On 7 December 2014, the Discovery Channel wet set to air a new special purportedly showing a man being eaten alive by an anaconda. The special, appropriately titled Eaten Alive created quite a stir on social media, its shocking premise leaving many potential viewers scratching their heads:
Dear @Discovery, is this 'Eaten Alive' special just a marketing hoax? How's the guy gonna get out? Are you starving a snake in preparation?
— Miles Klee (@MilesKlee) November 5, 2014
Discovery Channel is going to have a special about a man willingly eaten alive by an anaconda? Is this like that Mermaid documentary hoax?
— Goodnight, Nite (@goodnightnite) November 3, 2014
Really hope this #EatenAlive thing on @Discovery is some kind of elaborate hoax or they should be bloody ashamed of themselves #cruel
— Tom Woodward (@the_woodster) November 6, 2014
A petition against the special was also started online:
While this stunt may have seemed like a cruel hoax, the Discovery Channel, as well as naturalist and wildlife filmmaker Paul Rosolie, insisted that there was nothing fake or cruel about Eaten Alive In a blurb about the show, the Discovery Channel wrote that Rosolie wore a special "snake-proof" suit as he went head-first into the belly of the beast, and Rosalie addressed the concerns about animal cruelty by saying that he would never hurt an animal:
If u know me - I would never hurt a living thing. But you'll have to watch #EatenAlive to find out how it goes down!
OK, so where does that leave us? The Discovery Channel planned on showing a man getting eaten alive by an anaconda, and Paul Rosolie said that he would "never hurt a living thing." That meant that Rosolie would have to both enter and exit the belly of the beast without hurting the snake. At least one wildlife expert, zoologist Frank Indiviglio, didn't believe that feat to be possible:
@kevloria Discovery has taken a real nosedive in recent years; more nonsense
— Frank Indiviglio (@findiviglio) November 5, 2014
When the special finally aired, Paul Rosolie "was forced to call off his controversial anaconda experiment halfway through," disappointing many viewers while relieving others:
We don't know if Indiviglio was right about this stunt's being "nonsense," but we do know that the Discovery Channel is no stranger to blurring the line between fact and fiction. This is the network, after all, that fooled millions of viewers with fake documentaries about mermaids and sasquatch:
Last updated: 7 December 2014