how you pay for it. bikinis and the beast. girl, bikini, great white shark. you know what happens next. or do you? we go into the water with the great whites and a few admirers. and the body man. you probably have seen his picture, though you may not have noticed him. the man who has been by the president's side every step of the way. tonight, he tells us why he's moving on. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," november 23rd, 2011. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. tomorrow is thanksgiving, a day to feast, but it's also the start of the multibillion dollar holiday shopping season. black friday has now changed into black thursday. and it also marks the beginning of a lesser known, more sinister holiday tradition. turns out that with a huge flood of shoppers who come to buy

comes a huge flood of shoppers with other plans and it may end up costing you. here's abc's john donvan. >> reporter: it's that warm and fuzzy time of year again. that open up your wallet time of year again. from now, until christmas. on the front lines of the american consumer marketplace. but it is also time, did you know, for a lot more of this. the theft that goes on, spring, summer and fall, at a cost to the retail industry of $35 billion last year. and did you know it really starts to spike now, in the holiday season? and in the supermarket industry, where the stores really only make a few cents on any one item and in places like the big y in massachusetts, they put pictures like this on the wall -- >> these are some of the more notorious folks that we have caught stealing. this guy is a flim flam artist. >> reporter: the loss comes to almost $6 billion a year. and that cost has to be made up

somehow. >> if we aren't profitable, we have to charge more for what we're selling. >> reporter: but get ready for a more surprising number. for all of the theft that happens in supermarkets, more than half of it is done by employees. and it takes place in one place -- the checkout. watch how this works. an overhead view of the cashier. items traveling past the bar code. see that red target? that is a turkey. and that's happening right now is that the cashier is jumping it around the scanner so it's not actually being rung up, though it is mixed in with other items that are. now, with the turkeys, some places really see a spike, as many as four times more turkeys heisted in november and december than in the rest of the year combined. i thought maybe i'd give it a try. what are you betting on me getting away with this? >> nothing. >> reporter: all right. let's see what happens. and so then i was on camera, taking the role of cashier to

see if i could beat the system. and here's what i did. i legitimately scanned most of the random stuff i picked up. but i jumped the stuffing over the scanner. and the napkins, of course, the turkey. but who is actually watching this video and analyzing it? who is responsible for detecting a turkey theft? >> here, you see, he's bagging a bunch of stuff and the target -- >> and the customer is his grandmother? >> exactly. >> reporter: this is the cheating cashier's worst enemy. >> red car get means he's skipping them. >> reporter: he founded stop lift, the company now in use at hundreds of stores, and putting the targets on the turkeys and the other items that their analysis shows was skipped over or around the scanner. the process is called sweethearting. >> if i'm the cashier, you're my

friend, my sweetheart, i can give you things for free, you know, just by not scanning them. >> reporter: any typical profile of the dishonest sweethearter cashier? >> there's the one that starting from the very first week that they start on the job, they're already sweethearting. and in part that's why they took the job. and then there's that great employee, been with us for ten years, always shows up on time and you come to discover that part of the reason for that is because she's been skimming off the top for years. >> reporter: of course in a world where we are being watched more and more, there are cameras everywhere, this just means we're being watched even more now. as this is contributing to the big brotherization of our culture? >> well, the cameras have been there. so, we're not adding cameras. what we're doing is, helping with employment and keeping businesses afloat. >> reporter: and the cameras aren't just catching turkeys. it's oh, so many things caught with the help of these cameras and his software which is seeing an 80% increase in thefts around

the holidays. billions in stolen and sweethearted goods. >> there's the turkey coming up. >> reporter: stuffing ingredients. so, you get a readout on what she just bought. carrots got scanned but this target says she's stealing the turkey. >> yeah. and there she goes. she may have seen the bar code on this part of it, i'm going to face it the other way -- >> reporter: so, she was saying happy thanksgiving. >> basically. they have to sell 50 more turkeys to make up for the one that was given away for free. >> reporter: i asked maureen about what happens to the people that get caught. while she was reluctant to talk about insider theft in her establishment, she said everybody is told when they start here, yes, they are on camera. >> we tell them we have cameras in the store. >> reporter: what happened when they watched me? i wondered? would i get the three red targets? let's see. one, two, three. busted.

happy thanksgiving. not, i think, if i'd really thought i would get away with this. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in massachusetts. >> john donvan rnding up the turkey thieves there. thanks for that. next up, from the movies, you'd say great white sharks have a taste, especially for bikinis, but now, that theory is being bravely put to the test.

