'I Escaped Jaws': Real Shark Attack Survivors Share Their Harrowing Stories (VIDEO)

Shark Week went for real-life scares with the special, "I Escaped Jaws," and they had the authentic footage to prove it. The special featured shark-attack survivors recounting their harrowing experiences with the dangerous predators.

Surfer Shannon Ainslie was only 15-years old when two great white sharks started coming after him. The one on the left bit his surfboard, sending his legs flying into the air. Then, it dragged him and his board under, just as the other shark moved in.

“The fears and thoughts and emotions I was going through were just indescribable," Shannon recalled. At the time he was thinking, "I’m about to die.”

He said that everyone else got out of the water. No one stayed behind to help him. Thankfully, a giant wave swept him away from the sharks -- which he called divine intervention -- but not after the sharks had nearly severed his fingers. Despite the severity of his injuries, surgeons were able to save his hand. And four years later, when another great white was moving in on another surfer, Shannon had a second face-to-face encounter. Only this time, he was saving another surfer.

Pro-skateboarder and MTV personality Rob Dyrdek called this the scariest Shark Week show to date. But Wiki-How says it's important to stay calm if you're ever in a face-to-face with a shark. Don't take your eyes off of it and get into a defensive position, if you can't get out of the water. If you have to, you can fight the shark by repeatedly hitting it in the eye and gills -- only until the shark is subdued, though. At that point, escape immediately.

Shark Week continues all this week on Discovery.

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