Viewers were bitterly upset that a human being wasn’t actually eaten alive by a giant snake for their entertainment.
On Sunday evening, the Discovery Channel aired its heavily trailed Eaten Alive show, which involved American naturalist Paul Rosolie being eaten alive by a giant anaconda.
The stunt had been heavily criticised by some animal rights groups, with an online petition calling on Discovery not to air the show – because it was “animal abuse to the highest degree” – receiving almost 40,000 signatures.
Rosolie though defended the show, saying it was designed to highlight the destruction of the rainforest.
For the stunt he wore a special protective suit to allow him to survive being eaten and digested by the snake.
The suit, which was covered in pig blood, was also designed to prevent the anaconda crushing him to death.
The two-hour special, shown on American TV last night, showed the Amazon conservationist and his team searching for the giant snake for 90 minutes, followed by half an hour of them enticing the reptile to consume him.
discovery.com / Via youtube.com
Towards the end of the show the anaconda was shown biting Rosolie's helmet and wrapping itself around him.
Discovery
vine.co / Via Discovery
