New Zealand PM’s partner Clarke Gayford fights off shark with a pole after dolphin didn’t help
Gayford, who presents a TV fishing show, said the snap was taken while filming off Great Barrier Island near Auckland
THE partner of New Zealand’s PM has revealed he fought off shark with a pole – after a nearby dolphin failed to come to his rescue.
Clarke Gayford, who presents a TV fishing show, shared a snap on Twitter of himself fending off the “agitated” fish.
But he pointed out that they were not the only ones in the photo – with the faint outline of a dolphin seen swimming past in the background.
Posting the pic, he joked: “So it turns out that not only do dolphins not help, they actually quite like watching.
“A childhood myth is ruined.”
The broadcaster, 40 – who has been dating Kiwi leader Jacinda Ardern, 37, since 2013 – was filming off Great Barrier Island near Auckland when the snap was taken.
He was keeping watch for his cameraman, who was filming bottle-nosed dolphins and false killer whales when some bronze whaler sharks approached, Sky News reports.
Mr Gayford said the dolphins were “feeding on kingfish and had been tearing some large ones in half and putting blood in the water, which attracted several large bronze whaler sharks”.
He said: “I got in the water and they turned their attention on me.
“I had to fend the large one pictured off with a pole several times, as it was getting quite agitated.
“We got out not long after.”
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It is not Mr Gayford’s first close encounter with a shark.
In March, he told how an "overly amorous whale shark" had "pinned" him "against a boat".
But he will soon be forced to give up his ocean adventures, with he and Ms Adern expecting a baby on June 17.
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