Source –  Michael Phelps isn’t taking a shred of blame for viewers’ disappointment over him not racing an actual great white shark, and says he stands by the “incredible” made-for-TV event.

The 23-time Olympic gold medal winner opened himself up to his critics on Facebook and addressed the backlash from his Discovery Channel special. You’ll recall, no doubt, Phelps lost to the shark … but it was a CGI shark.

Phelps claims everyone involved in the man vs. beast production made it very clear what the “race” would entail, but people chose not to listen and now they’re hatin’ … which he calls “shocking.”

Speaking of shocking — Michael didn’t race a real shark, but REALLY did swim in 53 degree water!

If you watched that Discovery cock-up  It was a huge letdown.  The build up all week had me jacked to see Phelps race a shark.  Then I thought about it.  Is it going to be in the lane next to him?  Is there a partition between Phelps and the Shark?  How do they make the shark move toward the finish line?

I realized at the same time everyone else did that the shark was a CGI Shark and I was not pleased.  Truthfully we’re all idiots for thinking for one hot second they’d put the greatest Olympian in human history in a fucking pool with a shark.

Phelps is bang on but didn’t need to go into why it wouldn’t work putting anyone in the tank with a shark and the predictive swimming habits of the shark.   It’s petty Michael You’re better than that.

Shark week fucked us again though.  Every year they do something stupid that fucks with our minds then pull the old switcharoo.