Deadly Mission Shark: County Down schoolgirl swims with sharks

"I always wanted to be a marine biologist that specialises in sharks and dolphins, I saw it advertised and thought it would be a dream come true."

Earlier this year, a budding biologist came face-to-face with some of the ocean's most fear-inducing predators.

Eloise Keera, 15, from County Down, was selected for CBBC's Deadly Mission Shark, fronted by Steve Backshall.

During a ten-day boot camp in the Bahamas, Eloise learnt how to dive and interact with sharks.

With 70% of oceanic sharks lost in the last 50 years, it is feared they are heading for extinction.

The Killinchy schoolgirl has always dreamed of being a marine biologist and was inspired by her grandfather, a biology teacher.

Seeing an advert for the show on the social media platform TikTok, Eloise jumped at the chance to become a "shark saviour".

"She was very determined, I was a little bit dismissive and said: 'There is going to be thousands of people applying, don't get your hopes up'

"But she was really determined that she was going to apply," Eloise's mum Andrea said.

"It was very much her determination and not led by me at all."

"I saw it [advertised] and I thought it would be a dream come true because they also advertised the fact that there'd be a lot of conservation efforts," Eloise said.

"I always wanted to get into marine conservation as well, and I quite often do beach cleans. I've always wanted to swim with sharks, I've always been pestering my parents to take me diving."

Eloise and five other children travelled to Bimini island in February, learning how to dive and interact with sharks.

The children were also actively involved in hands-on conservation projects and benefited from interactions with marine biologists.

At first, Eloise struggled with diving, particularly with the equalisation process, managing inner ear pressure.

"It was quite challenging, I thought I wouldn't be able to do it," Eloise said. "And then one day it suddenly clicked."

Over the course of the trip, Eloise and the other children swam alongside lemon, nurse, bull and great hammerhead sharks and learned about the conservation efforts to protect these fish, which she described as "one of the best experiences I've ever had".

"I've become a lot more confident and adventurous because there were a lot of things that I was just thrown into, which was good because I couldn't back out," she said.

Since returning home to Killinchy, Eloise has kept in touch with the other Deadly Mission Shark participants and they are now planning on completing an open water diving course together.

Longer term, she plans on becoming a fully-qualified marine biologist.

"I'm already doing all the subjects I need for a marine biology and I'm looking into the A-Levels I need as well," she said.

But for now, she is enjoying the hype around her television debut.

"I told some of my friends but a lot of my teachers and my mum's friends didn't know [about the show]," she said.

"And then suddenly everybody's saying: 'Oh my goodness, I saw you on TV'. It's actually been quite positive feedback.

"I thought I might get some comments online, but everybody's been really positive about it, wanting to know more about it and asking me about sharks and their conservation."