Husband of the Year: Man Punches Shark In the Nose to Save Wife, Not the Shark Week It Had in Mind

Chivalry is not dead. Just ask Chantelle Doyle, an Australian woman who was recently saved from a shark attack by her husband – who punched the sea creature until it let her go.

The couple was surfing at Shelley Beach in Port Macquarie last Saturday when the Mrs. went flying off her board. A juvenile Great White shark, measuring between 6 and 10 feet long, had sunk its teeth into her leg.

“When you see the mother of your child and your support and everything that’s who you are, you just react,” Doyle’s husband tearfully told Today.

He climbed onto his wife’s board and began punching the shark. “It feels like you’re punching a brick wall,” he said. “It’s hard.”

He eventually beat the shark off and was able to bring Doyle onto shore, where bystanders helped apply a makeshift tourniquet to her leg, which suffered severe lacerations. First responders hailed Mr. Doyle as a “hero” and said the tourniquet was a “life-saving instrument.” When paramedics arrived, Doyle was airlifted to a hospital; she is in stable condition.

This was the 13th shark attack in Australia this summer. No word on whether it’s the same hungry beast attacking all these people or if there’s a gang of underwater predators prowling for flesh. Authorities are now relying on drones, boats, and jet skis to find the shark.

As for Doyle, we hope she’ll be up and walking again soon, though we imagine she’ll never be able to criticize her husband again. All he’ll have to do is say, “I punched a shark for you!” and that’ll be the end of that discussion.

Cover Photo: Imke Meyer / EyeEm (Getty Images)

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