Shark Week 2020 | 'I was Prey: Terrors From The Deep': Todd Endris recounts how he was almost 'eaten alive'
It seemed like just another normal day for Todd Endris. In August 2007, 24-year-old Todd went out surfing with his friends at Monterey Bay’s Marina State Beach. Before he knew what was happening, he was "flung" off his board. He had been attacked by a shark.
In the Discovery Channel episode of 'I was Prey: Terrors From The Deep', Todd recounted his horrifying experience and how he barely managed to escape with his life. His surfing board had managed to save his life that day. It still gives him goosebumps. "I was sitting on my board. The water is cold. I just saw a big shape, coming at me. It hit me so hard. The impact was so immense that I was just flung across the water. I knew what it was. It was a Great White Shark. There was nothing I could do. It's an eating machine. But I managed to keep hold of my surfboard."
He tried swimming but the shark followed him and finally got to him. "I never saw the shark open its jaw. I just remember the immense pressure it was putting on my torso. It took a chunk out of my surfing board. I knew I was being eaten by a huge fish. That was the first time I noticed my own blood. The water surface was bright red." Todd tried to get away, but the shark was too fast for him. "When everything happens so quickly, you don't process information anymore. It was a huge, hard and muscular animal. It felt like a rock." Todd thought that he was going to be okay, but the shark still came back to him. "Being attacked was one thing, but I felt like I was prey."
The shark shook him around, almost taking his leg off. He tried his best to kick it with his right leg, and he hit it on the nose, and it let his leg go. He recounts how quickly the shark was swimming, and he knew that it would drag him out to sea and devour him. He swam to his friends, who managed to get him to the shoreline. The paramedics arrived and he was rushed to the hospital.
The injuries were enormously grave. "The shark had flayed my back to the bottom of my butt. You could see my kidneys." It had also caused extensive damage to his legs as well. They had 500 internal sutures and closed up the wounds with 200 staples. He says that had it not been for his surfing board, he would have certainly died that day.
Four months after the interview with Discovery Channel, Todd Endris died in a car accident. 'I was Prey: Terrors From The Deep' is a Discovery Channel special, as part of their Shark Week 2020 schedule.