witnesses and passengers who survived the sinking of the Sobra Santos, it’s a horrific and poignant story of one of the Amazon’s largest maritime disasters. That night, as many as 200 passengers lost their lives, and something in the water is being blamed for many of the deaths. Wade is hell bent on finding out what is was… or is.
River Monsters will air Monday to Friday from 8 pm to 10 pm, all through May on Animal Planet.
This season is one of Wade’s most challenging. He travels to locations so remote to solve mysteries so bizarre that he must dedicate an entire year in South America to catch the freshwater culprits thought to be behind human attacks. From the politically charged intersection of Brazil, Colombia and Peru, to the remote and secluded home of a rainforest tribe, Wade is crisscrossing the continent to tackle each incident and reel in each dangerous catch. While freshwater fish are normally on his suspects list, on one hunt, he forgoes rod and reel going deep underwater into a creature’s lair to catch the culprit that is most definitely not a fish! Jeremy also investigates tales of the legendary Loch Ness monster in Ireland.
“I’ve been fishing the world for decades, but it’s the Amazon that keeps calling me back,” notes Jeremy Wade. “Now, I’m returning to solve the mission of a lifetime to spend an entire year going farther, deeper and more remote than I’ve even been before.”
The month-long series is packed with thrilling mysteries that include the following episodes:
Amazon Titanic: After more than 200 passengers perished on a river boat on a pitch-black night and rumors circulated that something picked off survivors in the water as they attempted to get to shore, Wade is on the hunt to find out exactly what fish was behind this massive attack.
Legend of Loss Ness: Jeremy Wade is on a mission to track down the famous monster of Loch Ness. His journey even takes him to the volcanoes of Iceland – but can he succeed where so many have failed?
Lair of Giants: Jeremy Wade explores the Essequibo, Guyana’s largest river. Armed with only old journals and his rod, Jeremy is on a mission to discover if monsters of the past still exist.
Man-Eating Monster: Locals call it the lau-lau, a creature so huge it’s said to swallow men whole, and Wade sets his sight on a specimen that is colossal in size and strength.
Bone Crusher: When Brazilian locals uncover a corpse with highly unusual injuries and then an increase in missing persons cases are reported, Wade must confront one of his greatest fears to solve the mystery.
Jungle Terminator: Three mysterious deaths in three countries lead Wade on an adventure where he must team up with a remote and secretive tribe that has a unique and death-defying way of catching these culprits!
River of Blood: A brutal underwater mutilation of a young man leads Wade to a face-to-face confrontation with one of South America’s greatest freshwater fighting fish that slashes and stalks its prey while living in one of Argentina’s most dangerous waterways.
Body Snatcher: In the remote rivers of Guyana, Wade is on the hunt for a potential news species and newest candidate for largest freshwater fish in the world – a legendary predator freshwater mermaid or siren that could be real.
Animal Planet’s RIVER MONSTERS is a daily murder mystery, following Wade’s worldwide search for harrowing tales of man-eating fish with the hope of proving these freshwater mysteries as tall tales or frightening facts. Searching for a variety of aquatic attackers while navigating the globe’s waterways, Wade has taken his life-long passion and turned it into a full-time career. Wade’s RIVER MONSTERS quests have him diving and reeling in fascinating and mysterious creatures – all alleged man killers…
About Jeremy Wade
Jeremy Wade is a biologist, extreme angler and writer specializing in travel and natural history. He is best known for using fishing as a means to look beneath the surface of human life in remote places, notably the Congo and the Amazon. Having grown up in rural Suffolk in the United Kingdom, he studied zoology at Bristol University and went on to teach biology at a grammar school in Kent.
Wade started fishing on the Suffolk Stour and went on to fish stillwaters for carp and catfish. At 16, he was the youngest member of the British Carp Study Group. In his early twenties, however, he hung up his rods, an antisocial response to overcrowded British lakes. Then in 1982, inspired by a magazine article about fishing for mahseer, he went to India.
Since then he has made expeditions to Southeast Asia, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), the People’s Republic of Congo (now Republic of …), India (again) and the Amazon. During these journeys he caught malaria, was arrested for spying, narrowly escaped drowning and survived a plane crash. In between, he has worked as a tour leader, motorcycle dispatch rider, supply teacher, art tutor, translator (Portuguese-English), public relations consultant, dishwasher and newspaper reporter. For a while he was senior copywriter at an advertising agency until the excitement became too much.
In 1992 he published Somewhere Down the Crazy River (written with Paul Boote). This recounts the rediscovery of the Indian mahseer and the goliath tigerfish of the Congo and is considered to be one of the classics of angling literature. But his knack for finding rare creatures isn’t limited to fish. In 1994, scientists were mystified by an animal he photographed in an Amazon lake. Sent out by the BBC Natural History Unit the following year, he succeeded in filming it after a five-week stakeout. Since then he has pursued another Amazon myth — the giant arapaima — the subject of his 2002 British television series, JUNGLE HOOKS. His 2006 series JUNGLE HOOKS: INDIA also features an underwater creature not seen before on television.
About Animal Planet
Animal Planet is the world’s only brand that immerses viewers in emotional, engaging and passionate content devoted to animals – from wildlife to pets. Animal Planet connects humans and animals with rich, deep content and offers animal lovers access to entertainment, information and enrichment. Animal Planet launched in Asia Pacific in 1998 and is currently distributed to 183 million subscribers in the region.