Shark Attack Victim Bethany Hamilton Says ‘Amazing Race’ Was ‘Pretty Challenging With One Arm’

Shark attack victim Bethany Hamilton is famous for turning the tragedy around and becoming the “soul surfer” who went on to compete professionally despite missing an entire arm at the shoulder. Hamilton and her husband, Adam Dirks, are competing in The Amazing Race, and although they do admit the physical handicap makes things difficult, they believe this challenge has strengthened them as a married couple.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, a great white shark attack on a sea lion was caught on video by shark cage divers. The crazy part is that the sea lion even attempted to escape the great white shark by temporarily hiding in the cage with the divers.

The Amazing Race pits 11 teams against one another in a 25-day race which spans across the world. The prize for the winner is $1 million in cash, the challenges stretch both their physical and mental capabilities.

Bethany Hamilton’s husband told Inside Edition that they both felt The Amazing Race was also a test of their marriage relationship since they had only been married since last year.

“The race almost challenges your relationship by fire because you either come out of it stronger or broken apart,” said Dirks. “Bethany was just so strong in every challenge. She was just head-on, not afraid at was coming at her and we just teamed it up pretty well. I’m stoked she was my partner and that she’s my wife.”

Although Hamilton lost her arm 11 years ago, and had plenty of time to accumulate to the physical differences caused by the shark attack, she still says The Amazing Race challenged her.

“You learn to be adaptive and especially with travel, you have to adapt to different cultures and whatever it is you’re doing. Once we entered the race, it was about quickly adapting to whatever came our way,” said Hamilton. “Working with Adam was great because we had our different strengths… we knew that we had to strategize different roadblocks and detours in choosing for me to do certain challenges and him do other ones so we could play it safe… There were moments when I’d get into it but it was pretty challenging with one arm.”

Bethany Hamilton is not the only shark attack victim to bounce back and even find a better life. Former daredevil Navy clearance diver Paul de Gelder lost his arm and leg in a bull shark attack back in 2009, and now he says he’s a better man regardless of the difficulties caused by the shark attack. The diver is even working on a new documentary that attempts to understand the great white shark, and he believes that knowledge about sharks is the key to understanding, not fear.