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. >> great white sharks. they're very appearance inspired terror, rounds of teeth, hollow eyes, like a doll's eyes, torpedo snouts. with a special taste for bikinis, hollywood would have us

believe. but my co-anchor bill weir traveled to shark territory and found a man on a mission to bring scientific method to answer the question, can people swim with these fishes? >> reporter: girl, bikini -- shark. about the only thing missing here are two notes on a tuba. that ominous, iconic indication that jaws is about to turn the water blood red. but those are not actresses and those sharks are not mechanical. they're part of a bold experiment to prove that almost everything spielberg and shark week taught us to fear is wrong. >> we want to see if there's any difference between them seeing us as opposed to us diving in. >> reporter: but if the scientist behind this is wrong, his reputation could be more shredded than a bikini in a shark attack. >> you want to see some big sharks? >> reporter: i'd love that. let's go lose a toe or two.

he is dr. ryan johnson and about the only animals that spend more time cruising these waters are the great whites that thrive in this part of south africa. since making it his life's work to demyself if i these monsters, he's gone diving with them countless times. he's used bite meters to measure the strength of their jaws. >> end of that experiment tonight. >> reporter: and even developed silicon robo-seals to study the way great whites hunt in this part of the world. >> oh, he's got it! >> reporter: in fact, this experiment was almost too successful. the sharks were so convinced in robo-seems authenticity than began ripping them to this reds. but not before ryan made a breakthrough discovery. though most sharks don't hunt at night, the great whites taught themselves to use the light from the shore to grab seals in the pitch blackness. and with thermal cameras, he

captured the first recorded instance of a night hunt. >> you did it! it's just gone on 7:20 at night. i just heard the breach. these animals are incredible. >> reporter: but of course, these animals also enjoy snacking in the sunshine. so, ryan gave us a little lesson on how to meet my first great white. it involves copious chumming and the dangled head of a tuna. i just got chills. we've only been out here about 15 minutes and -- it looks like it's got to be a 10-foot, 15-foot great white. and it's that slow predatory move. even though we're not cage diving like the tourists nearby, this baiting has its has saturdays. >> you see that there? >> reporter: the bite mark there? >> that happened about two weeks ago. >> reporter: really? >> we did have a freak accident

three months ago when a shark actually jumped onto the boat. >> reporter: oh, oh, oh. sorry. >> give that about a 1 out of 10 for a start. >> reporter: i'm sorry. i'm so used to fishing, i wanted him to take it. >> that's all right. >> reporter: i'm a hack, an amateur. here come s one. the next time around, i'm ready. >> we got a natural. >> reporter: fool me once. you can't fool me twice. sharks of the world. i let that first one get a free meal but never again. oh, here it comes. look. yeah, buddy. come on. most of these sharks live most of the year within a half mile of one of the most popular beaches in africa, yet there hasn't been an attack in over 20 years. thus, ryan is convinced that sharks are not the mindless man-eating machines we think they are. he's so convinced, he's conducting taped and live

experiments to see just how attracted they are to white flesh, human bodily fluids, even shiny bits of jewelry. two questions left to mind. first, how do you get the girls in the bikinis to agree. and then how to you get the sharks around them? you're not chumming around the bu tips, are you? >> actually, we did chum. what we learned very quickly is that sharks are inheritly really shy. how we got the girls into the bikini, that was trickier. >> reporter: but that doesn't mean his so-called shark angels didn't have their moments of doubt. >> big shark, the damage they can do -- i've seen it. it's too much for me. but it was a beautiful shark. oh, so beautiful. >> reporter: people are going to look at that and think that is suicidal. >> i think that's what a lot of people do think. that's what's so important about this show and why this show is going live. by taking a live show, without

editing, without anything, this is actually what it's all about. give a lot clearer and more accurate picture of the truth of sharks. >> reporter: aftfter the mornin i actually started to believe him. instead of boat-destroying, flesh-tearing monsters, these animals seem sedate, even discerning. even so -- we'll stay in the boat. just in case. >> "shark attack: experiment live" airs this friday on nat geo wild. our thanks to bill and the bikini girls there. just ahead, he's the one preside person with the president nearly every waking hour. what's it like? he items us. [ male announcer ] you'd be shocked how much data you use in a month. e-mail, status updates, finding your way, uploading photos, downloading an app, an app, and another app. kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes... all stacking up until you reach your limit.

