Being consumed alive by a giant snake sounds like the stuff of nightmares, but for conservationist, filmmaker and “Eaten Alive” star Paul Rosolie, it was a personal goal — one that he’s now fulfilled. The question is: Why?
And as it turns out, the answer is relatively simple.
“[I thought], I want to do something that’s just going to grab people’s attention,” Rosolie explained during a Tuesday morning visit to TODAY.
After seeing the destruction of rainforests in the Amazon first hand, he hoped his stunt would shift the spotlight to that ever-shrinking ecosystem.
Whether or not he’ll achieved that goal once the “Eaten Alive” Discovery special airs remains to be seen, but he’s certainly gained some attention for himself already — in particular, the attention of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“This blatant publicity stunt sounds far-fetched, but if the description is accurate, the snake was tormented and suffered for the sake of ratings,” PETA said in a statement.
According to the man who’s actually survived passing through the jaws of an anaconda, the snake is just fine. Still, he appreciates PETA’s concern.
“I’m actually the guy who’s down there protecting these animals and protecting the ecosystem, so I know a lot about anacondas and I’d never hurt one,” he said. “But what’s cool about PETA is that 35,000 people in a week came out to support a snake, and usually snakes are the villains. So I actually thought it was really cool that so many people spoke out in support of a snake.”
Viewers will get a chance to see how Rosolie and the snake fared for themselves soon enough, but the naturalist offered up a taste of the action Tuesday.
“The last thing I remember is seeing the snake’s mouth open straight at my face,” he said. “Everything went black. It was like being caught it a wave. It was just wrapped up; you feel that crush. … For over an hour I was being constricted.”
While it’s hard enough to imagine how Rosolie managed to survive being eaten by an anaconda, the really tricky part is how he got out of the belly of the beast. But that’s the part of the puzzle he refuses to reveal — yet.
“They don’t tell you how the tightrope walker makes it across,” he teased. “You’ve got to watch on Sunday.”
Man who tried to let world’s biggest snake eat him alive on TV instantly regretted his decision
Most people might do a sponsored marathon or bungee jump to raise awareness about something close to their heart, but this guy opted to be eaten by a giant snake.
Who would be mad enough to do this, I hear you ask? That would be American conservationist, Paul Rosolie.
As you probably know, the Amazon rainforest is drastically decreasing in size, with it having lost around 20 percent of its area over the last five decades.
The Amazon rainforest has been badly affected by deforestation (Getty Stock Image)
While the data is bleak, some positive changes are being made and deforestation fell by almost 50 percent in 2023, BBC News reported at the time.
But deforestation has long been an issue in the Amazon, so Rosolie made it his life mission to try and save it.
He’s done lots of things to try and help it, but there’s one act that he did back in 2014 that Rosolie will probably go down in history for.
In a bid to raise money to help save the rainforest, the conservationist offered himself up as a 20ft long, 18 stone (114kg) green anaconda’s dinner.
The stunt featured on an episode of the Discovery Channel series Eaten Alive, and the footage was spine-chilling.
Rosolie and his team tracked down the giant anaconda in the Peruvian Amazon.
So he’d survived the ordeal, engineers created a carbon-fibre suit for Rosolie so that he wouldn’t be crushed by the snake.
Also, so the suit wouldn’t irritate the anaconda’s insides, the suit was streamlined and doused in pig’s blood.
Rosolie had a mic in the suit too so that he could stay in constant communication with his time, who were stood on the sidelines as he waited to be consumed by the huge reptile.
“The last thing I remember was seeing the snake’s mouth open, straight at my face, and then everything went black,” Rosolie recalled of the horrifying moment.
The snake was 20ft long and a whopping 18 stone (Discovery Channel)
He continued to tell Today after the experiment: “It was like being caught in a wave. I was wrapped up, and you just feel that crush.
“For over an hour, I was being constricted.”
Rosolie’s team constantly checked in on him to make sure he was OK until eventually, he felt like the snake was properly consuming him so he had to tap out.
There was some controversy after the episode showing the stunt aired, but Rosolie insisted that the snake was never in harm’s way and that a veterinary team was on hand at the time to ensure this.
Safe to say that this isn’t something to try at home, kids.
