My Strange Shark Addiction

I think about sharks all the time.

They really have such a strength in them.

Ehh, I love you so much!

All right, it's time to go see where my wife's gonna let me put this.

I have 106 shark tattoos.

If you're really obsessed with sharks,

the ultimate goal is maybe to become one.

I actually made a pair of dentures

that has real shark teeth in it.

I have a shark boyfriend, named Alan.

I really have no idea how much I've spent.

I would love to get my face tattooed.

Should I get him a ring?

My wife's crazy.

We are going to put a shark on your lap.

Worst case scenario for me, I get eaten.

You ready.

Every Saturday, the best day of the week for me,

I go diving, and we always go to the same spots,

and we see the same sharks.

Typical sharks that we see here around St. Thomas

are the Caribbean reef sharks, nurse sharks, and then we also

have the occasional lemon shark.

There's excitement.

You know, there's a little bit of danger.

So...

it's amazing.

Oh!

All right. Alan showed up.

Alan was there, and he still loves me so much.

My name is Ashley. I live in St. Thomas,

and I have a shark boyfriend, named Alan.

I swear, Jerry, he is so gorgeous.

One big, giant muscle.

It's a relationship.

-Yeah, yes, it is. -I feel --

I feel quite confident. It is a relationship.

It was -- it was a moment.

It was that -- it was that picture right there.

You can see by my body position, I'm like dumbfounded.

I don't -- I just love him, and it makes me so happy.

He's so fun.

He's got a little just cute personality,

like, "Whoo, she's here!"

And he comes swimming around and bumps into my camera

and he will do it more than one time.

You know, I think it's a game to him,

but I really do think that we share kind of like

the same energy.

-Aren't we so cute together? - Yes.

Our island is a little bit crazy,

but this is very...

odd that someone has a shark for a boyfriend.

We're going on 25 weeks in a row.

It's a thing -- yes, I know it's a thing!

Should I get him a ring?

I don't care what anybody's. We have a relationship.

I've got to be honest, it's -- I love my wife dearly.

But, you know, she's got this obsession with Alan,

the shark, and I'm like,

"Honey, I mean, it's an animal."

Oh, honey, I saw something I'd never seen before.

Alan, he was laying on the bottom of the boat,

just, like, hanging out.

And he was breathing. It's called buccal breathing.

I swung around and I let all the air out by BC,

so I could lay down right beside him, with my shark!

Oh, dear God.

When did you first learn about Alan?

It's probably been --

it's probably been right at a year.

At first I supported it, but you know what?

Sometimes it's just, it freaks me out.

This might be getting a little bit out of control because

our house is getting covered in sharks, like, pictures --

You don't like the shower curtains?

Could you even pick Alan out of a, like, a shark lineup?

Absolutely! Absolutely.

He's got a little mark right behind his eye

on his left-hand side.

I know exactly who he is.

All right.

I -- maybe I -- maybe it is a bit extreme,

but I love Alan.

I mean, he's such a big part of my life.

I mean, when I go to sleep at night, I think about,

I wonder what he's doing.

I wonder if he's thinking about me.

Honey, a shark is not thinking about you.

My wife's crazy!

Absolutely crazy.

I know you're making it sound stupid.

No, we have a thing.

Like, when he looks in my eyes, he sees me.

He sees me.

I really don't know how to describe it,

but just pure bliss.

There's just no feeling like it.

Honey, when you're out swimming,

you don't really try to touch Alan, do you?

Well...

probably not my smartest move,

I've tried, but I'm not going to.

I'm not going to.

-I just want you to be safe. -I will be safe.

I'm always safe.

So, for our anniversary, to make it so special,

we're going to go dive

and I can introduce you to Alan!

OK, so wait a minute.

This Saturday is our anniversary,

and you're saying that we're going to go

just so I can meet your boyfriend?

Well, yeah.

I'm going to go regardless,

even though it's our anniversary or not,

and since it's our anniversary, I want you to come with me.

I wanted to have fun on our anniversary.

I didn't want to spend it with Alan.

You want me to be happy, right?

You are not going to steal my sunshine.

So whatever.

Hair flip.

-People are seeing our shark. -Yeah.

They might be like, "Everyone, look, I got that shark on top of the car."

Yeah, you definitely get some looks when you have a shark jaw

on the side of your minivan

and when you've got a nine-foot fish on your roof.

I mean, it definitely is an attention-getter.

But, you know, in our family,

it's just kind of a normal weekday.

Everyone who comes to our house is like,

"Wait, why are there so many sharks?"

My first thought when I go to their house is,

why aren't there any sharks?

I'm Dr. Mike Foley.

I'm a dentist, and I'm obsessed with sharks.

I'm married to my beautiful wife, Catherine.

I've got three kids, and I'm trying to make them

shark experts too.

It's hard to put an exact date on my love of sharks,

because it's been since I can remember,

and it has spiraled out of control.

I collect everything related to sharks.

I collect teeth. I collect artwork.

I collect jaws. I collect movie props.

I've got a great white shark bust.

I've got a ten-foot mako shark, a five-foot mako shark,

an eight-foot tiger shark,

and then there's one more hiding in my son's room,

a little four-foot scalloped hammerhead.

My hand skills in dentistry allowed me to set new teeth

in areas where broken teeth existed.

I really have no idea

how much I've spent over the years

on these items, but if I had to estimate,

I would imagine six figures.

Where do you think it should go in the house?

In between Teddy's room and Mommy and Daddy's bedroom.

OK, what about in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom?

Um, no.

Mom's pretty accepting of things.

All right, Charlie, I'm gonna let you out.

Mommy!

All right, buddy, you're almost free.

Join your friends inside.

The dentist, to me, loves everything about sharks.

When you look at a megalodon tooth,

for every inch of diagonal length,

typically is thought to translate

into ten-foot of shark length.

And so a tooth like this came from a shark

that was 45 feet long.

I mean, they'd eat a person without even having to chew.

I would love to be able to work on a megalodon as a dentist.

They'd be so easy.

You could basically crawl in their mouth,

you'd have the ultimate access to their teeth and their jaws.

That would be incredible.

But sharks don't really have to worry about trips to the dentist.

If you have a tooth problem as a shark, just give it

two weeks, you'll probably have a new tooth

in its location.

Problems solve themselves.

All right, it's time to go see where my wife's gonna let me put this.

When you bring home 100-pound shark jaws that you need

to turn sideways to fit through a door, you know,

a nine-foot shark stops looking strange to them.

Hey, Catherine. I brought home another stray.

OK, where's this one gonna go?

Maybe here for now, but maybe putting it

over the fireplace or the bedroom.

Not in our bedroom, no.

You know, I've always known that Mike was into sharks.

Our very first date was in Gainesville, Florida.

Fossil hunting, looking for shark teeth.

So I guess I've always known.

I just didn't know how many sharks would end up

in our house.

We got to get her cleaned up.