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hey, jessica, jerry neumann with a policy question. jerry, how are you doing? fine, i just got a little fender bender. oh, jerry, i'm so sorry. i would love to help but remember, you dropped us last month. yeah, you know it's funny. it only took 15 minutes to sign up for that new auto insurance company but it's taken a lot longer to hear back. is your car up a pole again? [ crying ] i miss you, jessica! jerry, are you crying? no, i just, i bit my tongu [ male announcer ] get to a better state.

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quick, who is the one person who spends every day all day with the obama? well, they call him the body man. reggie love is his name. no one's closer. he's traveled nearly 900,000 miles with the president. but now -- he's moving on. and rachel nichols, a correspondent for our sister network espn, joined reggie love for one of his last days at the white house. so, here she is, with the "nightline interabsoluview." >> this door right here leads to the oval. one of the four doors that the president can enter or exit through. >> reporter: this is the tiny office of 29-year-old reggie love. president obama's body man. it's just four feet away from the oval office. modest home base for gruelling 18-hour days. he often even sleeps here. >> the space is small but the real estate's valuable. >> reporter: no pressure. >> and you can't beat that view. especially when it's nice outside. >> reporter: america first got a glimpse of how important the

body man is from charlie, president bartlett's right hand on "the west wing." >> you have a 7:00 a.m. meeting. >> reporter: after four years, love is leaving his post, a year before the next presidential election. it's a cliche to say love has had a front row seat to history, but as these white house photos show, it's true. here he is handing the president a note, telling him the stimulus bill had been passed. and here, the day the health care bill was signed. but now, love has decided it's time to stop living the president's life and start living his own. a student at the university of pennsylvania's business school. what was the actual conversation when you said, "i'm leaving." >> i said, mr. president, i wanted to get your advice and your opinion on this. he understands that it is tough, it's tough for him, it's tough for me. >> reporter: tough to leave the first family. obama's daughters and first lady michelle.

>> she's under so much more pressure and scrutiny than the president or, you know, anyone else who works in the west wing. >> reporter: but at work, it's the president and love who play the role of the old married couple. what does he do that drives you crazy and what do you do that drives him crazy? >> i'm 28, 29, stubborn. he's like, you should take my advice. he's like, i got elected president, you should listen to me. >> reporter: what about the other way? >> the thing that used to kill me is that the guy loves to ride around with the ac off, like, in the summertime. and i get hot. i start sweating. it's 80 degrees in this car. i'm going to pass out. >> reporter: what's the maddest he ever got at you for something, for real? >> i'm going to choose not to answer that question. >> reporter: we had first met the 6'5" former duke university basketball and football star during the 2008 campaign. after starting in the mail room of obama's senate office, he eventually won his boss' confidence to travel by his side. the two famously bonded over

their shared love of sports. on a campaign plane, love explained the trademark of his job. carrier in chief. >> this is like a lint brush. toothbrush. scope. cough drops. >> i've hipped him to aretha frant franklin and john coltrane and he in turn has downloaded jay-z and lil' wayne and so that i'm not a complete fuddy duddy. >> i want to show you a picture here. >> reporter: the first day of the presidency the two of them walking into the oval office. what do you remember from that? >> kind of a blur. one thing i remember is that it was still bush's furniture. the other thing i remember was that i had no idea what i was doing. >> reporter: you were there when he was a senator from illinois. you were there when he became really one of the most beloved people in the world. you've been there as the popularity has dipped in the polls. what is it like for you watching someone you're that close to go

through such an almost historic up and down? >> even when he was really popular, there were still a lot of nasty things being said about him. and you aren't going to be payable toto change the hearts d minds of everyone. >> reporter: have been there times around this way when you thought, this is my life. >> it's the president's life. i've just been lucky to have been a very long passenger on an amazing ride. >> reporter: for "nightline" this is rachel nichols in washington. >> love's labor lost. thanks for watching abc news. home you check in for "good morning america." "jimmy kimmel live" up next and everyone have a happy thanksgiving. >> dicky: tonight on "jimmy kimmel live" -- >> jimmy: you guy you met standing in line for the bathroom at a jimmy buffet concert? he's not your friend. >> dicky: tim allen. >> jimmy: your daughters are far apart. are you waiting for the price of diapers to come down? >> well, i don't like sex that much.