EATING ALIVE BRANDED

It was billed as the one of
the most amazing animal
stunts ever to be seen on
TV, but as viewers tuned
in to watch Discovery's
Eaten Alive special, there
was disappointment
ahead.
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Naturalist Paul Rosolie
donned a protective
outfit which he claimed
would enable him to be
eaten alive by an
enormous anaconda
snake, without being
killed. But after a lengthy
search for a suitable
creature, Rosolie called
time on the stunt after
only his head had been
consumed by the reptile,
and Twitter exploded
with disappointment.
The Amazon
conservationist wore a
carbon-fiber suit, to
protect him from the
snake's potentially heart-
stopping constriction.
Viewers watched as the
snake bit his helmet. But
before Rosolie could go
any further into the
snakes stomach (the
promise of which had
created outrage amongst
animal rights activists),
he called his security
team to get the animal off
him.
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pets
“I'm calling it, I need
help!” he screamed as he
felt his arm starting to
break. There was no
second attempt, and the
animal was released back
into the wild.
“I started to feel the
blood drain out of my
hand and I felt the bone
flex," Rosolie explained,
after his attempt. "And
when I got to the point
where I felt like it was
going to snap I had to tap
out,” he said.
Within minutes of the
show airing, Twitter
erupted with viewer
disappointment, many of
whom likened the stunt
to The Mysteries of Al
Capone's Vaults in 1986,
where a TV special
watched by 30 million
viewers promised a look
into the Chicago hotel
vault where the famous
gangster kept some of his
wealth. In the end, the
show, presented by
Geraldo Rivera, revealed
a vault containing
nothing but a load of dust
and some empty Coke
bottles.
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"Geraldo prob just
watched #EatenAlive and
high-fived himself. His 'Al
Capone's vault' special is
no longer the biggest
letdown in TV history,"
one Twitter user wrote.
"Calling it #EatenAlive is
like having a show on the
Food Network about
cooking a turkey and all
they do after 2 hours is
preheat the oven," added
another.
"The eaten alive guy
didn't get eaten alive...
#Disappointed," another
tweeter summed up.
In response to the
complaints, Rosolie has
claimed that he carried
out the risky move in a
bid to raise money to
save the snake's habitat
in South America, and that
the animal was not
harmed.
"I wanted to do
something to grab
people’s attention to the
plight of the disappearing
rainforests, something
completely crazy," he said
earlier this month.
"Everything else has been
tried."
Tell Us: Was Eaten Alive a
big con or was it worth a
watch?